Chasidut zu Bamidbar 27:16
יִפְקֹ֣ד יְהוָ֔ה אֱלֹהֵ֥י הָרוּחֹ֖ת לְכָל־בָּשָׂ֑ר אִ֖ישׁ עַל־הָעֵדָֽה׃
Es bestelle der Herr, Gott der Geister in allem Fleische, einen Mann über die Gemeinde,
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 27,16. “let the Lord, source of the breath of all flesh , appoint someone over the community."
We abide by a rule that when we observe someone who does not carry out all of G’d commandments, that we search for a legitimate reason for such a person’s failure to have ignored G’d’s decrees. In other words, we give such a person the benefit of the doubt as long as this is reasonable. The best known excuses made for such people who do not observe G’d’s laws with the same degree of perfection as do the angels, is that they are so involved in having to secure their livelihood that this is the reason they are sometimes lax in observing G’d’s commandments.
Moses’ appeal to G’d in the verse quoted above is based on this argument that due to the need for human beings to toil in order to earn their livelihood, they are at a disadvantage when competing with the angels about who can serve G’d best. G’d being the G’d who has complete insight into each individual’s mind, רוח, “spirit, surely is aware of man’s difficulties. He is aware of the fact that G’d therefore looks for reasons to interpret Israel’s failures benevolently, treat them as existentialist problems of all creatures who live on earth.
We abide by a rule that when we observe someone who does not carry out all of G’d commandments, that we search for a legitimate reason for such a person’s failure to have ignored G’d’s decrees. In other words, we give such a person the benefit of the doubt as long as this is reasonable. The best known excuses made for such people who do not observe G’d’s laws with the same degree of perfection as do the angels, is that they are so involved in having to secure their livelihood that this is the reason they are sometimes lax in observing G’d’s commandments.
Moses’ appeal to G’d in the verse quoted above is based on this argument that due to the need for human beings to toil in order to earn their livelihood, they are at a disadvantage when competing with the angels about who can serve G’d best. G’d being the G’d who has complete insight into each individual’s mind, רוח, “spirit, surely is aware of man’s difficulties. He is aware of the fact that G’d therefore looks for reasons to interpret Israel’s failures benevolently, treat them as existentialist problems of all creatures who live on earth.
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