Beshalach

“And it was when Moshe raised his hands, and Yisrael was victorious . . and the hands of Moshe were heavy . . ."” (Shemos 17: 11-12)

“(Moshe’s hands were heavy) because he had been lazy in the performance of the mitzva (of fighting Amalek) and had (therefore been required) to appoint someone else (Yehoshua) in his place (to carry it out). (When he did this,) his hands suddenly became heavy.” (Rashi, ibid.)

Rashi’s comment seems somewhat curious, for according to his analysis, the two verse are apparently contradictory. In verse 11 we see related Moshe’s zeal to perform the mitzva of fighting Amalek, to the point that the Torah relates that the ability of the Jewish army to be victorious depended upon the inspiration Moshe offered with his hands. And yet, in the very next verse, according to Rashi’s explanation, Moshe had exhibited a sense of laziness which caused those same hands to become unbearably heavy. In light of the first verse, how can Rashi explain the second the way he does?

From this comment we can derive a significant insight to the behavior of a Jewish leader. It is not appropriate, if we understand Rashi correctly, for a Jewish leader to delegate the performance of his fundamental responsibilities to others. Moshe should not have appointed Yehoshua to go down to the battlefield while he repaired to the mountaintop to beseech Divine assistance. Rather, Moshe should have carried out both of these aspects of the leader by himself.

Indeed, the wholeness of purpose inherent in Jewish leadership mandates that he not only be the conduit for heavenly help, but offer a physical example as well, leading his troops into battle. While a leader’s main efforts, of course, had to be concerned with directing his charges emotional and spiritual focus to their Father in Heaven, totally separating his practical leadership function from the spiritual one, for one to go up the mountain while the other went down to war, didn’t conform to the Torah’s ideal of a Jewish leader. This was Moshe’s error, and it is a vital lesson, especially for our times.

Moreover, we may be able to understand the fact that Moshe’s hands became heavy not so much as a punishment, but as an observable fact in human nature. For he whose entire being is filled with the spirit of true leadership, the powers to fulfill that mission seem to emanate from within his being. However, the one who, even ever so slightly as in Moshe’s case, seems to “compartmentalize” himself, delegating his roles away and functioning only in part as a true leader, rapidly weakens and cannot even fulfill his partial duty. Truly, the leader rises to the occasion.

(This d'var Torah is based on the work Peninei Daas, the essays of the Telsher Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch, zt"l, edited by Rabbi Noson Tzvi Baron, shlit"a, and Rabbi Avrahom Chaim Levin, shlit"a, vol. 1, p. 184)