In this week’s Parsha Moshe Rabbeinu speaks to Hashem and asks Him about the future leader of Klal Yisrael after he dies. Moshe wanted to appoint one of his children. But Hashem told him that the future leader of Klal Yisrael would be Yehoshua.
It seems from the Parsha and Chazal that this was a surprise for everyone. First and foremost, if Moshe never chose him, then obviously Moshe never thought that he was the most worthy person to be the future leader.
The Gemarah in Bava Basra (75.) says that the face of Moshe was like the sun and the face of Yehoshua like the moon. The elders of the generation said, “woe for such shame, woe for such embarrassment.”
The simple explanation of this Gemarah is that the elders of the generation were crying for their loss. Till recently they had such a great leader who shone like the sun. From one day to the next after Moshe died they had a leader that shone only like the moon. They had lost their great leader. Obviously they weren’t worthy anymore of such a great leader and that is why they cried.
Rabbi Chaim Volozin explains the Gemarah differently. The sun is its own source of light. The moon doesn’t have its own light; it reflects the light it receives from the sun.
Moshe was a source of light. Yehoshua wasn’t his own source of light, he was a student of Moshe, and he received all his light from his Rebbi, Moshe. There were people in Klal Yisrael far greater than Yehoshua. They realized that had they merited, they could have also been just like Yehoshua or more. They understood that it wasn’t just Yehoshua’s own greatness that made him the leader; he merited to receive extra light from Moshe. This is what they meant, woe for us that we could have also been like Yehoshua and receive our light from Moshe, just like the moon receives from the sun.
How did Yehoshua merit becoming the leader?
Rashi (Bamidbar 27-16) writes that Moshe asked Hashem that his children should inherit his leadership, and Hashem replied to Moshe, “this is not what I thought. Yehoshua is worthy to receive the reward of him serving you (Moshe) that he never left your tent.” Rashi concludes this is what Shlomo Hamelech writes in Mishlei (27-18) ‘He who guards his dates, eats the fruits.’ The date is a fruit tree that needs constant watching, as the fruits ripen at different times. The date is a symbol of diligence and consistency. Yehoshua was always next to Moshe, always ready to catch another word, another Halacha, another explanation from his teacher.
The Passuk tells us that when Moshe went up to Heaven to receive the Torah, Yehoshua accompanied him till the bottom of Har Sinai. He waited there for forty days; he never went back to his family. The Gemarah in Yuma (76.) writes that Yehoshua merited a miracle that his ‘mann’ arrived right next to him. He waited there all that time to be there the moment Moshe descended the mountain, in order to be able to accompany his Rebbi those few minutes back to the camp, maybe he would hear something new in those few moments.
Yehoshua wasn’t a loud player. He was Moshe’s helper and made sure not to miss a moment near his Rebbi. There were many greater people then Yehoshua, they had better brains, sharper memories, deeper understanding, but they never became the leader of Klal Yisrael.
In Torah when a person maximizes his potential Hashem showers with new powers and new unlimited potential. This is an important message for all of us and it has repeated itself so many times over history.
Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer once told his students, “when I studied in Volozin Yeshiva there were geniuses that all us students looked up at them with awe.”
“And what are they today,” asked his student?
“Nothing,” replied the Rav. “Because a small flashlight that lightens the dark path all night is better than a blinding lightening that disappears in a moment and then leaves darkness.”
Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz writes that Chana who was childless prayed for a child that would be average. Chazal explain that she prayed that he wouldn’t stand out, not smart, not stupid. Hashem accepted her prayers as she said, ‘for this child I prayed and Hashem gave me my request.” And from an average child grew up Shmuel Hanavi, that the Gemarah writes (Taanis 5) was equal to Moshe and Aharon.
Once the students of Rabbi Binyamin Diskin (father of the famous Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin) came and told him that there is a student going through a very difficult time, so much so, they heard him crying in the Beis Hamedrash in the middle of the night.
The Rosh Hayeshiva hid in the Beis Hamedrash that night. A student entered, walked through the dark Beis Hamedrash and went up to the Aron Hakodesh. He opened the doors and burst into tears, “Hashem, please have mercy on me. When my friends are having discussions and arguments in their studies, I don’t dare mix in. But please Hashem have mercy that at least I should merit to understand what they are arguing about!”
Who was this poor boy crying so bitterly? The world famous and prewar Rabbinical authority, Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor zt”l the Kovno Rav. The Rabbi who Rav Elyashiv looked up to as his role model!
Moshe Rabbeinu thought that the leadership of the Jews would be passed down to his children. But one’s ancestors don’t determine that one will lead Klal Yisrael. The elders of the generation relied on their knowledge and their wisdom, but they too were mistaken. The leadership of Klal Yisrael goes to the one who has the greatest diligence in their Torah study, in their prayers and in working to reach good middos.
And what about us? What rules our life? Are we fine with ourselves because we have great ancestors?! Are we great because we’re blessed with a brilliant mind, sharp brain and amazing memory? Neither will make us true leaders or even bring out our maximum potential until we realize that only with diligence does one reach the true success, the rest can help, but is in fact irrelevant.
Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner was known as a boy with a weak brain. He tried and tried but he couldn’t match up with his friends. When the famous Rabbi Meir Shapiro, founder of the Daf Hayomi and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin arrived in his town, the young Shmuel Wosner asked him to enter his Yeshiva. Rav Shapiro explained that the entry exam was 200 daf in Kodshim. Rav Wosner spent weeks preparing for his test. When he arrived in Lublin he was tested by some of the older students and didn’t pass the test. Although he was devastated, he sat down in the Beis Hamedrash and started studying diligently until the next train to go back home.
When the Mashgiach saw the diligence of a boy who had just failed his test, he was so impressed he was allowed to stay for a 30 day trial. No one wanted to learn together with the new weak student. But the young Shmuel never gave up. He sat and studied until his eyes were red from so many hours learning. The geniuses of the Yeshiva would come and ask him the most complex questions that he had no clue what they meant, in order to make him feel stupid and realize he didn’t belong. But the young Shmuel never gave up.
Bit by bit with diligence, many tears and prayers Hashem opened his mind. At the young age of 28 he came to visit Rabbi Zelig Reuvain Bengis zt”l the Rav of Yerushalaim on Purim. Rav Bengis was very excited. He turned to the young Rav Wosner and asked to have some fun together in honor of Purim. He asked the young Rav to tell him on every tenth page of Gemarah the first line of the Gemarah, the second line of Rashi and the third line of Tosfos, all by heart!
After informing his wife that he would be delayed, the young Rav spent two hours going through the whole Shas, but the onlookers who were there with open Gemarahs and open mouths never caught him out once!
When asked when he learned the Gemarah Yerushalmi, he gave an amazing answer. Every day the boys stood in line to receive their dinner. It could take up to twenty minutes to reach his turn. He would take his tray and stand in line with a Gemarah Yerushalmi and over the three and a half years he was in Yeshiva he finished the whole Yerushalmi.
When asked about the beautiful doors of the Yeshiva, he replied, “I don’t remember, I entered once when I came and exited once when I left the Yeshiva!”
We may not be able to match such diligence but we can all find some room for improvement and let us remember that with our diligence we can reach much much further.
