Numbers 11

This week’s Torah portion contains a very important historical event in the Torah. After the giving of Torah at Sinai, in order to relieve Moses’s burden, Hashem asks Moses to assemble 70 elders. These elders, heads of families, clans, and tribes, are to interpret Torah and adjudicate cases within the nation of Israel. Israel, as a nation, must learn how to live a Torah lifestyle. This necessitates having a common interpretation of Torah. It is through the lens of this understanding of Torah that observance by the nation may be accomplished, and disagreements between people may be resolved. Without this common understanding and interpretation, each man would do what was right in his own eyes. We will see next week’s Torah portion that not accepting this common interpretation is in itself a violation of Torah. This interpretation and understanding will later be called Oral Law.

Most interpretations of verse 17 indicate that Hashem will increase the spirit which is on Moses. This, however, is not an accurate translation. The term translated increase instead means next to or beside. Hashem is telling Moses that he will move from his spirit and place it on the elders. In other words, the elders will have some of the spirit of Moses. The term spirit here, ruach, can better be translated soul. It is one of the 5 words which are translated soul in the Tanakh. So, a part of the soul of Moses is put in the elders, so they will hear cases justly.

This action of granting the elders part of Moses’s soul, gives us great insight as to the nature of the ruach. The ruach of one person may influence the ruach of another person. The relationships that we have with our parents and our teachers must be viewed in this light. In essence, we each have part of the soul of those that influence us, within us. And those whom we influence have part of our souls within them. Shabbat shalom.