3. From Sun to Moon: A New Kind of Leadership

Rav Shlomo Katz returns to the teachings of Yirmiyahu and the ma’amar of Rav Sherki, weaving them together with the Torah’s account of Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam.

Why did Moshe strike the rock after Miriam’s passing, instead of speaking to it? What does it reveal about the shift from forceful, sun-like leadership to the gentler, inclusive light of the moon?

As Am Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael, Hashem prepared them for a new kind of leadership — one that gives space for every star to shine. Rav Shlomo shows how this more inclusive, feminine quality of leadership is not only necessary, but essential, for the geula process to unfold.

What is The Leadership of Women in the Era of Redemption with Rav Shlomo Katz?

From Yocheved to Miriam, Rachel Imeinu to the daughters of Tzelofchad, the story of redemption has always carried the voice of women. In this series, Rav Shlomo Katz explores how the faith, courage, and leadership of Jewish women guide us toward Geula, revealing why our sages taught: “In the merit of righteous women, we were redeemed, and in their merit we will be redeemed again.”

I want to continue where we ended off last time, trying to go back a few weeks and go וייטער. The last thing that we learned in this really special מאמר of Rav Shachin was regarding Jeremiah, was ירמיהו הנביא telling עם ישראל as they're going into the גלות and specifically speaking to the to the women, you must make signs for yourself as to how to come back. Remember? הציבי לך ציונים, שימי לך תמרורים, שיתי לבך למסילה, דרך הלכת, שובי בתולת ישראל, שובי אל עריך אלה. It's almost like that the way we were learning that the way that we're going to remember how to come back home eventually, and it's all reference to משיח, is based on the סימנים that the women will make as to how to know that their home is home.Further, we also learned that the the famous concept that I'm sure many of you thought about, נקבה תסובב גבר, that a woman will be able to, how do we describe this? Redirect the man.

Yeah, more or less. More or less. And what we spoke about back in last week's שיעור, and we really, it was amazing, we just did one paragraph but it was a, it was a lot to speak about, is that a woman in the time of, you know, in the redemption time, she navigates. She's the one that's navigating the man, she's the one that's supposed to explain to the man how to go how to go about.

And as opposed to history was mainly always directed and led by, mainly בוקר טוב by men, but in as we're approaching the completion of whatever this story called history is called, a woman will come back, find her place again in the seat of leadership in order to perfect the process of גאולה.So that's what we were speaking about last week. ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. אמן. Okay.So the question is, like he asks over here, we're still in the end towards the end of the first page, why is there a need that דוקא a woman finds her place in the leadership table in the time of the גאולה? What's so special about דוקא being led by a woman's word as opposed to a man's word? And what we're going to be seeing today is going to be something very beautiful, going remember, Rav Shachin's going to take us throughout the תורה to show us how all the stories of the תורה are completing the picture for us and how it all began already back then in terms of what should you, what are the ציונים, what should you be looking for in גלות that'll tell you this is the way to גאולה.

And apparently the keys are in, we already just really said, you have the keys for it. It's not us. You have the keys for such things. It's almost like it says, נקבה תסובב גבר meaning a man will have to have his eyes wide open and be like and have enough guts to say on a same level, lead me home.

Lead me home. That takes a lot of, takes a lot, yeah, it takes, but you know it takes even more? A woman believing I can. You know, I, yes, בסדר, I will. I'll I'll, I'm going to be me.

I'm going to be me, which means I'm going to, I'm going to lead on the on the level that that is need, you know, needed to be that I'm supposed to be leading in this in this picture.Okay, so we're going to look now at a story in the תורה which will explain to us not just a proof that it's about a woman, but what about a woman's leadership is what we're looking for today in the time of the גאולה. What about a woman's leadership is that ציון, is that תמרור, is that streetlight, is that, you know, whatever it is that tells us the directive saying, follow this lead. And how do we know that it's real? And we're going to see how much שקר gets involved in this story because like we've seen, the way the world is picking up on it is is just wrong. They're, it's a, it's a basically a, how would you say this, it's an echo of what's really should be happening, but it's really really off in terms of the way the world has picked up on what it means to have women's leadership.

And we discussed this quite thoroughly two weeks ago when we were discussing that finally a woman was running for the president of presidency of the United States and it's not exactly. the דמות that you would want, you would have wanted to be running in the president of the United States. That's not the kind of leadership. Just because it's a woman, that's not what we're talking about.

They have to have the תכונות. How do you say תכונה? The, the what? The qualities. The quality traits of leadership that are found in in in in a woman, in the female.I think we saw it in ארץ ישראל as well this week, a very dominant female force that's been kind of in the leadership but kind of not, checked out of the of the race, right now and it's not a woman that got a lot of fans over the years. Even though she was very leadership material, there was something missing in the תכונה of the the compassionate תכונות that she was lacking.

You know who I'm talking about, right? No? Tzipi Livni, who just checked out. You know, I saw her when she came to pay a a a שבעה call by the Fulds. And I went up to her as she was leaving and I just said to her like, טוב מאוד שבאת, something like that, because I wanted to say to her, Ari was not your fan at all, to say the least. So I just said, טוב שבאת.

And she looked at me and she and she was so moved by the family, but when she came out and she was basically said like, כמובן, like, of course I had to be here. So I was expecting like, this is the beginning of Tzipi's revolution, you know. Now the real leadership quality will be, you know, put into her. Okay.

Let's let's go back inside.We're on the bottom of the first page. בסוף זמן ההנהגה. Does everyone see it inside? בסוף זמן ההנהגה של משה רבנו, נכשלו משה ואהרון בחטא מי מריבה כשהיכו בסלע במקום לדבר.At the end of the leadership of משה רבנו, משה and אהרון failed when it comes to the sin of the waters of strife. That's the correct way I think of saying it.

כשהיכו בסלע במקום לדבר, when they hit the rock instead of speaking to it. Now, we already learned last week, the first real leader that we had in a feminine form was מרים. מרים was ממש a leader. And she provided water, which really meant she provided life.

She provided also תורה. That's אין מים אלא תורה. She provided the basic essential sustenance for עם ישראל. When does משה רבנו hit the rock? The same day that his sister dies.

She died in the morning, in the afternoon he hits the rock. Why? Because they needed water the day that the source of water ceased being in this world. So we started discussing this two weeks ago about מרים, what who she was, what she stood for, and her lacking in the world, what it immediately caused. So not only did it cause a need for something, because now something was missing, which was basic essentials of human survival, but the way that משה רבנו responds to דבר השם seems to be, it's hard for me to say lacking about משה רבנו, but it seems that even the way that משה רבנו was leading became affected.

What what's a better word? Affected. Became מושפע. Became influenced. Became influenced from it, right?So look inside, everyone.

בסוף זמן ההנהגה של משה רבנו נכשלו משה ואהרון בחטא מי מריבה כשהיכו בסלע במקום לדבר. When they hit the rock instead of speaking to it. אין לומר שמשה ימרה את דבר השם אלא הקדוש ברוך הוא אמר לו, קח את המטה ודיברתם אל הסלע לעיניהם ונתן מימיו, והוצאת להם מים מן הסלע והשקית את העדה ואת בעירם. So you shouldn't God forbid say that משה רבנו ימרה את דבר השם.

How do you say that? Went against. Went against the word of השם. But rather השם told them, take the staff and speak to the rock to its eyes, והוצאת להם מים מן הסלע והשקית את העדה ואת בעירם. So השם said to them, take the staff, speak to the rock, and then you give them water.

So again, what happened? Take the, take the staff, speak to the rock, and you give water. And you'll feed and you'll you will השקית, you will give sustenance to the thirst of the of the people. מה Sorry? It says, `מה פשר הכפילות`? Why, why do you see? He's going to say over here right now. Look look at the `כפילות`, meaning the double language.

`בתחלה ודברתם אל הסלע`, first he says you'll speak to the `סלע`, `ולאחר מכן והוצאת להם מים מן הסלע`. And you will take water out of the rock. Okay, so what's going on over here? What should have, what should have been, what's bothering the Rav over here? He says over here basically speaking to the rock alone should have taken, should have, should have produced water coming out of the rock. You understand? Speaking to the rock alone should have been enough to take water out of the rock.

It says over here, `ודברתם אל הסלע`, ah sorry, it says over here first, `והוצאת`, speak to the rock, and then you'll take water out of the rock. So that's what the `כפילות` is. Does that make sense, `חוה`? No, it sounds to me like two different things completely. Speak to the rock and then take out.

So it's almost like it's, in almost, it almost makes everything we always learned to this whole time is wrong, because that we thought that by talking the water will come out, but maybe it's not. You talk to the rock and then take out water. It's two different things. Wait a second.

So what did, so what did he do that's wrong? That's what I'm saying. Maybe the way we learned this whole time is wrong because it looks like he followed the orders. Isn't that beautiful to learn something and say? You know, only a woman can do that. A man could never say that.

Maybe the way we learned this this whole time was wrong. The way you're explaining it is beautifully. No no, you're, you're right. You're right.

It took me to learn about women's redemption in order for me to also say, you know, to say such a thing. So, do you understand the question? If `משה רבינו` was not supposed to hit the rock, one question is, then why did God tell him take a staff? That's one question. And also take out the water. What does that mean, take out? I mean take out, either.

It means you should do something. We always learn the thing that is as if `משה רבינו` should have just spoken and the water would have come out, right? So maybe he didn't know that. Huh? He didn't know that. Well, what the Torah says, speak to the rock and take, and what will, and take out the water.

What did he do wrong? How could it be two separate things? Speak to the rock. Yeah. Here we go. So now now we're beginning to understand something.

By the way, you realize that this unclarity takes place the day that Miriam dies. And he knew Miriam died. That she had just, they they buried her. She had just died.

She had just died, and the next `פסוק` says `ולא היה מים לעדה`. And when the people didn't have water. So it happened, you know, it happened right away. Okay.

Let's go forward. `מה פשר הכפילות בתחלה ודברתם אל הסלע, ולאחר מכן והוצאת להם מים, והוצאת להם מים`. Why did it say in the beginning speak to the rock, and then it says you'll take water out? `אלא יש לומר שהקדוש ברוך הוא נתן למשה שתי אפשרויות כיצד לנהוג`. God gave `משה רבינו` two possibilities how to act.

`א`, `לדבר אל הסלע ונתן מימיו`. Either you talk to the rock and it will give its water. That's one way of understanding what `השם` said to him. You'll talk to the rock and it will give its water.

Two is `הוצאת מים באמצעות המטה`. You will take out water through the staff. That's two ways of understanding what what God said. What did `משה רבינו` do? Well, he, he didn't, he didn't go right away to the latter.

He started somewhere else. Because he starts, right? Does he talk to the rock? Yeah, he starts with that one and then he goes to the latter. `הנס יכול להעשות בשני אופנים`, `רב שכטר` says. The miracle could have happened in two ways.

`אלא שהקדוש ברוך הוא הפקיד בידי משה להכריע כיצד להנהיג את העם, אם בדיבור או באמצעות הכאה`. The miracle could have happened in two ways, but God placed by `משה רבינו` the decision making how to lead, whether it's through speech or whether it's through hitting. So did `משה` fail? I wouldn't call it a failure. It's a choice.

Although his choice punished him. But he started with speaking. That's what makes it even more confusing. He didn't have faith for it to happen so then he went to something that was more.

What would have been the perfect story? What would have been, let's fill in the blank. What would have been the perfect story over here? `משה רבינו` starts talking to the rock. Water comes out. Water doesn't come out yet.

Let's finish a perfect story. He's talking. And what happens? He continues to talk. He goes back to `השם`.

He goes back to `השם`. I think that would be something good. He goes back to `השם`. And he says, `הקדוש ברוך הוא`, do you really, I know you gave me the possibility of also hitting a rock to get water out, but could that really be what you want? Maybe it's the other time that he had, yeah.

like a different for a different עם now, right? Like he hit the rock once and the water came out. Wait a second, is this No. It's forty years later. No, not yet.

Not yet. It's it's it's before. Miriam's already died. When did when did מרים die? She died in the beginning.

Miriam? פרשת חקת is thirty-eight years long. It's the bulk of the time in the desert. Right? I always learned it that משה and that מרים dies, and then we start doing the wars to get into ארץ ישראל. I have to look in חומש.

I just don't. You think it's the end? So I thought אהרן and מרים only died like really towards the end. אהרן I thought. אהרן for sure because he died right where.

אהרן I thought. And I thought also that they had the water from מרים's well like most of the time in the מדבר. Right? So let's say so let's say it's a different if it's a different דור, okay then let's that that definitely could work. So let's say it's a different דור.

It's a different דור then it's a different שיטה that's needed like the same like now, a different שיטה is needed than like sixty, seventy years ago. And משה רבנו is not he hasn't like transitioned with them so much. So what what if he if he did transition with them, he would understand that it takes more patience. Yeah.

That's where he's going to take this. Yeah. As if you didn't read it. No, I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. I know, I know, I know. I know. Oh.

Okay. So, להבדיל bottom paragraph, להבדיל מההוראה האלוקית הראשונה not like the first godly commandment in פרשת בשלח where it says there הנני עומד לפניך שם על הצור בחרב והכית בצור ויצאו ממנו מים. What does it say in פרשת בשלח? There is a story where the people need water. What does השם tell them to do? Tell משה רבנו to do? He doesn't tell them, talk and see if that works.

He says to them right away, take the staff and hit it. Then, now when did now, it's very works very good based on years now. When when did that take place? Right after we left מצרים. It also says ויצאו ממנו מים and not והוצאת.

The meaning it'll just come out from by its own. It's coming out on its own, you have nothing to do with it. That's very good. שם נאמר במפורש לפעול בהכאה בלבד.

There it says only hitting. Third line from the bottom. ביאור הדברים. בזמן היציאה ממצרים, כשהעם היה במדרגה נמוכה, at the time of leaving Egypt, when the people were on a low level, היה צורך לפעול באמצעות הכאה.

Then you should acted through hitting. כי אין דרך אחרת להביא את העם לתודעה הראויה. Why was hitting appropriate back then? They probably needed instant gratification. Yeah, they needed.

That's what, that's the same question of why did God do miracles back then, but they don't, you know, but there aren't like right out miracles for us now. When the ריבונו של עולם is like forming the concept of a nation itself, you need those like shocks in order to even begin to form something. Also the level they were in exactly then. Right, not למ"ד טית, uh.

טומאה. Not למ"ד טית, the מ"ט. Yeah. Yeah.

Although I heard a whole שיעור this year that really bummed me out. Oh my God, some שיעורים you shouldn't, it's really. I'll just tell you why I was bummed out and I won't give you the whole reason behind it. Where where does it say that we were in the forty-ninth level of impurity? In the מדרש.

Where does it say that? How do we know that? It works it works perfect, but where where do we know this from? The מדרש. There's one, no, there's one statement in the זוהר. So, not that that God forbid should be a reason to, you know, but this רב gave a whole שיעור showing that it's only just a statement from the זוהר, it's not, you know, it's not really that we were about to be, you know, fully טמא, too far gone and then not being redeemable. And then I had to listen to like thirty-five שיעורים about like אמונת צדיקים afterwards and like, you know, תורה שבעל פה and that you know.

Any any sentence that says it's only just a statement from the means means and this is only just a statement from you, yeah. All right, let's continue. ביאור הדברים. בזמן, again, בזמן היציאה ממצרים, כשהעם היה במדרגה נמוכה, היה צורך לפעול באמצעות הכאה, כי אין דרך אחרת להביא את העם לתודעה הראויה.

אך כעת, בזמן הכניסה לארץ, לאחר ארבעים שנות שהיה במדבר. But now. while we're going into ארץ ישראל after 40 years of being in the desert, הם דור דעה. What does it mean that we were referred to as a דור דעה? A generation of knowledge.

What does that mean? That was in the mind. Oh yeah, yeah, so how did they, how did you learn it? דור דעה, that it was like that they had knowledge, first hand knowledge of השם. So what happens then? If you have if if once you formed some kind of a basic level of intellect, when it comes to knowledge, דעת of הקדוש ברוך הוא, then what should be different then? Your instincts. Exactly.

Your מידות. Correct. הם דור דעה והקדוש ברוך הוא מזמן למשה בחירה בין שני דרכים. God invites משה רבינו a choice between two different ways.דיבור, speech, which means שימוש בהנהגה, using leadership, באמצעות תודעה שכלית הכרתית.

Usually when I read these words in an article, I fall asleep. I'm gonna try to do it now. That means either using speech, which would mean using leadership through a basic level of understanding of השם. או הכאה, or straight out a blow, a hit, כפי שהיה בתחילת הדרך, like it was in the beginning.

אתם, משה ואהרון, God says to משה and אהרון, you תעריכו את מצב העם. Look at where the people are holding. Kind of get like a nice feeling, get a sense of what they feel, where they're holding. And after that, תבחרו את הדרך המתאימה, הנכונה, הראויה להנהגתו, and choose the proper way in order to be in order to lead.

He put the keys in משה and אהרון's hands. And he's saying I trust you guys. You've always had the pulse of the people. That's what made you leaders.

That's what made you משה רבינו the leader of all leaders. Get the pulse. What's the pulse say? And משה רבינו is, it's very hard for me to say this, 'cause it's really, I feel like such a biblical critic right now and it's the last thing in the world I ever want to sound like, but what he's what it seems like over here is that he lost the the pulse of the of the current דור, which was a new דור. Which explains why he was punished the way he was.

If you lost. Wasn't a punishment. It was a reality. That meaning it's not it's not a punishment.

Meaning, listen, it's just not לא מתאים. You you lost the, lost the feel for them. It's not it's not it, doesn't, you're not in touch. You're not in touch.

It would almost be a punishment for him if he went into ארץ ישראל. Because, you know why? He wouldn't have the relationship with the people would look at him and say like, we can't relate to you. And it's it's it's time for something else. So if he went into ארץ ישראל with them in this state, it would be such a chaotic and also like would cause a lot of בלבול between the עם and ריבונו של עולם, saying this is who you had in mind for now? How could you say such a thing, right? Anyway, it's hard, you understand why it's so hard to say such words? But again, it's not a I would like to say it's not a punishment per se, it's more just a description of reality.

Correct. רב שלמה once said, if you brought me a dentist who won the greatest awards in dentistry in in the 40s, would you have them work on your daughter's teeth? It doesn't just, you know. No. And it doesn't take away from them winning the awards they did in medical, you know, in medical discoveries in the dentistry field.

כל דור, you know, דור לדור. Okay, so what does this have to do with us? Where are women in the picture yet, right? So let's see, let's go forward. משה ואהרון בחרו בהכאה ולא בדיבור. משה and אהרון chose hitting and not speaking.

What does that mean? The רב says, שמשה הנהיג את העם בתקיפות. משה רבינו led the people, you know what תקיף means? Strong. Yeah, but it also means it's more than strong, it means forceful, in a forceful manner. פני משה, חז"ל say the face of משה is like פני חמה, like the face of the sun.

פני יהושע כפני לבנה. And the face of יהושע is like the face of a of the moon. What does that mean? כשהחמה שולטת ברקיע, אין שום כוכב שיכול להאיר. When the sun is shining, stars don't illuminate.

Other other entities in the sky can't give any light. היא תופסת את כל הבמה. The sun is center stage. it takes over the whole stage.

And he's saying over here, משה רבינו was like the face of the sun, that it was so it's very like again, I feel so weird saying these things, but it's like in your face. It's overwhelming. No, that's better. It's overwhelming.

Yes. That's not a bad thing. It's just is. Thank you.

My God. You don't understand, this has been so hard for me. I can't like, overwhelming. You see, and it takes a woman to explain to a man how to not be, how to not be too overwhelming by using the word overwhelming.

Yes. It's overwhelming. It is what it is. It's the reality.

It's משה רבינו, פני חמה, it's the sun. But yet, there's no, there's no space for anything. There's also no need for anything. It's dominant.

Sorry? It's dominant. Yes. But that's what's needed, like it's also needed. It was exactly, it was needed.

That's what you needed to get out of Egypt. That's what you needed to receive the Torah, correct. For other things you need other things. Correct.הנהגת יהושע כפני לבנה.

But the leadership of יהושע is like the face of the moon. היא שולטת ברקיע אך נותנת מקום להארת הכוכבים. It, the the the moon does govern in the sky when it's out, but it leaves space for the stars to shine. ובארץ ישראל, יש צורך בשותפות כל האומה בהנהגתה לקראת גאולה.

And in ארץ ישראל, there's a need of everyone in the nation to shine their bright star. This is based on רב צבי יהודה הכהן קוק. I think that רב שרקי was a student of רב צבי יהודה, נכון? I believe so. I believe he's part of that whole generation of רב אבינר, that that whole, that whole, he's a bit younger, but I believe that's that's what it is.

So רב קוק's son is saying, ארץ ישראל, meaning the light of גאולה, it's not about one figure. Now you're going to say, wait a second. My, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been דאווענען for the appearance of a certain figure, right? משיח. So is it about one figure or is it not about one figure? 'Cause he's saying over here, יהושע who represents the moon, he's the one that brings עם ישראל into ארץ ישראל because he resembles the the the governing, he's the מנהיג, but there's room.

Other, the stars can shine. So how does that fit into the picture of women? And how does that fit into the picture of the עידן הגאולה, of the time of redemption?Okay, so look look at this. הארת העולם באמצעות הירח היא הנהגה זוגית. The shining of the world, meaning the the world being full of light through the moon is הנהגה זוגית.

How do you say that? Dual leadership, co-leadership. השמש מכה בקרני אורה בירח, והיא משמשת מראה שבאמצעותה מופיעה האורה בעולם. There's got to be an easier way to say this in English than just translating it. Meaning, how does the light, how does the, what does the moon have the light? It's a reflection of the light of the moon.

It's a reflection of the light from the sun. It's a reflection. What מידה does that resemble? Humility. Yeah.

ביטול. It says in the זוהר, it says that the son of the moon, לית לה מגרמה כלום. On its own, it doesn't have anything to shine. But when does it shine? When it's מבטל.

Right. Now, so you're going to say, you're going to think, oh, look what he's saying. A woman can only shine when she fully מבטל herself to her husband because she, and you thought the exactly opposite. And I, and I, and I agree with you.

How is our understanding of ביטול? Right. נכון, נכון. Absolutely. People have a misconception of ביטול, saying the point is to feel nothing and be nothing.

That's not true. That's a misconception. Okay, let's try to, sorry? To be what you, is is is ביטול, correct. Correct.

Let's see how he how he explains this. הירח ביטוי להנהגה נקבית, נקבית. The the moon is an expression for female leadership. וכך יהושע ביחס למשה.

This is יהושע to משה, כנקבה שמקבלת אורה מהחמה, משה הזכר. Like a female who receives her light from the sun, from משה, who in this case is the זכר. You know it's interesting they say in ברסלב, the first תורה רב נתן ever heard was the תורה of קראת יהושע. It's תורה ו' in ליקוטי מוהר"ן.

in ליקוטי מוהר"ן. And they always explain that also Breslov couldn't have spread in the time of the sun being out, which was רב נחמן. He was a sun. It was dominance, it was, there was no room.

רב נתן felt, רב נתן could have been the biggest צדיק. He could have had the biggest חסידית court. But he felt that in light of the sun, he was just a reflection. He was nothing.

And because he felt like that, he was so in a state of ביטול that he was able to through him, the light of the sun could shine in the world. But there were a lot of other stars in the time of רב נתן as well. But he gave space, there was space for all the other stars to also shine as well. So we see this correspondence when in terms of next generation of leadership, like sun and moon, like משה and יהושע, רב נחמן, רב נתן, and even גלות and גאולה is the same thing as well.

Leadership in those times. So it doesn't mean that we've been wrong for all these years. God forbid. It just means that something was needed all these years, but now that we're transferring into the next stage, back then it was עם ישראל going into ארץ ישראל.

To us it's also that, but it's much more with לתקן עולם במלכות ש-ד-י, the usher in the era of redemption. The sun of the moon needs to be back in the, in the leadership role. The light of the, sorry, the light of the moon needs to be back in the leadership role. We need to understand what that means.

Like Shoshana was saying, ביטול needs to be understood again. It's it's a miscon, we've just, we've lost the terminology. גלות has its effects. You know, we lost certain things of understanding the basics of how they're supposed to be working and how they're supposed to be implemented.

Okay, now he's going to get תכלית to to our to our נושא. הנהגה נשית, leader, women's leadership, כוללת. You know what כוללת means? Inclusive. Okay, that so that, does it seem like a dichotomy? Leadership, inclusive.

Why, but but in the huh? It's interesting, it's about יהושע. He talks about יהושע, and it speaks about him becoming the leader. It really happens in פרשת פנחס, where the Torah is trying to decide, you know, משה רבינו knows he's not going inside. And then we're trying to understand, so who should be the leader? Who should lead? And the שאלה really was, you know, some some said maybe פנחס could.

We see we open the פרשה with a leader. He's he's very reminding of משה רבינו when it came to killing the Egyptian. And דוקא the פרשה where פנחס shows this amazing, you know, act of strength, it's דוקא in that פרשה that's describing going into ארץ ישראל that יהושע is chosen to be the one that takes us in. It דוקא happens there.

Why? Because it says about about יהושע that that what what what about him? He had a רוח. that he was able, Rashi says, ללכת כנגד רוחו של כל אחד ואחד. He was able to be with every single person where they were at. That's what it says about, that's what Rashi talks about יהושע.

So he says over here, הנהגה נשית כוללת. Women's leadership is in its nature an inclusive form of leadership. Usually that word inclusive is the most threatening to the concept of leadership in most, but definitely political forms, even in rabbinic forms, וכולי. It's usually the opposite.

So this is very interesting. הנהגה נשית כוללת. היכולת לכלול את כל הכוחות שבאומה. The ability to include all the powers within the nation, שהם הכוכבים שאף הם מאירים.

Like, to recognize, you know, the stars, the stars in the sky, that they also have what to shine, they have what to give. A woman's depth, the beauty of her חכמה is that she realizes that everyone has something to give. It's inclusive in nature, he's saying over here. וזה אופייני אצל המשיח.

This is a very much a משיח characteristic. בכל התהליכים ההיסטוריים בעבר, הכל נעשה על ידי הבורא באמצעות אישיות מנהיגותית רבת עוצמה. הנהגה גברית. In all major historical steps, you know, in the process of wherever however far we've come, everything has done through been done through השם, by השם, through a very dominant and powerful leader, through like a one-man show, powerful leader.

הנהגה גברית. And it's mainly been the man. ואילו בימות המשיח, but in the times of משיח, משיח. הגאולה נעשית על ידי הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו, אפס בילתך גואלים למעט המשיח.

But it's right. But in times of of of of the גאולה, השם won't use, it won't be a, you know, through a dominant, powerful, forceful leader to cause the game to shift. It'll be השם himself. Or I should say now more than ever, herself, right? השם, whatever.

השם. השםself. השםself. השםself.

So it says here also with Miriam, you said that the women had the תופים, everything was ready. That's reading in two weeks ago, נכון. נכון. Very good.

But it shows that like when she was like there, it's like everyone had a place there. She didn't have to, and then she didn't have to drill into them, look at me, this is what we do, you should be ready. She on her own was in tune with herself, which created everyone to be like, yeah, that's, this is what we do. This is what we do.

So he's saying over here, and this is different than the way we usually learn it, because we usually think it's going to be a leader, a dominant force, saying, now, everyone, משיח, right? גאולה. He's saying over here, in the time of the revelation of השם of משיח in the world will be such a הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו, God, without the need of that dominant, forceful leader, because it'll be clear to us that my little, my little role of leadership played a role. My little light shining played a role in the redemption too. That's what the women's leadership will bring out into the world.

And he says this is the dominant forces, again, he's not saying משיח is going to be a woman, but he's, he does say over here this is, these are natural characteristic traits of of משיח. This is what משיח will bring out into the world.You know, I just have to say something. I'm sorry, but it's calling. If if we were all Lubavitchers in the time the Rebbe was alive and then passed away from this world, you'd understand why it's really, really hard to accept that the Rebbe didn't end up being a revealed משיח.

Because the Rebbe did this. Yeah. I just, at the end of the מאמר, right? Doesn't this, ממש, because the Rebbe, I mean, the whole idea of like that learning that מאמר was like it was the last מאמר that, I know that some of you don't know what I'm talking about, but whatever, sorry, that it was the last מאמר that that the Rebbe handed out as if it was instructions for after he was going to be gone. Right.

And the ending of the מאמר is essentially that he, he was talking about models of a Rebbe, models of a משה רבינו of the generation and, and then afterward. And like what he gets to at the end is that, you know, משה רבינו was in the time of revelation of Torah. And then there's some a type of leader as Mordechai in the times of פורים when there's like a death penalty on, you know, hanging over our heads. And then there's the leader for after the time, after Mordechai, of like the הרחבה of like of freedom and, you know? And then, and then there's like a fourth stage, which is that it has to come from within from all of us.

And that it ממש this. ממש this, so that's the last מאמר. And that's why I want everyone to understand like if you, you know, most of us maybe are more familiar with Lubavitch after גימל תמוז, after the day that the Rebbe was נסתלק from this world. But if you have anything to do with with understanding the role of משיח through learning, through learning about it, especially like a piece like this, you understand the difficulty in accepting that this, what, that what happened with the Rebbe didn't result in immediate גאולה.

Devastating. What's that? Devastating. Devastating is like an easy, easy word. It's, it's, you know, you came on after, right, יהודית? You were in, you got into Lubavitch after the Rebbe, right? No, he was alive.

He was alive. Yeah. According to what you're saying, the Rebbe like is telling people that I was needed for that, and now, you know, it's on you. And now it's like the עם.

I did everything that I could do. Why is that devastating? But why is that devastating if that's the, because it was easier when he Right, no, but it sounds like, because because that's what משיח, but that's, because that's what משיח does. So maybe משיח has to Why are you saying devastating? I mean, it's devastating because he was, but Because after the 6 million to have a person that can stand like that leading עם ישראל. Absolutely.

is an absolute miracle. But it just like, it's as if he's, the Rebbe was telling us that now we're in the next stage, like we're in the final stage, but still. Yeah, Bravo. When we always talk about משיח we always think of it as a character or an individual.

Right. Maybe it's not, it's a time. Okay, so it's both. It's both.

It's both. Well no, no, but it's but it's very good. It's a it's a person, but what does the person do? See that that's that's what this שיחה is. Is it a person that's like a שמש or is it like a לבנה? Right? I'm sorry? Say say that again.

People have to accept him. He has to לאחד את העם. נכון. Sorry.

I would have never done it. I was just to say that if you were in a chemistry lab and you have like a test tube of stuff and drop, drop, drop, and every drop counts, counts, right? And all of a sudden one drop, and the whole thing turns into a crystal. Now do you say that that last drop was משיח? Or that every drop counted, you know, on the way? That's gorgeous. That that's רב נחמן said, ממש said that in a different way.

That just because you're standing on the shoulders of giants, does that mean that you are the one that brought the great day? Or do you realize you're standing on the shoulders of giants that that they brought you to see the great day? In other words, this is just very beautiful for us to understand, you know, the the concept of being inclusive in women's leadership. This is a very big thing. And it's he's saying over here, this is not like a nice option to choose, like, oh it would be nice if גאולה came like this. He's saying, this is how it happens.

This is, it's through this הנהגה that the great day is ushered in. It's through this form of leadership. That's what ארץ ישראל is all about, and that's what the גאולה is all about. So what what's left for us to understand is, so what role is left for משיח? If if if we're saying feminine leadership, this ushers in the great day.

This is what it's all about, right? So then, and it's not about the individual, it's not about the leader, right? So what why why is there a need for משיח? Because he's not saying over here, he would never go against the רמב"ם. It's not it's not going to go against the רמב"ם or against our whole מסורה that says there is a person involved. So we have to understand now, so what role is משיח? A facilitator. It's like, it's someone who makes it happen.

So I so I'm gonna go back to what I said before. That's what makes it so confusing that the Rebbe is not in the world anymore. Because he wasn't a חמה leader, he was a He did the the most the most empowering and and the most empowering when it came to women's leadership, more than anyone ever. It doesn't sound like it has to be a woman.

It has to be women, feminine qualities. Correct. Correct. No, we're just describing now not man or woman, but the now the role of משיח is a is a very good question.

So what room is there for the for the למעשה, the role, the the one that seems to be leading us into redemption? It's a it's a very good question. It leaves a lot of things open. I think we all need a leader. A leader to do what? We can't just like drift into this משיח times without there being a leader.

Right. Right. We we we would kind of be lost and floating along and not knowing our path. And when we envision leadership, quite often, we're still stuck in saying, okay, a leader to me means someone that is much more resembling of משה than יהושע.

Right? When we say send me a leader, I think in our minds, our minds are still imagining more a פני חמה, the face of the sun, because we don't really understand what it means to be under the leadership of someone that's that's the face of the moon. I think it's also more comfortable because if you have someone who's telling you what to do. For sure. For sure.

For sure. בטח. I I think I told you the story once that when I was when I was learning here in the caravans in Mifta, one night a good friend of mine that I grew up with was about to משתחרר, was about to be leaving the army after three years in the air force. And while we were while he was in, I remember he was complaining how it's, you know, it's like jail and this and that and every day he used to go to the whatever, to the to the בסיס, to the to the air force base and, you know, routine and he's a number.

Came to me three days before he was being discharged, and um he said to me, שלמה, I'm so scared. I said, what are you? And he's like, I'm scared about the day after I I leave that I'm not gonna no one's gonna tell me what I'm supposed to be doing. It's like a prisoner in in prison, he's finally released into the world. How do I live in this world? Yeah.

Yeah. At the risk of going out on a limb here, Bob Marley has a song where he says, he says, it's called Concrete Jungle, and in in there he says, there are no chains around my feet, but I'm not free. I'm bound here in captivity. Which is again, I I can't imagine that if that a that a person would be a leader and not tell me an order, not give me an order.

And and we're saying here, the order is you need to shine. That's that's that's very threatening, and that's an order. And that's an order. That's משיח.

That's really משיח. Okay, let's let's try to finish this paragraph. בימות המשיח היחיד שפועל הוא הקדוש ברוך הוא. אז מה תפקידו של המשיח? You know what? No, I want to pause here.

I want to pause here because this is a good prep for next week. We we we we we covered a lot here and then we're going to continue understanding next week so למעשה, what is the תפקיד? Is it just being giving orders that people should shine or is it something even more? But we've established definitely that הנהגה נשית, which is women's leadership which in its nature is more inclusive is what's is what's needed now. Now we have to understand what that למעשה means. But we've defined a few things right now.

We've also seen based on the way that Torah told us the story of משה and אהרון and מרים, it's setting up the stage for exactly where we need to focus the energy in terms of in terms of looking, what are we looking for in in in leadership today and women's qualities. So יישר כוח. We're going to continue Sunday morning בעזרת השם with לובאוויטש. Okay? Alright, יישר כוח.

I'm talking about women's leadership. I spoke to זיוה גראנצעס yesterday. She's גיוואלדיק, huh? What a.