G-d's Vulnerability

Two Requests

In this week’s portion, Moses, facing his mortality, asks G-d to appoint a successor.

May the Lord, God of the spirits of all flesh, choose a man over the congregation who will go out before them and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd. (Num. 27: 16).

G-d responds that Moses should appoint Joshua as his successor; he will be the next leader of the nation.

Following that, the Torah states:

The Lord spoke to: Moses, saying: Command the children of Israel and say to them: My offering, My food for My fire offerings, a spirit of satisfaction for Me, you shall take care to offer to Me at its appointed time.

And you shall say to them: This is the fire offering which you shall offer to the Lord: two unblemished lambs in their first year each day as a continual burnt offering. The one lamb you shall offer up in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer up in the afternoon.

The juxtaposition is strange. Moses is pleading for a new leader. He is afraid that the flock would be left without a shepherd. G-d responds by instructing the Jewish people to bring a daily offering—one sheep in the morning, one sheep in the afternoon; which since temple times has been substituted with morning and afternoon services, shacharis and mincha, when we “offer” our hearts to G-d.

The Parable

What’s the connection? Rashi, quoting the Sifri, explains that G-d said to Moses, “Before you command Me regarding My children, command My children regarding Me.” It is almost as if G-d is saying, do not worry about My responsibilities toward My children; I will take care of them. There is a far more worrisome issue: Tell the children to take care of Me.

This seems perplexing. G-d is upset with Moses that he is asking Him to take care of the children who might be left as a flock without a shepherd. Instead, G-d says, why don’t you instruct the children to offer Me sacrifices?! But how can you compare the two? Moses is beseeching G-d that the nation survives and endures; G-d wants Moses to first tell the nation to bring the appropriate sacrifices!

So Rashi continues to present a fascinating parable, to shed light on the exchange:

רש"י פינחס כח, ב: צו את בני ישראל: מה אמור למעלה (כז, טז) יפקוד ה'. אמר לו הקב"ה עד שאתה מצוני על בני, צוה את בני עלי. משל לבת מלך שהיתה נפטרת מן העולם והיתה מפקדת לבעלה על בניה וכו', כדאיתא בספרי.[1]

There was a princess who was about to die. She called in her husband and commanded him to take care of the children after her demise. Her husband, the future widower, responds: “Rather than you commanding Me about My children, command My children about Me.”

Moses, the faithful mother and shepherd of Israel, who led them for more than four decades, is about to die. Now, mom is concerned: In the absence of a mother, who will make sure my kinderlach (children) are fine?

What is G-d’s response? Rather than telling Me to take care of them, make sure to tell them to take care of Me! I will now be a widower. I will not have you anymore. I will only have my children—and I am afraid to lose them. I need you to speak to my children that they should take care of their dad after you pass on.

And what does the Father ask for? “Make sure to give me my daily bread; a daily sacrifice of sheep, one in the morning, one in the afternoon.”

Why Is G-d So Lonely?

Which only leaves us scratching our head. The infinite G-d is “crying” to his “wife,” Moses, that He is afraid of remaining a lonely widower after her death? I can understand Moses' wishes. He led the people for forty years, through thick and thin. He knows how disheartening and rebellious they can be. He also knows they can get on their Father’s nerves. He comes to G-d and says:I need you to take care of my children and of Your children. They need a great leader.

But G-d? The infinite Creator? The all-powerful one? The omnipotent and the omniscient? G-d, the embodiment of perfection and flawlessness? Why is He comparing Himself to a lost widower? What exactly is He worried about?

The Alteration

Forty-nine years ago, on Shabbos Parshas Pinchas, 24 Tamuz, 5731, July 17, 1971, the Lubavitcher Rebbe presented a most moving insight.[2]

As always, it is intimated in one slight nuance.

In Sifri, the original midrashic text which is the source of Rashi, the parable is about a king and his wife. But Rashi alters the text. He changes one detail in the parable. It is about a princess and her husband. For the Sifri, G-d is the King and Moses is His queen. For Rashi, Moses is the princess, the daughter of a king, and G-d is her husband, a “regular” husband.

Why would Rashi make this dramatic change? why would Rashi turn Moses into the princess and G-d into the “layman”?[3]

Yet it is this subtle change that sheds light on the very powerful exchange between the Jewish leader and the Creator of the world.

The Lonely Husband

When a king loses his queen, it may be difficult, but the palace does not crumble, and the kings’ needs are still taken care of. The monarch is surrounded by an entire apparatus of ministers, assistants, advisors, servants who will ensure that the king has his needs met and that the country can continue running.

Not so with a simple widower. When his wife dies, he is often completely lost.[4] All he is left with are his children. If his children abandon him, he will be forlorn in an empty and tough world. So before his wife passes on he asks her to please encourage the children to be there for their father—to make sure his children do not neglect him.

Infinite Love, Infinite Need

It is here we discover the daring and shocking message of our sages here.

G-d is infinite, perfect, and has no “needs.” Needs by definition indicate you are lacking; you are imperfect. How can G-d be lacking anything? A finite being can have needs. An infinite being has no needs.

Yet here lay one of the great ideas of Judaism. G-d, the perfect endless one, the essence and core of all reality, desired a relationship with the human person. G-d created the entire universe. Man is a tiny infinitesimal creature. Yet G-d chose us to be His children. The unlimited Creator chose to make Himself vulnerable. It is a choice that comes from G-d’s undefined essence (not defined even by being “perfect” and “unneedy”), and hence it is absolute and infinite.

When you love because you need, the love is as deep as the need. When you have a relationship with someone just because you need them (such as a cleaning lady, or a family doctor) then when that need has been fulfilled the relationship ends. When you need because you love, it is an essential need, intrinsic to yourself. Hashem does not love you because He needs you; He needs me because He loves you, and if the love is limitless and absolute, so is the need.

We need G-d; but G-d needs us too.[5] So when G-d knew Moses was about to pass on, He pleads with him: Just as you say to Me that your children need Me, I say to you: I need them with the same equal intensity, maybe more. Children need parents, but parents also need children. One of the most painful experiences for a parent is when a child rejects him or her.

I need them, says G-d, for my “daily bread,” “lachmi l’eishei;” without them I am—so to speak—despondent and forlorn. Please make sure they remain connected and loyal to Me.

The Protest of Judaism

"I'm NOT needed." These are familiar words. We hear them from the lips of the young and those who have lived many years.

All of Judaism is a protest against this notion. G-d needs every one of us. We are here because we have something to do for Him and for His world. He has only our hands, feet, hearts, minds, souls, and voices. G-d needs my prayer, my heart, my truth, my mitzvah, my conviction, my commitment, and my passion. G-d needs us just as we need G-d. G-d is looking for ordinary people to do extraordinary work.