It was an interesting week for
fathers and sons and succession this week. It was interesting watching the
relationship between the older generation and the younger generation. The week
began with Donald Trump Jr. getting into a bit of hot water when seemed to try
a bit too hard to help his father with the aid of a Russian Lawyer. While that
story continue to be examined and its many layers peeled away there was another
father/son moment that occurred early in the week as well. There is no baseball
this week due to the All Star game that occurred on Tuesday night. However on
Monday night Major League Baseball held its annual home run derby. Eight
players were selected. One of players selected was a 21 year old phenom from the
Los Angeles Dodgers, named Cody Bellinger. His father, Clay Bellinger, was a
former baseball player with a fairly non-descript career primarily as a bench
player. Yet on Monday night, there was dad throwing baseballs to his son as the
son tried to hit the ball out of the park. In the a particularly touching
moment, at the end of the first round, which Cody won; father and son met
between the pitcher’s mound and home plate and hugged. When I was younger, as a
boy, a teenager and even a young man; it is a hug that my father and my grandfather
gave me. It is a hug that I have given my son. The final father son moment of the week did
not make the news, the political talk shows, ESPN or the sports section. It is approximately five weeks before our
son’s Bar Mitzvah. At this point, some say a month and some say two months, the
Bar Mitzvah boy puts on his tefillin without making the corresponding blessing.
This putting on the tefillin for the first time in front of his community is
known as HaNachat Tefillin. So I drove down to camp, and we put on our tefillin together along with his camp community. I had been showing him prior
to his leaving for camp, but now we put our tefillin together, sat together and
davened together. When we finished, I hugged my son. Although he is nearing his
13th birthday, the hug felt different than when he was younger.
Perhaps he is just growing up.
This Shabbat we read from Parsha
Pinchas. The first few Psukim of the Parsha are a direct
continuation of the previous Parsha: Balak. There is no elapse of time in the
narrative. Parsha Balak concludes with a plague upon Bnai Yisroel for its
worship of Moabite/Midianite god, Baal Peor. Aaron’s son Pinchas zealously acts
by killing Zimri from the tribe of Shimon and Cozbi the Midianite woman. God
tells Moshe to reward Pinchas for his behavior by giving him the Brit Shalom,
the Covenant of Peace. This covenant is only for Pinchas and his descendants.
Keeping in mind that B’nai Yisroel has now concluded it 40 years of wandering
in the wilderness and are poised upon the eastern bank of the Jordan River; a
new census is taken. Just like we needed to know how many left Egypt, we now
need to know how many will enter into Eretz Canaan. After the census is taken
Moshe must judge a legal case concerning the laws of inheritance when a man has
only daughters. This brief narrative is about the “Daughters of Tzelophchad”.
Following this narrative, God commands Moshe to teach the new generation the
laws for time bound offerings including the Shabbat offering, the Rosh Chodesh
offering, the offerings for the Shelosh Regalim (Three Pilgrimage Festivals etc).
God
also tells Moshe Rabeinu that his time as leader and in fact his life is
quickly drawing to a close and that he should put his affairs in order
(27:12-18). Given the opportunity this incredible opportunity to put his
affairs in order, the most glaring concern that Moshe has is publicly naming
and endorsing his successor. Yifkod
Adoshem Elokai Haruchot L’Chol Basar Ish Al Ha’Eidah. May Hashem, God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the
assembly, Asher Yeitzei Lifneihem
va’Asher Yavo Lifneihem Va’Asher Yevieim V’Lo Tiheyeh Adat Adoshem Katzon Asher
Ein Lahem Roeh –who shall go out
before them and come in before them, who shall take them out and bring them in;
and let the assembly of Hashem not be like sheep that have no shepherd.
(27:16-17). Indeed God makes a choice. The question is: why didn’t Moshe just
nominate Joshua using the language of the two Psukim and invoking the qualities
enumerated in these two psukim?
It seems that maybe Moshe was hoping for a
different answer. Bemidbar Rabbah, the
Talmudic Sages commentary on the book of Bemidbar, makes the following comment:
What prompted Moshe to make this request immediately after the chapter dealing
with the laws of inheritance? Since the daughters of Tzelophchad inherited
their father, Moshe said: Now is the time to make my claims. If daughters
inherit, then it is only right that my sons inherit my glory! Said the Holy One
Blessed Be He to him: ‘Who so keeps the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof’
(Proverbs 27:18). Your sons idled away their time and did not occupy themselves
with the study of the Torah, but as for Joshua, much did he minister to you and
much honor did he apportion you… Since he served you with all his strength it
were meet for him to minister to Israel that he doesn’t lose his reward. Take
Joshua son of Nun” The Talmud adds: Why do not the children of scholars usually
turn out to be scholars? Said Rabbi Yosef: That it should not be said that the
Torah came to them by inheritance” (Nedarim 71a). Rather, Torah is inherited by those who labor
in it, who study it, who struggle with it and wrestle with it. A scholar’s son
may engage in such activities but he does so because of his own volition, not because
of his father.
In this
week of fathers and sons and in understanding Rabbi Yosef’s comment from
Nedarim 71a; I realized something very important. In watching, Don Jr. I am not
sure he has ever really struggled, I think he just inherited. Clay Bellinger gave his son a gift, a love for
baseball. However we all understand how hard his son, and any accomplished
athlete for that matter, must work at his craft in order to be successful.
Hours and hours and hours of practice and training are required. As I watch my
son, put on his tefillin, take off his tefillin, wrap up his tefillin, I know
that I am giving him tools to deal with the struggles of life. But hopefully,
like the tefillin he will learn to master life’s struggles and wear his
struggles with the same dignity and grace that he is learning to wear his tefillin. Perhaps the gift we give our sons and daughters is the desire or the
capacity to put forth the effort in improving their respective lives and the
world in which they live.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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