There is a fascinating comment
on Moshe Rabbeinu’s leadership style by Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, writing
on Bamidbar 10:31-32, when Moshe beseeches his father-in-law to stay with Bnei
Yisrael:
But this request which Moshe made and recorded that his father-in-law should remain with them to help them with his knowledge of the terrain and his perspicacity is a fact of not small importance for a true and just estimation of the “mission of Moshe.” As the organizing advice of just this father-in-law (Exodus 18:13-27) proves for all time how little talent for organizing - that very first qualification or a state-building legislator - was innate in Moshe, so does the fact which is told us here completely refute all the nonsense that is circulated of Moses having knowledge of all the plans and their specialities in the desert, with the object of reducing the Divine element in our wanderings in the wilderness to the lower level of a clever and cunning leadership. The man who required the advice of his father-in-law for the most elementary organization and arrangements of the camp, and wrote both down for the everlasting memory of his people, he could only have accomplished lawgiving and leadership as the instrument of God, and was the very last man to wish to surround himself with the halo of more than human insight and miraculous powers.
What a fascinating comment about the greatest leader of Klal Yisrael (although not necessarily surprising coming from a Yekke). And perhaps it fits well with this parsha’s famous pasuk: “And the man Moshe was extremely humble, more than any man upon the face of the earth” (Bamidbar 12:3).
But this request which Moshe made and recorded that his father-in-law should remain with them to help them with his knowledge of the terrain and his perspicacity is a fact of not small importance for a true and just estimation of the “mission of Moshe.” As the organizing advice of just this father-in-law (Exodus 18:13-27) proves for all time how little talent for organizing - that very first qualification or a state-building legislator - was innate in Moshe, so does the fact which is told us here completely refute all the nonsense that is circulated of Moses having knowledge of all the plans and their specialities in the desert, with the object of reducing the Divine element in our wanderings in the wilderness to the lower level of a clever and cunning leadership. The man who required the advice of his father-in-law for the most elementary organization and arrangements of the camp, and wrote both down for the everlasting memory of his people, he could only have accomplished lawgiving and leadership as the instrument of God, and was the very last man to wish to surround himself with the halo of more than human insight and miraculous powers.
What a fascinating comment about the greatest leader of Klal Yisrael (although not necessarily surprising coming from a Yekke). And perhaps it fits well with this parsha’s famous pasuk: “And the man Moshe was extremely humble, more than any man upon the face of the earth” (Bamidbar 12:3).
This parsha actually has an interesting pattern in that within every subject there is something to learn about leadership. In fact, with a bit of a stretch, one can even see it in the name of the parsha, B’haalotcha. B’haalotcha is traditionally translated as part of the phrase in which it is found – “B’haalotcha et ha’neirot, when you kindle the lamps.” But the heart of the word is l’ha’aloat, to cause to go up, and B’haalotcha is “in your causing them to go up.” While the pasuk is referring to the candles, really herein is an excellent reminder that a leader needs to stay focused on the mission of improving the lives of the people being led, that the leader must cause them to go up - and for a leader of Israel, this means to grow spiritually.
The parsha quickly shifts to a somewhat long section on the consecration of the Leviim. The Leviim are to be taken from among Bnei Yisrael and, after being purified, brought “before Hashem and the Children of Israel shall lean their hands upon the Levites” (8:10). The leadership lesson here is that the “buy-in” of the majority is important. The Leviim were pulled out from among the general populace to replace the firstborn in the role of stewards of the Temple, but Hashem brought them forth before Himself and Bnei Yisrael so that they could, in a sense, be involved in this appointment.
From the next section of the parsha, the leadership wisdom is really advice for all things in life. The Levites were counted in their census from the age of 30 (Perek 4), but this week’s parsha instructs them to join the legion of the service of the Tent of Meeting from age 25. The first five years they served as apprentices. Once they were full members of the Levite service corps, they stayed active until the age of 50. “From 50 years of age, he shall withdraw from the legion of work and no longer work. He shall minister with his brethren in the Tent of Meeting, but work shall he not perform” (8:25-26). Leadership develops, and one must learn the job, do the job and then teach the next generation how to do the job.
In what seems a strange shift, the parsha next talks about Pesach Sheni, when a group of men who had become tamei came to Moshe and asked for a way in which they could participate in the mitzvah of the Pesach offering. Moshe took their query to Hashem, and Hashem stated that any man who was tamei or who was on a distant road should have the opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of the pesach offering one month later. There are so many wonderful leadership lessons here. First and foremost, these men did not make excuses for themselves or just shrug off a missed opportunity, but they pro-actively sought a solution. Secondly, Moshe listened to their concern and sought an answer, this too is a demonstration of an important quality in a leader.
The next two sections of the parsha deal with the Ananei Hakavod and then the silver trumpets, these two sections define the importance of clear communication. When the cloud rested on the Tent of Meeting the people knew that they were to maintain their encampment, and when it rose, they knew they were to travel. The trumpets themselves provided more specific communication - announcing when each encampment should move. The then Torah describes the first time the camp did move, listing each tribe and its leader - and thus offering a reminder of the importance of a management team, of a hierarchy of leadership, that maintains order.
The end of parshat B’haalotcha is very different from its beginning. One might wonder what one can learn from Chapter 11, which opens with the statement: “The people took to seeking complaints...” (11:1). For as important as leadership is, every leader must know, going in, that leadership isn’t easy, it isn’t all cheers and rewards. The people will look for complaints, the people will never all be happy.
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Moshe was an unconventional leader, an ideal leader really. He was, as is stated in 12:3, a humble man. When Hashem granted prophecy to 72 men, two of whom were still in the camps, Moshe was not concerned about people wanting to supplant him. Nechama Leibowitz points out:
Buber draws attention to the fact that Moshe in his reply does not use the same form of the verb which the lad reporting the matter did when he said ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ Moshe does not answer ‘Would that the Lord’s people would prophesy,’ but rather, ‘Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets.’ In other words, Moshe does not ask, on their account, that the spirit of the Lord should rest on them momentarily, that they should be seized by a sudden prophetic frenzy, as it were, but rather that they should attain the permanent status of prophets...
To bring this parsha post to a close, one could summarize that the lesson to be learned from Chapter 12, when Miriam and Aaron speak poorly of Moshe, and Miriam is punished, is that leaders are human. They make mistakes. A good leader, however, will find the right path by which to be redeemed.
Moshe was an unconventional leader, an ideal leader really. He was, as is stated in 12:3, a humble man. When Hashem granted prophecy to 72 men, two of whom were still in the camps, Moshe was not concerned about people wanting to supplant him. Nechama Leibowitz points out:
Buber draws attention to the fact that Moshe in his reply does not use the same form of the verb which the lad reporting the matter did when he said ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ Moshe does not answer ‘Would that the Lord’s people would prophesy,’ but rather, ‘Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets.’ In other words, Moshe does not ask, on their account, that the spirit of the Lord should rest on them momentarily, that they should be seized by a sudden prophetic frenzy, as it were, but rather that they should attain the permanent status of prophets...
To bring this parsha post to a close, one could summarize that the lesson to be learned from Chapter 12, when Miriam and Aaron speak poorly of Moshe, and Miriam is punished, is that leaders are human. They make mistakes. A good leader, however, will find the right path by which to be redeemed.
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