Rashi tells us that Moshe, after seeing what the Bnos Tzlafchad accomplished, felt it was an opportune time to put forth his own request. Moshe wanted his children to become the leaders of the Jewish People. Moshe approached Hashem and requested; "May Hashem, G-d of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the congregation, who shall go out in front of them and come in before them".... Hashem responded by saying "Take for yourself Yehoshua bin Nun".... Rashi explains that Hashem was telling Moshe that the most appropriate person to lead the Jewish People was Yehoshua bin Nun. Why? Because he never left the tent, and he never strayed from Moshe's side.

From the above dialogue we can learn several lessons, important traits integral for leading the nation of Hashem. By breaking down the verses, phrase by phrase, we can extrapolate these valuable lessons. Our first lesson lies in Moshe's request, "May Hashem, G-d of all spirits..." One can ask, why does Moshe make reference to the fact that Hashem is G-d of all spirits? Rashi and others tell us that Moshe was requesting a specific leader, one that only Hashem, before Whom nothing is hidden, can pick out, one who can relate to and understand each individual. A leader must be a leader of everyone. By individually relating to each member, the leader promotes a cohesive congregation and ensures the happiness of the whole community.

This leads us to lesson number two. One can ask the question, isn't Yehoshua the least qualified for the job? Rashi tell us that Yehoshua "never left the tent"? Doesn't that sound a bit too sheltered? Further, a leader needs experience. Shouldn't Yehoshua become an "assistant rabbi" first? A possible answer can be found in the writings of Rabbeinu Avraham ben HaRambam. When discussing the trait of "abstinence," he makes the following comment. "A communal head, who supervises all other leaders and officials, can maintain real abstinence only with tremendous effort. He has so little time for outward training since he is primarily occupied with his responsibilities...Do not challenge me by citing David (hamelech) and those like him, for they trained in abstinence until it became natural before they became prominent and great..." We see here that rather than jumping into positions of leadership, the leader much first achieve the self-perfection that is essential for the position. In order to attain a level of self-perfection, one should shy away from time consuming positions of leadership and focus on themselves by being a "sitter in tents," like Yehoshua. In this way, one can focus on inner and outward growth. In fact, some commentaries tell us that there is actually a degree of envy on the part of those who did jump into such positions and realized in retrospect that the right thing would have been to follow Yehoshua's example. As we see from the example of David Hamelech, once one is worthy, he can be chosen for leadership either by direct or indirect Divine intervention. A worthy leader will definitely have Divine assistance, despite the lack of direct experience in the new role.

The final lesson can be derived from Moshe's request, "...appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out in front of them and come before the people"... Such an interesting request. What is so important about having such a leader? Rabbi Moshe Mandel, a Rosh Hayeshiva in the city of Vilna, quotes Rabbi Yisroel Salanter to explain the following Gemarah. The Gemarah in Sanhedrin (daf 98b), in describing what will be the prevalent situation preceding the coming of Moshiach, states "and the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog." Rabbi Yisroel Salanter explains that the nature of a dog is to constantly run in front of its master. It gives the impression that it is leading its master in the direction of its choice. However, when it arrives at a crossroad and looks back at its master for guidance as to where to proceed next and follows its master's direction, it becomes obvious to all that it is not the dog that is leading its master. Rather the master leads the dog.

Rabbi Salanter adds that this is going to be the situation at "the footsteps of Moshiach." Rather than the people looking to the leader for leadership, the leader will turn around and look at the people for guidance. This is prevalent today, political leaders look to polls for guidance to direct their policies. This was not what Moshe had in mind. What Moshe was asking for was a leader who didn't look back. A leader who intuitively knew better than the people what was best for them . This was someone who would go before the people always. May we merit a reverse to our descent, to recognize, respect, and follow the right leader back to Yerushalayim speedily in our day.