Sun Rise and Sunset
A leader is not a magician who with the wave of a magic wand can unite and lead the people. The leader needs the cooperation of his people. All of the people, despite their different interests and levels, must possess, at least, one cause that they share equally. Even if we cannot agree on anything else, we must find one central issue and cause that unites us.
Commanding G-d?!
In most parts of the Torah, the dialogue between G-d and Moses is where G-d addresses Moses and tells him what he should say to the Jewish people. Occasionally, Moses pleads with G-d or asks Him for guidance in obscure areas of Jewish law. In this week’s parsha, however, we find Moses, more or less, suggesting/telling G-d what He ought to do.
Moses says to G-d: “Let G-d, appoint a leader over the congregation.” To this request of Moses G-d replied, “Before you demand that I act for My sons, demand that My sons act for Me”.
G-d then proceeds to tell Moses about the need for the Jewish nation to bring a daily sacrifice in the Temple for G-d.
The question arises how the demand of Israel to bring daily sacrifices is an appropriate response to Moses’ request for a leader who would take the people into Israel after his passing.
One Unifying Cause
The following answer is an adaptation of an explanation given in the Chassidic work, Shem Mishmuel.
The daily sacrifice was offered on behalf of every Jew. Moreover, every Jew personally participated in the daily offering by virtue of his contribution of a half-shekel every year. The combined shekalim funded the daily sacrifice.
This implies that the daily sacrifice was a symbol that all of Israel had one unified practice and one unified purpose.
G-d’s response to Moses was thus: A leader is not a magician who with the wave of a magic wand can unite and lead the people. The leader needs the cooperation of his people. All of the people, despite their different interests and levels, must possess, at least, one cause that they share equally. Even if we cannot agree on anything else, we must find one central issue and cause that unites us.
And at that point, the people are ready for a true leader, who takes the solitary unifying element and capitalizes on it and renders it the fuel that energizes the people in all other areas of life.
Why Two Offerings?
This explanation, however, begs another question.
Granted that the daily sacrifice was the unifying element that made them candidates for a genuine leader, why was there a need for two daily sacrifices?
The following answer can be offered:
The two daily offerings were brought, one in the morning and one in the afternoon; the time of the sun rising and setting, respectively.
For unity to be effective it must be consistent. There are two times when our unity is tested. When our national fortune is on the rise, there is always a danger that each of us will go his or her merry way, in pursuit of the better life. In times of crises, when the sun seems to be setting, we often find it to be easier to unite. The morning daily sacrifice that united us in the hours of the sun rising was the response to that challenge.
Conversely, when our national fortune is on the wane, and things seem to be deteriorating, it can also test our unity, just as marriages are often threatened in times of crisis. The afternoon daily sacrifice addresses that issue. Unity is needed and must be pursued in times of the sun setting as well.
Paradoxical Times
We are presently living in paradoxical times. Our sun is rising and setting simultaneously. The Jewish people have risen from the ashes of Auschwitz, reclaimed their ancestral land, made the desert bloom and achieved the most in the areas of science, technology, medicine, agriculture, defense, religious observance and Jewish scholarship.
The same is true for the Jews in the Diaspora. Never before have Jews enjoyed as much freedom, prosperity and acceptance in the Western world. Indeed, even the Soviet Empire has crumbled and provides Jews with opportunities never before even dreamt of in the past.
Yet, the Jewish Homeland, the Land of Israel, has never before been threatened with terrorism and the prospects of Iran procuring nuclear weapons. Israel is also facing unprecedented international isolation and de-legitimization, although that seems to be changing now at the time of the publishing of this essay. And radical Islam with its anti- Jewish obsession is quickly spreading throughout Europe and indeed the entire world.
In the Diaspora, while Judaism is flourishing and the growth of committed Jewish communities is exponential, we are also witnessing the loss of thousands of Jews to the forces of assimilation.
We have thus been given a double challenge:
Sun Rising and Setting
Our sun is rising and setting. It is rising because we are on the threshold of a new age, which we have been anticipating for thousands of years – the Messianic Age.
Our sun is also setting, precisely because the forces of evil recognize they are soon to be vanquished and thrust into obsolescence. This is their last stand.
As we await the imminent arrival of the ultimate Jewish leader, the Moshiach, we must learn the lesson G-d gave Moses:
When you are ready to accept a true leader, you must offer the daily sacrifice—the “unity rite”—in the paradoxical time of the sun rising and setting.
Our mission is to meet this dual challenge unique to our day and age by finding ways of uniting in spite of the differences that we cannot currently resolve.
Moshiach’s task, among other daunting challenges, will be to “gather all of the Jews back to the Land of Israel,” both physically and spiritually. Moshiach will take the existing unity and make it pervasive. (Don’t worry; we’ll still be able to argue.) All that is asked of us is to bring one common sacrifice, one gesture of love and unity, and Moshiach will change the world, once and for all.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Pinchas by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
