Shalom from Beta Vihai and thank you for joining me in the study of Parashat Pinhas. Today we'll try to understand and maybe even to delineate some of the characteristics of a leader. Moshe is in a crossroad and he understands that he is not going to be the one to lead Am Israel, the nation of Israel, to the land of Israel. And he understands that even though he reached tremendous heights as a person, as a leader, he's going to die like everyone else. And he really cares about his people. So he would like to have a leader. And Parshat Pinchas, that basically sings the praises of Pinchas, that last week's parasha was able to stop the plague, he is not the leader that is going to be chosen. And Moshe is looking for a leader, and by doing so, he describes what are the characteristics, what are the requirements that we have from the leader, and that the leader needs to have. And Moshe spoke to Hashem saying, which by the way, it's almost an anomaly in the Torah, because most of the times the verse starts with Vaidaber Hashem el-Moshe. Hashem spoke to Moshe. And here it says, Moshe spoke to God, which obviously describes this almost intimate relationship between Hashem and Moshe, but also about the significance and the importance of this subject that Moshe felt that he needs to address God and to talk to Hashem about this issue of leadership. And then he says, If kodashem elokeahuchot lechod bazar, please Hashem appoint who are the God of all spirits, Ish Alaida, a man on the congregation. Here a man is someone with importance, with influence, with charisma. And Moshe relates to Hashem as Elohia Wuchot, the God of all spirits, which obviously requires some kind of an understanding. And then the characteristics. So what is the difference between all those four adjectives? And the congregation of God will not be just like a flock without a shepherd. So just by the narrative itself, we see that the characteristics can be in a way defined in the following manner. You need to have a leader that will have the courage, and he will be able even to dare to go in the front. He will not be a coward, he will not be too shy, he will not be too embarrassed, he will understand that there is leadership and he needs to go in front of the people. He also needs to do Yavolifnehem, which is a little bit unclear. What does it mean that he will come in front of them? It might be that he will be able to stand in front of them. And then Vashar Yotziem, Vashar Yevem, that he will take, not only that he will stand in front of them, but he will be able to take them. He will be able to encourage them, to inspire them, to aspire them to what? To do things that he thinks is are good for them and for the nation. And the other requirement is that wait that he will be like a shepherd. And we all know that many of the leaders, it will be Yaitzchak and Yaakov and Davida Melik, and Musher Abinu were all shepherds. And obviously, being a shepherd has some interesting characteristics in terms of the nature of leadership. You need to be very attentive to the flock, you need to know them, they need to trust you, you need to show compassion and mercy. At the same time, you sometimes need to be strict and to try to lead the flock to the right place. So these are the characteristics based on the narrative. Rashi says the following that the leader should go out in front of them. Says Moshe, when I want a leader, it's not a leader that sits at home and gives orders. But I want to show by example. And the same way that Yoshua did. When Yoshua was at the night before a war, he saw this angel and he says to him, Are you with us or are you against us? Because it's me leading the people. And the same thing with King David. That he goes and comes in front of them. So he is the first one to go and he's the first one to bring them back from war. So what do we see from here? We definitely see that characteristic number, the first characteristic is definitely courage. It's the understanding that I'm doing that for the people. B, I need to show by example, I need to lead by example. We you cannot expect the people to do something if you don't do that. If you don't show them by example that you care about it and you are willing to do so. So these are the characteristics that at least Rashi defines immediately, based on the narrative. The Malbim describes in a pretty lengthy way the characteristics of a leader of a king, and it divides it into two issues or subject matters, two categories. The first, this the leadership is basically divided to two components. The first one. Second, the second category. When they come back after they wage the war, after they won the war, she asked, it says then, when you wage a war, you have obviously a common enemy and you can unite the people. The challenge is after the war, when you go back and you need to deal with internal societal issues. Judgment, justice, kindness, compassion, medical care, education. When there is a war, you can forget about all of those things because you need to win the war. But after the war is over, there is definitely, says the Malbim, you need to focus inwards. And that might be a very challenging thing. That's what the people said to Prophet Samuel when they asked for a king in Samuel, in the book of Samuel. And he says these two categories also have two dimensions to them. A, says there is a way that the judge, the leader, the king is very likable and the people really want to listen to him. And they basically follow him willingly. They don't challenge him, they follow him, they trust him. However, but sometimes it doesn't work like that. Sometimes people understand that there needs to be a king or a judge or a leader, but they don't like him or they don't want to do what he says to them. And you need to force them because you need to make sure that the society as a whole acts like a good society. So it says the leader needs to have, in a way, Yamin Mekarevet, the small ducha, or small ducha viamin mecharevet, which means sometimes you need to push and you need to pull. Sometimes you need to show tremendous compassion and mercy and sensitivity, and sometimes you need to be tough. And because you need to be a leader. It's not about popularity contest here. It's about being a leader. Being a leader needs to do what is right for the people. And he needs to look and he needs to see. The best case scenario is obviously everyone follow you, everyone trusts you, everyone, but we all know this is a dream, this is not a reality. So a leader needs to understand that he's not going to be liked by everyone. But if everyone sees that his real interest is the is the well-being of the nation, even if he will use some force, they will follow. And the congregation of God will not be like a flag that has no shepherd. So it's very interesting, the Malbim says that the congregation of God should not be a flag that doesn't have a shepherd. Okay. If you have a flag with no shepherd, so what do they do? So they follow the taish, which is that the goat. And they follow whatever the goat does, they do. Now, the goat did not go through a leadership course. The goat is a goat, but they follow the goat. He is Sahal Kamoya, meaning he has the same intellect like all the rest of them, which means basically he says, yeah, they can a flack can handle themselves without a leader, but they're going to be aimless, purposeless. They will just follow a goat, whoever goat it is. You need a leader, you need to have someone that might use that goat to get the flag going, but he will lead them to where they need to be. Meaning the leader cannot just be another guy who is similar to the people, who just like everyone else, he obviously needs to be humble, he needs to understand where he's coming from, but he needs to elevate himself. In a way, he's pushing this idea of leadership not to an extraordinary man who is separate from the people and cannot connect to them. This is not the issue. But the issue is that the leader needs to understand the balance between being a friend and being a leader, which is very difficult. He needs to know that he needs to guide and lead and sometimes even to use force or to do something that it's unpopular for the benefit of all, rather than just to be popular and loved by everyone else. We're not looking for someone who is just going to be like everyone else. You're looking for someone that has ruachelo kimbo, that has a spirit, that can see things that others do not, that can analyze things better than others, that should not push him, God forbid, to be arrogant, pompous, and think that he knows everything. But the idea is that you need to have this very delicate balance between being with the people and being separate from the people. That's what the Malbin says. So therefore, after Moshe's introduction to what are the requirements, what is the job description for a leader, Hashem answers Moshe and it holds him. Hashem says to Moshe, as you can see, now it's switched again. Hashem speaks to Moshe. A man who has a spirit within him. Which means basically you empower him and you show everyone that he is the chosen one. And here obviously we need to ask a question. Why did Moshe, why wasn't that obvious that Yoshua is the next one, is the next leader? He was the one who stood by Moshe all the time. He went with him to Har Sinai to somewhere on the mountain. He was the first chief of staff fighting Amalek. He was the one that at the end of Parashad be alutha that we read a few weeks ago, he was the one who told Moshe, Moshe, I think uh Eldad and Meida, the two prophets, are saying something against you, maybe we should do something about them. He was always there. So it wasn't that obvious that he's going to be the next leader? That's question number one. And the second question is when you go back to the Pasuk, it says, Take for yourself, take Yoshua. What does it mean to take him? Just appoint him. So Masachtot Ktanot in Masekat of Vodar Rabinatan, they suggested the following. So first and foremost, here we have something that the narrative does not say. We all know that Moshe had children. We don't know anything about them. We know when they were born, we know about the circumcision on the way to Mo to Egypt. We know that when Yitro came back with Zipporah, he brought the children, but where are they? They are not mentioned in the narrative. And Moses saw, and he thought that, you know, maybe they will be his successors. Like in every other ancient society, the leader's children are supposed to continue. But not. Moshe is looking and he looks and he sees that ain't Bahim Torah. That they don't have Torah. Now what does it mean? It means many things. It can be, if we take it to the extreme, is that they don't study. They just don't learn. They think, you know, Moshe is doing, my father is doing enough. Or that they don't have enough Torah in them, they don't have enough passion to study Torah to understand its importance. And therefore, Moshe realizes they are not going to be the leaders. So what does he do? He doesn't. He says to God, if ko the Hemeloka uhotar, isha layash named. So Moshe Rabbeinu thought that his children will be the ones, then he realizes. He realized that they are not. So he goes to Hashem, he davens and he says, God, please tell me who should lead. So Hashem says to Moshe, Kahlach Yoshua, take Yoshua. And have a translator. This is was a way to honor the speaker. The speaker speaks, and then there is like a translator who explains a little bit to the people. And everyone will see that you appointed him. So Moses says to Yahushua, Kahlecha, he talks to him, he says to him, Yoshua, I'm not giving you a complete product. Even after 40 years in the desert, what I'm giving you are little lamb. Little lambs. That's what I'm giving you. You have now the responsibility to shape them, to form them, to mold them. You have a lot of work to do. And it's on you to do it. I tried, I took them one level, now it's you to make the rest. Which I think shows a tremendous humility from Moshe's perspective. But in addition, it gives you sure a tremendous responsibility. You are now responsible to elevate them to the next stage. Most of the leaders sometimes has this um notion that, you know, after them, no one can do much better than what they did. And it's so wrong because that shows lack of faith in the people. If you don't believe that your nation, your congregation, your group, whoever you lead, your family, cannot achieve more, you're probably not a good leader. A leader believes that there can be other leaders who can achieve much more than he was he or she were able to do. Different achievements, different goals, but definitely can achieve more. And that's what Moses says to Yoshua. I'm not giving you a final product. I'm giving you something that it's what we'll call a walk in progress. Do it. You can do it. This is a tremendous empowerment from one leader to another, telling him, look, I did not complete the job. You have something to do. That when it comes, you don't really see the influence. The influence or the outcome of what the wind caused, it's only when you see it's moving. The same he says with a person. You see that the isha she ruach elokimbo, a man with a spirit, is something that when you see the movement, you see the progress, you see the actions. He says this principle of having a ruach, of having a spirit, every person has it. He is a man of spirit. Which means everyone has a spirit. So from the fact that the narrative emphasizes and focus on the idea of ruach of spirit, it seems to be that Yeshua had some kind of an additional spirit than anyone else. When we talk about someone who is a man of spirit, it's someone who has focus or emphasis on the spirit in him. So he has more spirit than anyone else. The prophet also is being named the man of spirit. That Yeshua Binun was filled with spirit of wisdom. Because Moshe basically put his hands on him or leaned his hands on him. After Yoshua was appointed by Moshe, his natural inclination to spirit got some kind of an extra boost. He now became even more spirited. It was not just a spirit, it was a spirit of wisdom. Meaning the leader needs to have this additional spirit. So what does it mean, this spirit here? So it might be a little bit of prophecy, it might be a little bit of courage, it might be a little bit of a different perspective on how to see things, but there is more. The Malgrim says. Leader. Sesteki Oshua because to some extent he is separate from the entire congregation because he had this additional spirit. Now he's going to teach us. What does it mean, spirit? It says it includes the following characteristics and attributes. Meaning everything good, any quality of a leader is included in the word. You, Moshe, should lean your hands on him to empower him, to give him even more. Vinaya Shefa, and this plenty. Meaning by Moshe giving the plenty and the blessings from his own spirit to Yoshua, if Yoshua was not ready from the get-go, if Yoshua was not a clee, was not a vessel that is able to contain Moshe's spirit, it will explode. It will not walk. Which means when Moshe puts his hands on Yahshua, Yoshua is already ready. Because it says God gives wisdom to already someone who is already wise. And this is why when Hashem says to Moshe, take Yahushua, he already has that spirit. So it's not something foreign to him. Just take that spirit that Yeshua has and add to it. So the already existing spirit that Yeshua has, you can add to it the spirit of sanctity, holiness, and prophecy. So Yeshua already has that spirit. And there is something that we definitely need to ask where is that spirit comes from? And obviously, this is a question that every time we speak we speak about leadership, this is a question that comes up. Is that something that you are being born with? Just people are born as leaders or have qualities of leaders. Or this is something that you can acquire, that you can possess, even if you don't have it. It seems to be that this discussion will never be resolved. According to what we see here, it seems to be that Yahshua already had it, I guess from birth, and when Moshe leaned his hands on him, it just was enriched, it was not created. However, we can also see something else. It might be that Yahushua did not really have it from the get-go, but somehow, by clinging and by attaching and gluing really himself to Moshe, he learned how to be a leader. And then he was basically giving tasks to test his leadership qualities. If we all remember a little bit about Yahushua, the first thing we know that at the end of Parashat Bashalach, he was appointed to be the chief of staff. We're talking about a bunch of slaves who are being attacked from the rear with Amalek. No one knows what to do. Moshe and Aaron and Khur are going up on the mountain, davening, but you need to have someone to fight. So you have slaves who were slaves enslaved in Egypt for so many years, and Yoshua is the one who, when Moshe says to him, Tseh, Malek, the word ⁇ Seh, has shall yet se lifnahem that he will go out. He was the first one. Just imagine. He's a slave, a son of a slave, a son of a slave, a son of a slave for 210 years. He takes his sword and he goes ahead and fight without knowing even how to fight a Malek. Yes, it's true. Moshe is davening you, Aaron is divening, Aaron is who is divening, everyone is davening. But someone needs to take the sword and fight. And Yeshua is able to do it. He has this idea of a shari yet selifnahim. Yeah, he obviously has some failures. After he and Moshe are ascending from Mount Sinai and the people are dancing with the golden calf. Yeshua says to Moshe, there is a war. And Moshe says to him, it's not a war. It's a terrible thing that is going on there, but it's not a war. Which means Yeshua needs to train himself to listen better, to interpret better. Later on in Parchat Ba'alutha, as I mentioned before, he's too quick to judge. As Moshe says to him, you're jealous for me? Don't be jealous for me. I wish that everyone will be a prophet. Which means Yoshua definitely has, I will say, a raw capability of being a leader, but this raw talent needs to be refined. And perhaps that will answer why Moshe didn't pick Yoshua immediately. Not only because Moshe maybe hoped that his children will take over, but also maybe because it was just not sure that Yahshua will be able to fully refine his attributes, his leadership attributes. And therefore he wanted Hashem's guidance to tell him that Yoshua is the right one. Now I will pause here for a second before we will see the concluding commentary by the Mekdava. Pashad Pinhas, our Pasha. We mentioned before that Pinhas was not chosen probably because he was a zealot. And zealous is sometimes good for a moment, but not as a leader. So we have Yahushua. But there is one more person that we need to take into consideration to this race of who is going to be the Jewish leader. Kalev. If you remember in Parashat Shlach, Kalev was also described as Ruach Achheret Aitaimo, a different spirit. He had a different spirit. He was not described as Ish Asher Ruachbo, a person with a spirit within him, but rather Ish Ruach acheret, a different spirit. What does it mean, a different spirit? And if he has this different spirit and he was willing to stand up against all of the Meraglim and say, no, we can do it. Why not to choose him? It seems to be that he is a daring leader, he's an encouraging leader. I would like to suggest that Kalev had a rua chaat, a different spirit that you need. But the timing was not right yet. When Kalev says that we can definitely go and conquer the land, he does not mention God's name. He's already in a different stage. That the nation is not ready. The nation under Moshe Rabbeinu are so used to all those miracles. You need to have a transition. And Yeshua is the one. He is a sharuachbo, not a different type of leadership. What the people need now is similar to Moshe, yet different. Because now we are in the transition between a world of miracles to a reality which you need to conquer the land, you need to fight, you need to build institutions, and not to rely on miracles, but still having this more direct connection, so to speak, to Hashem. And then you can move forward to someone like a Kalev, which comes from the tribe of Yehuda, which are all our future kings. So we are left with Yeshua. But not because we have no other choice, but because he's the best choice for now. So the Natsiv puts a totally different perspective on it. It says, take Yoshua, he is your beloved student. He's almost like a child, a son to you, because your sons are not going to be your successors. So take him. You'll have a tremendous enjoyment knowing that your student is going to be the next leader. He says spirit means opinion. He has a spine. He's not going to just follow a desire or a want. He knows exactly what he wants to do for the people, not for himself. This is Joshua. So when we think about leadership, or we think about what are the characteristics, the requirements, what qualifies someone as a leader, we have a list of many, many requirements that are basically being summoned, summed up by one thing: ruach. Perception, understanding, wisdom, insight, courage, leadership, sensitivity, compassion, all of it is included in the word ruach. Ruach is movement. A leadership cannot stay stagnant. He must, she or she must move not only themselves, create the environment for the people to move forward, to create a better society, and obviously, eventually, a better world. Thank you.