This week’s Torah reading of Pinhas gets its name from the grandson of Aaron, with whose heroic act of righteous violence it begins. But its most dramatic moment might come when Moses pleads with God to appoint a successor. Erica Brown writes:
The medieval French commentator Rashi notes that Moses, once forbidden to enter the Promised Land, asks only that his replacement have merit. There is a darker midrashic take on this request: “I ask that You should not do to him, as You have done to me since I may not bring them into the Land.” Moses seeks to correct the way he had been treated.
God immediately grants Moses’ request. Joshua is chosen. Moses’ own sons are not deemed worthy. The needs of the nation come first. Joshua earned his place through loyalty and hard work, and, according to interpretations in Jewish tradition, deserved his new status because he straightened out the chairs in the study hall and carried buckets of water. Leadership is ultimately about serving rather than being served.