Greatness Thrust Upon Us
Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer
July 10, 2020 / Parshat Pinchas
It’s been 38 + years since the original Israelite census, the one before everyone over 20 was condemned to die in the wilderness because they couldn’t hold onto faith for five minutes before getting distracted.
And now, the new generation steps up to be counted. But they look around and everyone’s gone. The heroes/The leaders/the chiefs/the elders are gone. The only ones left from that great generation who survived the plagues and walked through a split sea are Moses and Caleb...and a 450 year old crone named Serah bat Asher. And now it’s us, the ones who weren’t yet born, or who barely remember holding our parents hands while marching toward freedom, the pishers, they/we now stand at the front of the line, ready or not, to be counted. How did that happen?
Wasn’t it just yesterday when Moses demurred not once, not twice, but 7 times--God, you’ve got the wrong guy--before taking on the biggest leadership challenge since...ever?
Now Moses learns he will die before reaching the Promised Land. Who will lead them? God, don’t let them be like a flock without a shepherd.
The moment we realize that we are at the front of the line. The ones being counted. It is upon us. עלינו (aleinu). Mistakes are now ours to make. Change is ours to make.
A story from the Babylonian Talmud tractate Berachot: Rebbe Eliezer lay in bed dying. His students came to visit their beloved teacher. He looked so frail. Seemingly out of nowhere, the students plead with their dying teacher: Rabbi, teach us the way of life, so we may merit the world to come.
The Piezetzner Rebbe asks: Why are they asking this question now? Surely he has taught them hundreds of lessons on how to live righteously. The Piezetzner explains: R Eliezer’s students have shown up every day, for years, they sat at his table, as students, the younger generation gleaning and absorbing Today, as their teacher lays dying, they have become the leaders of the next generation. The world is on their shoulders.
The students of Rebbe Eliezer are terrified. That’s why they vex their dying teacher with hopes of last gasp wisdom, they long for his spirit to rest in them.
Jewish tradition ritualized the moment of transmission and transition in this week’s parasha. When Joshua is selected as the next leader, Moshe stands him before all of the priests, the whole male Israelite community and ritually lays his hands on Joshua’s head, semicha, it’s called--to ‘lay or lean’ the leadership on his shoulders. And ritually imprints his qualities into Joshua. According to HaEmek Dvar, through the act of semicha, Moshe filled his student like a vessel with his wisdom..
Have you experienced a transmission, figurative laying of hands? Not only standing on the shoulders of giants, but feeling hands rest solidly on your shoulders. Standing behind you. Imbuing you with wisdom. .
But leadership isn’t only exercised by those who receive permission or semicha from teachers and institutions. It sometimes comes from an even deeper place. A Divinely-inspired place. Juxtaposed with this transmission of authority from Moshe to Joshua immediately before, is the scene of 5 famous sisters. Bnot Zelophechad.
The daughters of Zelophehad knock on the door of the ohel moed, the center of power. ותקרבנה (vatikravna) they approach the male heads of state. The Israelite leaders go silent. Has a woman ever before entered the tent of meeting? . Unprecedented. And awkward. ותעמדנה (vata'amodna) The 5 sisters stand and stand their ground-not only in front of Moshe; The text repeats the word lifnei--, in front of: before Elazar the priest; before the princes male authority and all the community at the entry of the tent of meeting: And then they speak. Each of them speaks, they share the stage in a feminist collaborative leadership model.
Our father died in the wilderness...And he didn’t have sons. Why should the name of our father disappear, just because he doesn’t have a son. Give us the portion, amongst our father’s brothers.
They took radical action, and did so with political acumen. They spoke truth to power, in a language that power could understand.
But Moshe is flummoxed. He advised everyone to bring the toughest cases for him to decide...and now, for the first time, he was stumped.
God steps in--Ken-- the daughters of Zelophehad speak -- YES. They speak truth. Rightly. Justly. Give them what they ask for.
No one placed their hands on these women’s shoulders. No one handed them power or authority. In fact, their society had failed them, and they had nothing left to lose. But the daughters of Zelophechad approached. They stood their ground. It says that when Joshua took power, Moshe brought Joshua close, and Moshe stood him in front of Elazar the priest and all of the leaders. Without a mentor, without the permission of society, bnot zelophechad marched themselves to the front. No one invited them.
According to a contemporary midrash by Rivka Lubitz, before they approached the male authority, they approached each other. They gave each other permission and courage. They organized. When their father was alive, they could never have done this. Their father’s name, Zelophechad, literally means Tzel Pahad, the shadow of fear. When their father was alive, they lived under the shadow of fear. And after he died, you can imagine that fear cast a long shadow. Only when they approached each other, listened to each other, took counsel with each other, could they access a font of courage--to step out of that shadow, and to approach, as a collective, the halls of power and do what no one had ever done before. They stepped into a space no one invited them into, one that was in every way explicitly and implicitly denied to them. Can you imagine how they felt, standing in the tent of meeting, surrounded by men?
Lubitz builds on an ancient midrash, from Sifrei, which describes the sisters coming together in a remarkable conversation: When they first heard that the cities and neighborhoods of Israel were to be carved according to the men of each tribe and not the women, they took counsel with each other, and said, We know...God’s compassion is not like the compassion of human beings. People have implicit bias, they favor men over women. Not God. God's compassion extends to men and women equally, the Divine does not give preferential treatment nor discriminate.
Bnot Zelophchad only then approach the room full of male officials, with semicha from God. With that kind of semicha, ממי אירא, whom could they fear?
Speaking of semicha, why are these two scenes juxtaposed (semicha not only refers to a leaning of hands, but to 2 Torah scenes leaning against each other)--Why does the state-sanctioned transfer of power from Moshe to Joshua immediately follow Bnot Zelophehad? I want to put our midrashic imagination to work, inspired by Romemu member and teacher Evelyn Goodman, z”l, who taught me: life is midrash. Life is in the power of our imagination, it’s what we see behind the written text, it’s the subversive and creative subtext that we put into action.
If you remember, Moshe was tongue-tied when the Zelophechad 5 approached. He couldn’t handle their case, and God had to declare כן, the simplest word you can understand--they speak כן they speak YES. correctly. You must listen to them. The man who had led our people out of Egypt couldn’t understand power outside of a very narrow definition.
God ruled in the sisters’ favor, Their leadership took root. Change is in motion. In the NEXT VERSE, God tells Moshe he will die without reaching the promised land, and must transfer his power immediately. Coincidence? I don’t think so. There has been a rupture, and change is on the horizon. Moses had stood baffled by the 5 sisters. He led us out of Egypt, but could not lead us to the next horizon.
I want to imagine, that even if the Zelophchad sisters were passed up for the presidency (this time) that Joshua learned from their courage to stand on their own,. That Mahla, Noa, Hogla, Milcah, and Tirza (The Zelophchad sisters) collaborated with Joshua to lead society out of the shadow of fear, and into the light. The rabbis say that Joshua’s power was his ability to connect with everyone, to listen to everyone. Where could he have learned this except from Bnot Zelophchad--who knew how to communicate so people could hear? Because life is midrash, and it’s all in the text, we just need the imagination, the creativity, and the drive to act on it.
So maybe you are more like Joshua; power has been handed to you; teachers and invested authorities placed their hands on your shoulders, gave you all the tools and told you to use your voice, your voice will be heard:
Are you ready to step back and listen? Will you amplify the voices of others? Are you prepared to use your voice to help dismantle the structures that empowered you in the first place in order to build something just?
Or maybe you identify with the daughters of Zelophechad, and no one placed their institutional hands on your shoulders or handed you opportunity. In fact, structures of power were built and maintained to keep your voice out, but you listened to a deeper voice, the Divine Voice, the One who said השמיעיני את קלך (hashmi'ini et kolech) let us hear your voice, when no one else did. and you stepped out of the shadow of fear, and into the halls of power. How will you use your voice?
And for those who stand at the intersection of archetypal ancestors, HOW will you navigate when to listen, amplify and speak?
Because whichever archetypes you subscribe to, עלינו (aleinu). It is upon us. Whether we like it or not. Whether we formally accept the responsibility or not. The system is on us. The change is ours to make.
Change requires imagination. Life is midrash. The ink of the written Torah may have dried, and reside inside of the scroll at Marilyn’s home. But the oral Torah, midrash, is still in process, still unfolding, and it’s up to us to unfold it. Feel your ancestors’
Hands rest on your shoulders; Let’s look to each other for courage and strength; and let us feel the Divine Face illuminating so we know when and how to speak, when to listen, and when to lead from the shadow into the light.
