Parashat Vayelech - Third Aliyah
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
Joshua is strengthened before the eyes of all Israel
The aliyah moves from the strengthening given to all Israel to the personal strengthening of Joshua. Moses calls Joshua before the eyes of the whole people and openly places on him the responsibility to lead Israel to the land that God swore to give to their fathers, and to bring the people into their inheritance. The very fact that this is said before all Israel strengthens Joshua’s standing as the next leader.
Moses strengthens Joshua not to fear and not to be dismayed before the size of the task. At the same time, he stresses that Joshua’s leadership does not stand alone: it is God who goes before him, who will be with him and will not forsake him. In this way Joshua’s human responsibility is joined to the confidence that the road does not rest on his own strength alone.
At the close of the aliyah another transition takes place. Moses writes the Torah and hands it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carry the ark of the covenant of God, and to the elders of Israel. That is, alongside handing the leadership to Joshua, Moses also sees to handing the Torah to the institutions that will carry it onward.
Insights from the aliyah
A handover of leadership should happen before the public
Moses does not appoint Joshua quietly. He strengthens him before all Israel. At the level of the idea, a stable leadership transition requires that the public know who carries the responsibility and give them their trust.
Be strong and courageous is not a denial of the difficulty
The need for strengthening teaches that the task really is large and complex. Courage is not a state in which there is no fear, but the ability to keep acting despite the responsibility and the worry.
The leader walks at the front, but does not walk alone
Joshua receives an enormous role, but Moses reminds him that God goes before him and with him. This teaches that real leadership joins personal responsibility with humility and with the recognition that not everything depends on one person.
Moses builds the continuation even after he is gone
He is occupied not only with the end of his life, but with the question of what will remain after him: a leader, a Torah, priests and elders. At the level of the idea, a great leader is measured also by the ability to create continuity that does not depend on their presence.
The Torah passes from a single leader to a whole system
Moses writes the Torah and gives it to the priests and to the elders. In this way the Torah does not stay bound only to the figure of Moses, but passes to a public framework that will carry it for generations.
Leadership and Torah are handed on together
Joshua receives the leadership of the people, and the priests and the elders receive the Torah. This teaches that a society cannot make do with practical leadership alone, and also not with study without leadership. The two systems have to work together.
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