Being “a Mentch” Being Human
Shalom,
This Shabbat we will read from the Torah portion ‘Pinhas’.
In this Torah portion, G-d commands Moshe to choose a replacement leader to bring the nation of Israel into the land of Israel.
“G-d said to Moshe:
קַח לְךָ אֶת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן נוּן, אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר רוּחַ בּוֹ
Take for you Yehoshua ben Nun, a man in whom there is spirit. (Num 27:18)
Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel commented, that, the word “man” in the verse seems to be unnecessary.
It would have been enough to write: “Take for you Yehoshua ben Nun, in whom there is spirit” (without the word “man”).
But the Torah comes to teach us that it is forbidden for a leader of the nation of Israel to distance himself from the nation and to be like an angel.
He needs to remain “a man” of flesh and blood, who is found within his nation and feels the needs and the desires of the people.
(As is said in Yiddish – he has to be a “Mentch“, a true human being).
Yet, along with that, he needs to be “a man in whom there is a spirit.”
The leader needs to be a spiritual personality who inspires respect within the people and thus be able to influence them to go in the right way.
Addressing the word “spirit”, reminds of a nice joke about literal translation of idioms or MT – Machine Translation:
The Central Intelligence Agency was said to have spent millions trying to program computers to translate Russian into English.
The best it managed to do, so the tale goes, was to turn the famous saying:
“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”
translated from Russian into English –
“The vodka is good but the meat is rotten”
And now a little bit of Hebrew:
- Man – איש – ‘ISH’
- Scholar– איש אשכולות – ‘ISH ESHKOLOT’
- Woman – אשה – ‘ISHA‘
- Woman of valor – אשת חיל – ‘ESHET KHAYIL‘
- Personal – אישי – ‘ISHI‘
- Personality –
אישיות ‘ISHIYUT’
-
Persona Non Grata – אישיות בלתי רצויה – ‘ISHIYUT BILTI RETZUYAH‘
Listen now to a nice song based on the words of Rabbi Cook
“In every person – בכל איש”
brought to you below:
צריך שכל איש יידע ויבין שנר דולק בתוכו
ואין נרו שלו כנר חברו
ואין איש שאין בו נר
וצריך שכל איש יידע ויבין שעליו לעמול ולגלות
לעמול ולגלות את אור הנר ברבים
ולאבוקה גדולה להדליקו
ולהאיר, להאיר, להאיר, להאיר את העולם כולו
ולהאיר, להאיר, להאיר, להאיר את העולם כולו
And in free translation to English:
Every man must know and understand that a candle is lit inside him
And his candle is not like the candle of another person
And there is no man without a candle
And every man must know and understand that he must work and discover
To work and to reveal the candlelight in public
And make a big torch from it
And illuminate, illuminate, illuminate, illuminate the whole world
And illuminate, illuminate, illuminate, illuminate the whole world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3IutXA_L9c
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Shabbat Shalom
Yoel & Orly
Our archive of posts and newsletters may be found at:
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