To Die For His People
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לרפואה שלמה פרומא לאה בת שרה אידל
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To Die For
His People
Moshe requests הראני נא את כבודך; show me your glory, to which Hashem responds that one can’t
see me and live.[1]
Didn’t Moshe know this?
Humility is required in order
to be a leader since if one is arrogant he can’t lead the people. A king needs לית מגרמיה כלום; nothing of himself.[2]
Consequently, the initials of this phrase spell מלך. מלך is also composed of the same letters as לכם because he is there for you; nothing for himself.
We see this by Dovid Hamelech
who possessed humility as it says אנכי
תולעת ולא איש; I am a worm, not a man.[3]
Similarly, Moshe is called the most humble man.[4]
In the secular world, the ones who become the leaders are the ones that desire
to. This is in contrast to us where the leaders are the ones who don’t want to
become leaders since they don’t feel worthy of the position.[5]
The Gemara[6]
tells us that in עקבתא דמשיחא, פני הדור
כפני הכלב; the face of the generation is like the face of a dog. פני הדור refers to the leaders.[7]
A leader must guide with authority and teach right from wrong. However, in the
period before, Moshiach the leaders will first check to see if their views are
received. This is just as a dog appears that it is leading its owner but when
it gets to an intersection it looks back to him to see where to go.[8]
R’ Baruch Ber Liebowitz
remarked that a Jewish leader needs to put his life on the line for the Jewish
people. This is how the Alshich interprets the opening Pasuk in Ki Sisa כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל לפקדיהם ונתנו איש כפר נפשו- when you appoint a
leader let it be one who is Moser Nefesh for the people. In a similar vein,
this is how R’ Yitzchak Vorka interprets יפקד ה'
אלה-י הרוחת לכל בשר איש על העדה אשר יצא לפניהם-[9]
Moshe wanted that Hashem should appoint a leader who is Moser Nefesh for Klal
Yisrael. This can be achieved when a leader has the ultimate humility.
[1] Shemos 33:18,20
[2] Brought in Siduro Shel Shabbos 2,1,13 in the name of
the Tikunai Zohar
[3] Tehillim 22:7
[4] Bamidbar 12:3
[5] See Eruvin 13b, Chullin 89b
[6] Sota 49b
[7] See Breishis Rabba 79:6. See R’ Elchonon Wasserman
who quotes the Chofetz Chaim in Kuntres Ikvos Meshicha.
[8] R’ Elchonon Wasserman in Kovetz Maamarim V’Agados, p
285. There is a saying, “Once special people were famous. Today famous people
are special.”
[9] Bamidbar 27:16
[10] Moed Katan 28a
[11] The
first Knasiya Gedola was held in 1923 in Vienna by Agudas Yisrael. The Imrei
Emes sent R’ Meir Don Plotzky, author of the Kli Chemda (He also wrote the
Chemdas Yisrael which is on the Sefer Hamitzvos of the Rambam as well as שאלו שלום ירושלים which is a pamphlet on the forged Yerushalmi on Kodshim where
someone claimed he found a Yerushalmi on Kodshim.) to escort the Chofetz Chaim
on to Vienna on the way from Radin. When the train stopped at different
stations, people would come to the train station in order to get a look at the
Chofetz Chaim. However, the Chofetz Chaim refused to go to the window. When the
Kli Chemda asked him why he declined, the Chofetz Chaim told him that from the
honor and pleasure he would receive, it would diminish his עולם הבא (See Sefer Chassidim 84). The Kli Chemda responded: “For two
reasons, you should let them see you. One is because it is worth it to lose a
portion of the next world to give pleasure to Jews. The second reason is…” The
Chofetz Chaim interjected and said I don’t need a second reason. He then went
to the window.
[12] On the
words וימהר משה ויקד ארצה וישתחו; Moshe hurried to bow his head toward the ground and prostrate
himself (Shemos 34:8), which comes after the thirteen attributes of mercy, we
are taught that Moshe hurried to bow so that Hashem shouldn’t say על חמשים; recalling iniquity of parents until the fifth generation (see
34:7 where it says until the third and fourth generations). The Ibn Ezra (to
Shemos 34:8) is bothered that if this is the case then Moshe was liable to
death (חייב מיתה) since he interrupted Hashem while He was talking? The Chassam
Sofer (על התורה, Korach, s.v. first בקר וידע) brings an incredible answer from the Ramban: Indeed, Moshe was
Moser Nefesh before Hashem- because of his אהבת ישראל; love for the Jewish people. He was willing to die for the
Jewish people in order to save them from punishment one generation less!
