The least appreciated verse in the Torah must be “וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור“ The second least appreciated verse in the Torah is… “וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור.“ And the third least appreciated verse in the Torah is…
“וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור.”
Do you see where I’m going? Dozens of passages in the Torah are introduced with the verse
“וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור.“
It’s almost a throwaway line. The verse reminds us that the passages that follow are the product of God’s communication to Moshe, “וידבר ה׳ אל משה“ and that the communication in question should then be transmitted to to others. That’s the לאמור part. God spoke to Moshe, and God did so with the expectation that Moshe would transmit the message to others.
These verses are some of the least appreciated verses in the Torah because they are repeated countless times. In some ways, it would have been easier to have giant וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור right at the beginning of the Torah and that would have sufficed. But, for all the repetition, the phrase reminds us, every so often, that the mitzvot and messages of the Torah have a Divine Source and were transmitted by a faithful servant.
What is the most audacious verse in the Torah?
It occurred in our Torah reading this morning. Did you miss it?
.וידבר משה אל ה׳ לאמר
And Moshe spoke to God, saying…
This is a total inversion of a core phrase that occurs again and again in the Torah. Here, in our parasha, Moshe dares to confront God with the same direct, terse, framing that the Torah uses time after time in the other direction.
.וידבר משה אל ה׳ לאמר
This is not one of the heroic episodes when Moshe pleads on behalf of his people and wins atonement or forgiveness. This is not one of those dramatic occasions when Moshe challenges God with shocking boldness to forgo meeting out upon us a well-deserved punishment for some sin.
Moshe’s role-reversal with God occurs when Moshe instructs God on the need for a successor.
וַיְדבֵ֣ר מֹשֶ֔ה אֶל־ה׳ לֵאמֹֽר׃
יִפְק֣ד ה׳ אֱלהֵ֥י הָרוחֹ֖ת לְכָל־בָשָ֑ר אִ֖יש עַל־הָעֵדֽה׃
אֲשֶר־יֵצֵ֣א לִפְנֵיהֶ֗ם וַאֲשֶ֤ר יָבֹא֙ לִפְנֵיהֶ֔ם וַאֲשֶ֥ר יוצִיאֵ֖ם וַאֲשֶ֣ר יְבִיאֵ֑ם וְל֤א תִהְיֶה֙ עֲד֣ת ה׳ כַצֹ֕אן אֲשֶ֥ר אֵין־לָהֶ֖ם רעֶֽה׃
Moses spoke to the LORD, saying,
“Let the LORD, Source of the breath of all flesh, appoint someone over the community who shall go out before them and come in before them, and who shall take them out and bring them in, so that the LORD’s community may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”
Moshe is nearing the end of his life. His thoughts turn to the next generation and his awareness that there must be a leader for the next generation.
Rashi tells us:
לְהודיעַ שִבְחָן שֶל צַדִיקים, כְשֶנִפְטָרים מִן הָעולָם מַנִיחִים צָרכָן, וְעוסְקין בְצָרכֵי צִבור
“This episode is a praise of Moshe who acts in the manner of other righteous individuals. As they prepare to take their leave of this world, they set aside their own needs and involve themselves in the concerns of the community.”
Moshe dedicated forty years of his life to serving God and to serving his people. His greatness as a leader came because his love for Klal Yisrael surpassed even his passion for justice and his devotion to God. And so Moshe was defined by his being the humble servant, who transmitted God’s message, word for word, without deviation or modification. But Moshe became the faithful shepherd when he spoke out on behalf of his people.
Here, nearing the end of his life, Moshe doesn’t speak out. He simply instructs. If the Torah didn’t say it explicitly, none of us would dare to say such a thing. Moshe instructs God, .וידבר משה אל ה׳ לאמר, Moshe has a message for God. He isn’t pleading in this passage. He’s stating a fact that the people of Israel must not be left without leadership. They must not be left as sheep without a shepherd.
Two hundred and twenty years ago, George Washington, in his Farewell Address expressed his gratitude at the honor of serving his country, but then changed his focus:
Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people.
George Washington could have read this from Rashi:
כְשֶנִפְטָרים מִן הָעולָם מַנִיחִים צָרכָן, וְעוסְקין בְצָרכֵי צִבור
when the righteous prepare to leave the world, they turn their focus on the needs of the community. Washington was not, of course, asking God for a worthy successor, he was encouraging us, the citizens who engage in public life, to maintain the values and principles that Washington considered essential.
Moshe will do this as well. It’s called Sefer Devarim.
But here, Moshe, is expressing the need that the people will have for worthy leadership, and by preceding Moshe’s request with the astounding and audacious phrase: וַיְדֵ֣בר מֹשֶ֔ה אֶל־ה׳ לֵאֹֽמר׃ the Torah is endorsing Moshe’s request and is, implicitly, saying that Moshe finding a worthy successor is the counterpart to the dozens of times that God has addressed Moshe and used him as a vehicle for communicating and commanding.
And indeed this should be so. Of what worth is Moshe’s mission, if the mission is not continued in the coming generation? Did we come all this way, to turn around and stop after the end of Moshe’s career? And so Moshe lets God know, and the Torah lets all of us know that all of the וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור that are in the Torah, depend on the וַיְדֵ֣בר מֹשֶ֔ה אֶל־ה׳ לֵאֹֽמר, because it will all come to naught if the people are left like sheep with no shepherd.
I don’t think any one of us likes to think of ourselves of sheep. And, in a democratic political culture, and in a religious culture that is infused with democratic values, all of us need to be the sheep and the shepherd all in one. Whether leadership is hierarchical or horizontal and diffuse, there is a still a need for leadership. Individuals, families, and nations need direction.
In our daf yomi study last week, we came across a striking phrase:
‘“כד רגיז רעיא על ענא עביד לנגדא סמותא”
“When the shepherd is angry, he makes the lead sheep blind.”
In this metaphor, God is the shepherd, and the lead sheep are the human leaders whom we turn to for guidance and inspiration and direction. When they lack vision, all the sheep necessarily suffer.
May God open all of our eyes, sheep and shepherd alike, to lead and to follow, to deliberate and to decide, with discernment and wisdom.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 