Commentaire sur Les Nombres 27:18

קח לך TAKE TO THEE [JOSHUA] — take him through fine words, saying,“Fortunate are you that you have merited to lead the children of the Omnipresent!” (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 92 on 11:16).

איש אשר רוח בו; someone who is ready and worthy to be presented to the King of Kings. We have a similar expression in Exodus 31,6 ובלב כל חכם לב נתתי חכמה, where the Torah speaks about people equipped, endowed with the necessary amount of Holy Spirit to enable them to perform the tasks allocated to them.

ויאמר ה׳ אל משה, G'd said to Moses, etc. Why did G'd say to Moses: "take for yourself?" What did G'd mean when He said of Joshua that he was איש אשר רוח בו, "a man possessed of spirit?" Is there then any man devoid of spirit? Besides, what precisely is the significance of וסמכת את ידך "you will place your hand?" What will this achieve? We must understand the whole verse in terms of Moses' request to G'd previously, as we explained. When G'd said to Moses: "take for yourself," the meaning is: "I want to put at rest your fears. If you will appoint Joshua the Israelites will have a leader who has a similar spirit to yours, i.e. his soul emanates from a background not much different than yours." This is why G'd underlined that Joshua was a man אשר רוח בו. He shares many of the psychological factors which predominate in this generation. G'd ordered Moses to place his hand on Joshua to transfer some of the qualities of Moses' soul to Joshua. At the end of the instruction (verse 20) G'd adds: "in order that the whole congregation of the children of Israel will hear." Seeing these words are next to the words "and you transfer from your authority to him," they mean that Moses transferred some of the properties of his soul to Joshua, i.e. that he too would become a root of their combined souls. This would ensure that the people would accept Joshua's authority over them. When the Torah refers to the "whole congregation of the children of Israel," it refers to the spiritual elite of the people as being pleased with the new leader Moses would appoint now.

קח לך את יהושע בן נון, “take to yourself Joshua son of Nun;” this too was a reference to the day on which Moses was to die. The Torah concludes with reporting that Moses displayed no reluctance in carrying out these orders, on the contrary, he asked G’d to appoint a suitable successor who would take his place when the time came.

קח לך את יהושע בן נון, “take for yourself Joshua son of Nun.” The word “for you” in this verse means: “the one whom you yourself have already examined minutely, the one whom you know thoroughly.” It is now appropriate that he reap the reward for having been your faithful disciple all these years, never departing from your immediate presence. This is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Proverbs 27,18: “he who stands guard over the fig tree will eventually enjoy its fruit.”

Take him with words of persuasion. Rashi has already explained on numerous occasions that the term קיחה ["taking"] is inappropriate for people, therefore he explains…

V. 18. רוח .איש אשר דוח בו als Wind ein unsichtbares, nur in seinen Wirkungen zu erkennendes, bewegtes und bewegendes Agens, ist im Menschen das Erkennende und Wollende (siehe Schmot Kap. 25, Ende). Dieses geistige und sittliche Prinzipium fehlt in keinem Menschen. Wenn gleichwohl hier von Josua gesagt wird, dass er sich zur Bestellung als Mosche Nachfolger eigne, weil er ein איש אשר רוח בו sei, so kann hier רוח nur in emphatischer Bedeutung gesagt sein, wie wir ja auch durch einen Mann von Geist einen solchen bezeichnen, der diese Fähigkeit in eminentem Sinne besitzt. So heißt Hosea 9, 7 der Prophet: איש הרוח. In Josua war "Geist" ungeschwächt von leiblicher Trübung. Dewarim 34, 9 heißt es: ויהושע בן נון מלא רוח חכמה כי סמך משה את ידיו עליו nach seiner Bestellung zum Nachfolger Mosches erhielt seine natürliche Begabung noch erhöhte Bereicherung, sein רוח ward רות חכמה und erfüllte ihn ganz.

And lay your hand on him. The leaders of the nation need to accept upon themselves to be an atonement and a guilt-offering for the entire people, as it says (Devorim 1:13): “And I will designate them (ואשימם) your leaders.” The Sages derived from here that the guilt (אשמה) of the nation is hung on their leaders. Laying one’s hand on an offering is intended to place the disgrace and blemish of the one who is laying his hands unto the offering. In the same way, the laying of hands on a leader is to place the disgrace and blemish of the entire people of Israel unto their leaders, for the nation’s guilt is hung on their leaders.

לך [TAKE] TO THEE — take one who has been examined by you, the one with whom you are familiar.

איש אשר רוח בו, “a man in whom there is spirit.” A reference to Holy Spirit. Our sages in Sifri Pinchas 140 understand this to mean that he has the emotional fortitude to brave all opposition.

Someone scrutinized by yourself. Although the manner of Scripture is to use the word לך ["yourself"] without any need, such as in עלה לך היערה ["ascend to the forest"] (Yehoshua 17:15) and other similar instances, nonetheless wherever we can expound, we expound. Re’m: It appears to me that Rashi is answering the [following] question: Since Moshe’s request was that his sons would inherit his position, as Rashi explained above, it should not have said לך ["yourself"] which implies that his initial request was for Yehoshua, since this was not the case. He answers, “Someone scrutinized by you…”

וסמכת את ידך עליו (siehe zu Wajikra 1, 4).

A man in whom there is spirit. That is, he is independent in his views and he is not drawn after urges for his own pleasure or that of others.

אשר רוח בו [A MAN] IN WHOM THERE IS SPIRIT — As you requested; someone able to deal with the character of each one. (Sifrei Bamidbar 140:1).

וסמכת את ידך עליו, “you are to lean your hand upon him.” This was to demonstrate to all the Israelites that he will replace you. Our sages in Sifri 140 understand this to mean that Moses was to provide Joshua with an interpreter who would announce all he had to say to the people (while Moses was alive) so the people would not say later that Joshua would never have dared speak up while Moses was still alive.

As you requested… Meaning that above you asked saying “The thought of every individual is known before You…” (Rashi v. 16), thus I shall do so, and I will choose Yehoshua whom you know and in whom there is a spirit, as you requested…

And lay your hand on him so that he will have Divine assistance to reach the truth and straight thinking; this is similar to semicha lehora’ah (traditional authorization to judge cases) which provides the benefit of Divine assistance. For this reason, one [who does not have semicha] may not render judgment even though he is qualified, because he does not have the Divine assistance needed for this.

וסמכת את ידך עליו AND LAY THY HAND UPON HIM — Give him an interpreter, so that he will hold Halachic discourses during your life-time, — in order that people may not say about him if he does this only after your death: he dared not raise his head during Moses days but did so only at his death (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 140:1).

Provide a public announcer for him. For it is written afterwards (v. 20), “So that the entire community of Bnei Yisroel will hear.” But what would they hear? Rather [this means] to provide a public announcer.

That he might preach in your lifetime. One must say that the laying of hands of a Rabbi upon his student is related to his being given permission to instruct and give rulings [whether] to forbid or to permit [an issue]. Therefore here, concerning Yehoshua, if the laying of hand was [to take effect] after Moshe’s death, why did he do it? After his death there would be no need for [Yehoshua to receive] permission. Rather [permission was given] during the lifetime of Moshe. You cannot say that perhaps the laying of hands was the bestowing of radiance, for if this were so it should have juxtaposed the statement of bestowing your radiance (v. 20) to the words, “And lay your hand…” Rather, one must say that “Lay your hand” is another matter and it is the giving of permission.