The times they are a changin’

Parashat Pinchas, Numbers 25:10–30:1

Michael Hillel, Netanya, Israel

When I volunteered to prepare a study on this week’s Torah portion, in the back of my mind I was thinking about Pinchas’ zeal for the honor and holiness of Hashem (Num 25:10–11), or maybe about the covenant of shalom and everlasting priesthood that Hashem would establish between him and Pinchas and his descendants forever (Num 25:12–13). As I sat down to begin writing, however, the Ruach took me in an entirely different direction. 

An October 2015 Forbes article entitled “When And How To Hand Over The Reins To Your Business” asks, “How do you know when it’s time to step aside and make room for a new generation of leaders? And what’s the best way to handle the transition?” Of the five points in the article, two struck me as relevant to this week’s readings: 1) prepare the next generation of leaders, and then 2) move aside and stay there (on the sidelines). 

In Parashat Pinchas, Hashem tells Moses that it is his time to step aside, but Hashem doesn’t say who is to take over. 

Then Adonai said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and look at the land that I have given to Bnei-Yisrael. When you have seen it, you will be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother was gathered.” (Num 27:12–13; cf. Deut 32:48–50)

Because Hashem does not tell Moses who is to take over, it appears that Moses will be unable to train the new leader or to prepare the best manner of transition. So Moses does what had become his pattern when he had to deal with things beyond his control, he prays. 

“May Adonai, God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the community to go out and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them out so that the people of Adonai will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” (Num 27:16–17)

Immediately Hashem responds with the answer. 

“Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Ruach, and lay your hand on him. . . .” Moses did as Adonai commanded him. He took Joshua, stood him before Eleazar the kohen and all the entire assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him just as Adonai had spoken, by Moses’ hand. (Num 27:18, 22–23)

Not much is said in this passage about Moses’ preparing Joshua, but earlier in Numbers we are told that Joshua son of Nun was Moses’ assistant since Joshua was but a youth (Num 11:28) and that Joshua had already proved himself faithful when he gave a good report upon returning from spying out the land  (Num 13). From these accounts it is clear that Moses has been mentoring Joshua for years. 

Likewise, in this week’s haftarah, 1 Kings 18:46–19:21, Elijah’s replacement is sprung on him with little to no preparation. Hashem’s command to Elijah to anoint his replacement almost reads like a passing thought, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place” (1 Kings 19:15–16). According to tradition, Elijah then mentored Elisha for six or seven years. 

The second point gleaned from the Forbes article seems simple; the outgoing leader is to move aside and stay there (on the sidelines). This point is not an issue for either Moses or Elijah, since when the time comes to turn over the reins, Hashem takes them both away. Granted, this is not an ideal manner of being sidelined that most leaders would want to face. A much better way is for the outgoing leader to be able to say like Rav Shaul when he was preparing to go up to Jerusalem the last time, “Take care of yourselves and all the flock of which the Ruach ha-Kodesh has made you overseers, to shepherd the community of God” (Acts 20:28).  

Rav Shaul was speaking to friends, disciples, and co-workers, ones he had mentored and trained “for such a time as this.” Although Rav Shaul was not going to his immediate death, most of the individuals he was addressing would never see him again. Like Moses and Elijah, Rav Shaul had to trust that the training and mentoring each had received over the years would be enough for them to become the successful physical and spiritual leaders that their communities needed. It is safe to assume that all three of these outgoing leaders knew that there were gaps in their replacements’ training that would leave them unprepared to handle some of the situations they would face. Each of these three men had to trust that in times like these others would step in: Moses trusted that Eleazar the kohen would assist Joshua; Elijah, more than likely, trusted that other prophets would assist Elisha when he had to deal with the unknown; and from the tone of Rav Shaul’s exhortation, he expected the various communal leaders to stand together to supply what the other might need.  

Today, in many of our Messianic communities, our leadership is growing older and, well, the times they are a changin’. What worked in the past doesn’t always work today because society has changed drastically over the last few decades. Technology and social media have changed the way today’s generation reacts and responds to the world around them. Hopefully we have been training or mentoring younger leaders, preparing them to step in when it is our time to climb the mountain like Moses or to hand over the mantle like Elijah. However, if we have not yet started this process, it is not too late! We simply need to follow Moses’ pattern to pray and seek Hashem’s choice of whom to mentor and then to pour into their lives. Finally, no matter where in the process we find ourselves, we are to commission these appointed leaders and release them to do what Hashem has empowered them to do.  

My hope and prayer is that we are preparing the next generation of leaders to step in and that we step aside and let them take the reins when the time is right. 

All Scripture references are from the Tree of Life Version (TLV).