There Will Never Be Another "Moshe"

 

“Let HaShem, G-d of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the community"   (Numbers 27:16)   Tammuz 18, 5786/July 3, 2026   Moshe rabbenu (Moses our teacher) has reached the grand old age of 120. He has come across all types of people throughout his lifetime. We recall that his first months in the world were spent being hidden away from outsiders. He then spent his youth living inside the protective bubble of Pharaoh's palace. The first time in his life that he ventured out to meet the real world he was aghast by its cruelty. His immediate, visceral response was to slay the Egyptian taskmaster.  Was this the right way to deal with a wrongdoer? Perhaps he could have intervened less violently. Perhaps it was a teachable moment that Moshe missed. In any case he would never do it again. In fact, his next significant act after fleeing Egypt was to come to the aid of Yitro's seven daughters, without resorting to violence. Moshe was learning how to deal with others, be they sympathetic characters or be they antagonistic.   Being able to justly and compassionately tend to those who are dependent upon him and to be unyielding to those who sought to undermine him was the trait that enabled Moshe to successfully, (although not perfectly) lead an entire people from slavery to liberty, from a ragtag band of unorganized and sorely dependent people to a unified nation of judges and warriors, and from a nation in exile to a nation about to enter into its G-d given inheritance.    Moshe was at times exasperated by the demands of his people and he was not shy to share his feelings of anger and despondency with G-d. But when the people's complaints were justified,   Moshe (with G-d's help), delivered. There were people with demands and propositions that he welcomed, such as the men who, despite being impure, wanted to take part in the Passover offering, and the five daughters of Tzelophchad, who desired their father's land inheritance in Israel. There were those whose gift of prophecy seemed to encroach upon Moshe's domain, (Eldad and Medad), whom Moshe welcomed to share the burden.  And there were those, (Korach and his mob), whose direct challenge to Moshe's leadership, (and G-d's sovereignty), Moshe aggressively rejected. These were not easy challenges for Moshe to meet. Other times he was guided by G-d whose instruction contradicted    Moshe's initial response.  Moshe was not like his brother Aharon who was known for his peacemaking and gracious ways with others. As a leader Moshe could not afford the luxury of trying to please everyone. He had to learn when to be stern and when to be forthcoming. Moshe also had to learn the hardest lesson of all, that he was not indispensable. His time would pass.    So when G-d told Moshe in this week's parasha, Pinchas, “Go up to Mount Avarim and look at the land that I have given to the children of Israel. And when you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, just as Aharon your brother was gathered," (Numbers 27:12-13) Moshe did not hesitate.  He did not stall or procrastinate. He didn't ask for a single "one more day." He immediately asked of “HaShem, G-d of the spirits of all flesh, [to] appoint a man over the community." Why did Moshe   invoke this unique description of G-d's sovereignty over man?  Note that "spirits,"  (ruchot, in Hebrew), is plural. Moshe, through forty years of experience, has learned first hand that a nation,  a  community made up of all types of people, and a good leader  needs to address each and every one of those types.  Certainly not everyone can be accommodated and some people need to be condemned. But they all need to be recognized and they all need to be addressed. Good leadership means doing what is right for the people, even if the people don't always see eye to eye with their leader. Good leaders are not crowd pleasers and certainly not demagogues telling the people what they want to hear. There were times when Israel was extremely upset with Moshe. And there were times when Moshe was extremely upset with Israel. And there were even times when G-d was extremely upset with Moshe.  Being a good leader doesn't mean being perfect. Being a good leader means getting your G-d assigned task done without leaving anyone behind. When HaShem saw Moshe, all those many years ago, run after a single lost sheep while attending Yitro's flock, He knew that Moshe was the man He was looking for. So it comes as little surprise that HaShem's immediate response to Moshe's request was “Single out Yehoshua son of Nun, a man of spirit, and lay your hand upon him." (ibid 27:18)  Yehoshua was, of course, Moshe's own student, who had stood by  Moshe's side through thick and thin, who led the war against Amalek,  who stood against his fellow spies when they spoke ill of the land of Israel, and who was promised by G-d entry into the land.    There will never be another Moshe. He was unique among all the prophets of Israel and the deliverer of G-d's commandments to his people. But would-be leaders, if they desire to be truly good leaders, have much to learn from Moshe, not the least of which was Moshe's understanding  that a good leader must lead all the people, and not just a portion of the people. Free nations are not easy nations to lead. They are boisterous, not shy to complain and not easy to please.  The ability to not only hear the people, but to make them feel heard, while all the while hearing G-d's voice as He leads you, is rare, indeed, and not something that wanna-be leaders necessarily want to ascribe to. But it is something that we the people  - all of the people -  must demand.

Eliezer Meir Saidel: Anomalies – Pinchas

Anomalies – Pinchas

לָכֵן אֱמֹר הִנְנִי נֹתֵן לוֹ אֶת בְּרִיתִי שָׁלוֹם. (במדבר כה, יב)

 

After Pinchas zealously executed Zimri and Kozbi, the plague that was wiping out Am Yisrael ceased. Despite this, Chazal (ספרי קלא; מדרש תנחומא פינחס א; סנהדרין פ"ב ע"ב; סוטה מ"ג ע"א) tell us that the tribes were attacking and mocking Pinchas "How could he, בֶּן פּוּטִי זֶה (the grandson of Yitro who served idols) dare kill a Nasi of one of the tribes (Shimon)?"

 

Therefore HKB"H Himself comes to defend Pinchas and (re)awards him the covenant of כְּהֻנָּה, although Pinchas was not "legally" entitled to be a Kohen.

 

 Although Pinchas was the son of Elazar, son of Aharon, the בְּרִית כְּהֻנָּה only applied to Aharon and his sons and their descendants born after HKB"H gave the כְּהֻנָּה to Aharon. Since Pinchas was born before this covenant was given, he was technically not part of it (זבחים, קא, ע"ב).

 

Other Mefarshim (Chizkuni, Abravanel, etc.) say that Pinchas was a Kohen before this episode, but by killing someone, that revoked his right to the כְּהֻנָּה. Here HKB"H re-awarded him the right of כְּהֻנָּה.

 

The word שָׁלוֹם in the passuk above contains what the Rambam (הל' תפילין ומזוזה וספר תורה ז, ח) calls one of the אוֹתִיּוֹת הַמְּשׁוּנּוֹת, the "strange" letters. The letter "Vav" in the word שָׁלוֹם is "broken" in the middle of the letter. This type of "broken" vav is called by Chazal a וָיו קְטִיעָה.

 

The reason it is an anomaly is because normally if a letter in the Torah is broken, it is posel the sefer Torah. Here it is the opposite.

 

There is an enormous halachic discussion regarding this "anomalous" letter "vav", how it is written exactly, if it is in fact "broken" or simply written smaller (like a letter yud), and if it is broken - where exactly the break in the letter is, whether a sefer Torah is kosher if it is not broken, etc.. This is beyond the scope of this shiur as it mainly affects sofrim. If anyone is interested in reading more about this, you may check out this link.

 

In this shiur, I would like instead to explore the symbolic aspect of the וָיו קְטִיעָה.

 

The Gemara in Kiddushin says –

 

בַּעַל מוּם דַּעֲבוֹדָתוֹ פְּסוּלָה מְנָלַן אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה אָמַר שְׁמוּאֵל דְּאָמַר קְרָא לָכֵן אֱמֹר הִנְנִי נֹתֵן לוֹ אֶת בְּרִיתִי שָׁלוֹם כְּשֶׁהוּא שָׁלֵם וְלֹא כְּשֶׁהוּא חָסֵר וְהָא שָׁלוֹם כְּתִיב אָמַר רַב נַחְמָן וָיו דְּשָׁלוֹם קְטִיעָה הִיא (קידושין סו, ע"ב)

 

The Gemara learns a halacha from this passuk, that the avodah of a Kohen who is a בַּעַל מוּם is pasul, because it requires that the Kohen be שָׁלֵם and not handicapped. The Gemara retorts "But the passuk doesn't say שָׁלֵם, it says שָׁלוֹם?" Rav Nachman answers "Yes, but the letter vav in the word שָׁלוֹם is broken".

 

On the surface it appears that the Torah's attitude to a בַּעַל מוּם is that of an "incomplete" person. The Pesikta (פסיקתא דרב כהנא פיסקא יב, ג) tells us that before HKB"H gave the Torah to Am Yisrael, He first wanted to cure us of all our מוּמִים that we had incurred while slaves in Egypt. HKB"H therefore gave us the Mann and water from the Well of Miriam which reconstituted us and restored us to full health and completeness. 

The Midrash (ויקרא רבה יח ד) quotes in the name of R' Shimon bar Yochai that at Har Sinai, when Am Yisrael received the Torah, there were none who were mute, deaf, blind or mentally retarded in any way, as it says כֻּלָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי וּמוּם אֵין בָּךְ (שיר השירים ד, ז). However, after Am Yisrael sinned with the egel, the concept of a מוּם was reintroduced to reality.

 

How then does the Torah relate to someone who is a בַּעַל מוּם, someone with some form of handicap?

 

We see from the Gemara in Kiddushin above, that only Kohanim who are not בַּעַל מוּם may perform avodah in the Beit HaMikdash. The Rambam (הל' ביאת מקדש פרק ו-ח) lists no less than 90 מוּמִים that are posel a Kohen from doing avodah. In fact, the only place that a בַּעַל מוּם is fundamentally forbidden from performing certain mitzvot is in the Mikdash.

 

Today when there is no Beit HaMikdash there are numerous "derivative" halachot regarding the limitations of handicapped people from performing certain mitzvot, for example (שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן קכח, ס"ק ל-לב) a Kohen who has certain handicaps that are visible is not allowed to duchen. This only applies when the Kohen does not cover their face and hands with a tallit. If the Kohen covers his hands and face with the tallit while duchening, it does not matter if he has a visible blemish – which is why it has become the accepted custom in most communities for the Kohen to cover with a tallit. 

Most poskim say that you may not call a blind man up for an aliyah to the Torah (שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן קלט, ס"ק ג) although some poskim (ר' חיים פלאג'י, ספר חיים, סימן יא) say that it is allowed. In these "derivative" instances it is not because of a fundamental isur, like in the Beit HaMikdash, but rather for practical considerations that preclude the person from performing the specific mitzva and for reasons of not causing that person embarrassment in public.   

 

Following the sin with the egel and the reintroduction of מוּמִים in Am Yisrael, a major section of sefer Vayikra deals with how to deal with the reality of a מוּם, on the skin, on the clothes, on the walls of a house, etc. HKB"H gives us the remedy for certain מוּמִים, how to do tikkun for them.

 

What about other physical types of מוּמִים, like those in the list of the Rambam above? Someone who is blind, deaf etc. The Torah does not give any remedy for them, they are nifsal to work as Kohanim in the Mikdash and there is no remedy for that.

 

That is on the one hand. On the other hand, the Gemara (מנחות צט, ע"א) tells us that HKB"H commanded Moshe to place both the second set of complete luchot together with the broken first set of luchot in the Aron. If HKB"H will only accept absolute perfection in the Mikdash, then how is it possible to place the "blemished" set of luchot in the same Aron as the intact set?

 

Which brings us to the larger question "How does HKB"H view people who are בַּעֲלֵי מוּמִים?" There seems to be a glaring paradox. On the one hand HKB"H will not tolerate a Kohen who is a בַּעַל מוּם doing avodah in the Mikdash, but in the holiest place in the Mikdash, inside the Aron HaBrit itself, we have a mixture of perfection and imperfection.

 

I believe the answer to this question lies in the difference between the words שָׁלֵם and שָׁלוֹם.

 

The Torah says וַיָּבֹא יַעֲקֹב שָׁלֵם עִיר שְׁכֶם וכו' (בראשית לג, יח), on which Rashi says שָׁלֵם בְּגוּפוֹ שֶׁנִּתְרַפֵּא מִצִּלְעָתוֹ, שָׁלֵם בְּמָמוֹנוֹ שֶׁלֹּא חָסַר כְּלוּם מִכָּל אוֹתוֹ דּוֹרוֹן. That Yaakov arrived in Shchem in a state of perfection, physical perfection – HKB"H cured his limp incurred from the battle with the angel, and financial perfection – despite giving a large portion (or all) of his wealth as appeasement gifts to Eisav, Yaakov's wealth was not diminished in any way. The word שָׁלֵם means perfection.

 

Although very similar syntactically, the word שָׁלוֹם has a different meaning to שָׁלֵם. What distinguishes one from the other is the addition of a letter vav. The letter vav is characteristically a unifying letter, ו' הַחִבּוּר.

The letter vav has the power to take two disparate entities and bring them together, יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חשֶׁךְ עֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם וּבוֹרֵא אֶת הַכֹּל. Taking two seemingly opposing poles that theoretically cannot coexist with each other and enable them to coexist - like light and dark.

Here is an amazing gematria that illustrates this. If we say that the vav in שָׁלוֹם is a ו' הַחִבּוּר, that means that the vav in שָׁלוֹם connects between  שָׁלand ם, i.e שָׁל-וֹ-ם. The gematria of של(330) is the same gematria as בָּחֹשֶׁךְ. The gematria of םis 600 (the sofit letters have different gematriot to the regular letters, =ך500, =ם600, =ן700, etc.), the same gematria as וְעַד אוֹר הַבֹּקֶר. That gematria made me dance with joy,  I hope it made you do too.

 

An example from the real world is oil and water. Try as you might, it does not matter how long you stir a cup half filled with water and the other half with oil. The two will never mix and unite as one, they will always diverge to their opposite poles (water down below, oil on top). What would happen, however, if you have some compound that could bond water to oil so that they wouldn't run from each other and separate? There is such a compound, it is called an emulsifier. Adding an emulsifier (like lecithin, for example) to such a glass of oil and water, will allow the oil molecules to bond with the water molecules and form a homogenous mixture. The word שָׁלוֹם is a "spiritual emulsifier".

 

Another way to explain the difference between the two words is that שָׁלֵם is the "result" while שָׁלוֹם is the "process". To achieve perfection (result) requires (the process of) bringing together opposing entities.

 

HKB"H, with His infinite power, has no problem making שָׁלוֹם between opposites. Case in point, the plague of hail in Egypt – fire within ice. We, on the other hand have a much more difficult time bonding and making שָׁלוֹם, with HKB"H and with one another.

 

In the Beit HaMikdash there are two distinct "realms" (for want of a better word). The realm of "covenant" (Aron HaBrit) and the realm of "avodah" (Kohanim/Levi'im/Korbanot).

 

HKB"H's covenant with us is that of a husband to a wife, כֻּלָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי וּמוּם אֵין בָּךְ. How do you form a union between the perfection that is HKB"H and the imperfection that is Am Yisrael? For HKB"H that is easy, HKB"H can make שָׁלוֹם between fire and ice, אוֹר and חשֶׁךְ. For HKB"H to bring people who are at the 49^th level of טֻמְאָה to a state of perfection וּמוּם אֵין בָּךְ at Har Sinai is not difficult, He just performs miracles – Mann from Heaven, water from the Well of Miriam. The "wedding" at Har Sinai was between perfection and perfection.

 

How did that work out? The honeymoon lasted 40 days and then the whole thing fell apart. The reason it fell apart is because the "bride" was not required to make any effort, just to show up and be willing. The consequence of that were the שִׁבְרֵי לוּחוֹת. When a marriage is one sided, it won't last long. Only when the effort is mutual will it endure. In the first iteration, HKB"H gave Moshe the לוּחוֹת ready made and they ended up being shattered. In the second iteration, HKB"H told Moshe פְּסׇל לְךָ שְׁנֵי לֻחֹת אֲבָנִים (שמות לד, א), you make the effort this time, you carve the second set of לוּחוֹת. Instead of 40 days, the second לוּחוֹת have lasted 3338 years (and counting)!

 

If you closely examine the Torah, you will see that the Torah is not perfection. If the Torah was perfection, then the angels would have been justified in their claim against HKB"H "Why give the Torah to man, leave it up here in Heaven with the angels!" (תהילים ח, ב). In truth, the Torah is a mixture of perfection and imperfection. One the one hand the Torah sets the standard for perfection, what we need to strive to. 

On the other hand, the Torah is all about fallibility. Anyone who has studied halacha will know that halacha is the "art of fallibility". Yes, we have the "gold" standard that we should strive for, but what do we do if we "mess up"? 90% or more of halacha deals with what to do when we mess up. The Aron HaBrit contains both the לוּחוֹת and the שִׁבְרֵי לוּחוֹת, perfection and imperfection.

 

Unless HKB"H performs miracles, we humans are incapable of achieving perfection on our own. Even the most elevated individual in Am Yisrael, the Kohen Gadol is fallible and imperfect. One of the 10 miracles listed that occurred during the period of the Beit HaMikdash (אבות ה, ה) was וְלֹא אֵרַע קֶרִי לְכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל בְּיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים. The only reason that Yom Kippur happened each year is because HKB"H made a miracle. If it was solely up to us, we could never achieve perfection, we are all fallible and imperfect, from the greatest among us to the lowest.

 

HKB"H never demands perfection from us. He only demands maximum effort.

 

Kayin had the original idea to bring the first korban, it was his brainchild. Kayin was a farmer, he could have offered his best produce – Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, Jaffa oranges … instead he brought an offering from the stuff that he was never going to use – flax. What do you do with flax? You make clothes out of it (linen). Clothes were not Kayin's domain, they were מְטַלְטְלִין, which was Hevel's domain. Kayin's korban didn't "hurt", it was effortless, it was not something that he valued for himself, it was something that he was going to get rid of anyway. Instead of offering something that was precious and valuable to him and difficult to part with, like Jaffa oranges, which he was going to eat, he made no real effort. HKB"H said to him "You get an A+ for initiative, but an F- for effort!" That is not what avodah is about, it is not about bright ideas - it is about slog.

 

When HKB"H sees us making the maximum effort, He is מַשְׁלִים with a miracle and then, and only then can we achieve perfection.

 

HKB"H asks only this of us – to try our hardest to achieve perfection. To be the "process", to try to make שָׁלוֹם between the imperfection that we are and the perfection that we can be, with HKB"H's help. Using the Torah as the model and the mechanism.

 

There is not a single one of us who does not have a מוּם of some kind, we are all blemished. We all have our unique challenge to raise ourselves up beyond our blemishes and starting stats and strive for perfection with all of our might, in the realization that we can never achieve it without HKB"H's help. To make שָׁלוֹם on an individual level between our inherent imperfections and our aspirations.

 

This is as relevant on a national level as well as on an individual level. As a nation we have to make the best "national effort" to take the "choicest of our produce" as an offering to HKB"H, to choose the "least blemished" of us to stand at the forefront between us and HKB"H in the Beit HaMikdash. None of us is totally perfect, but by fronting someone with a "known blemish" is indicative of lack of effort. It is like Kayin and the flax instead of the Jaffa oranges. This is why HKB"H is intolerant of Kohanim that have one of the 90 מוּמִים  fronting for Am Yisrael in the Mikdash, because it is indicative of F- for effort. This is why we cannot offer a korban that has a מוּם, for the same reason.

 

The only representatives of Am Yisrael at the forefront between us and HKB"H are the Kohanim, who are אוֹהֵב שָׁלוֹם וְרוֹדֵף שָׁלוֹם, they are the pinnacle of the "process" and are the national "emulsifier" that bridges the gap between the imperfection that is Am Yisrael and the perfection that is HKB"H.

 

Where does that leave people with "handicaps", people who are blind, deaf, autistic, etc.? Does the fact that they are not fit for avodah in the Beit HaMikdash mean they are lesser individuals?

 

On the contrary. HKB"H gives the greatest challenges only to the neshamot He knows are capable of handling them. Without generalizing (there are exceptions on both sides), from personal experience individuals we regard as "handicapped" are usually much more elevated spiritually than those we regard as normal, even gifted. In fact, more often than not it is the "gifted" people, for whom everything comes easily, that are the more pompous and conceited.

 

Well known are the stories told of HaRav Eliezer Shach zt"l one of the Gedolei HaDor of our generation, who used to stand up when a special needs person (autistic, Downs syndrome etc.) would enter the Beit Knesset. When asked why he did so, he replied that they have extremely elevated neshamot.

 

HKB"H wants the least blemished of us to front for Am Yisrael in the Beit HaMikdash, but the real tough jobs of tikkun, He gives to the "handicapped" amongst us. It is they, the tzaddikim nistarim, who are achieving the greatest tikkun for Am Yisrael. I don't think it is a coincidence that in recent generations the number of autistic children is rising drastically, because as we approach the Geulah, it will be they who achieve the final tikkun for the rest of Am Yisrael.

 

It is all about our avodah, our effort, the "process", making שָׁלוֹם between our imperfections and the perfection that we strive to achieve. It is a very powerful thing but it is also a very fragile thing. It is typified by a וָיו קְטִיעָה, an imperfect letter vav in the word שָׁלוֹם and it is the gift davka given to Pinchas.

 

The reason is because Chazal tell us that Pinchas is Eliyahu HaNavi. Eliyahu is not the Mashiach. What is Eliyahu HaNavi's role? We read it each time we recite Birkat HaMazon הָרַחֲמָן הוּא יִשְׁלַח לָנוּ אֶת־אֵלִיָּהוּ הַנָּבִיא זָכוּר לַטּוֹב, וִיבַשֶּׂר לָנוּ בְּשׂוֹרוֹת טוֹבוֹת יְשׁוּעוֹת וְנֶחָמוֹת. Eliyahu's role is to precede the Mashiach, to announce his impending arrival. As we read in sefer Malachi הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא לִפְנֵי בּוֹא יוֹם ה' הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא. וְהֵשִׁיב לֵב אָבוֹת עַל בָּנִים וְלֵב בָּנִים עַל אֲבוֹתָם פֶּן אָבוֹא וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת הָאָרֶץ חֵרֶם (מלאכי ג, כג-כד).

 

It will be Pinchas/Eliyahu HaNavi's role to make שָׁלוֹם in Am Yisrael and cause us to do teshuva, so the maximum number of us will merit surviving into the era of Mashiach.

 

HKB"H is done doing miracles for nothing, like He did the first time at Matan Torah. He has changed His modus operandi of doing miracles only to complement our maximum effort. The miracle of sending Eliyahu HaNavi will only happen after we, Am Yisrael make our maximum effort to achieve שָׁלוֹם. Then HKB"H will be מַשְׁלִים and send the Mashiach.

 

We all know what a fragile thing שָׁלוֹם is and how easily it can slip through our fingers if we don't do our maximum hishtadlut, each in our own מְצִיאוֹת, each with our own מוּמִים and limitations. None of us alone can make שָׁלוֹם in Am Yisrael, it can only be done all together.

 

 

Shabbat Shalom

Eliezer Meir Saidel

Machon Lechem Hapanim

www.machonlechemhapanim.org 

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