By: Yisrael Yitzchak Rosenfeld
At the end of this week’s parashah, HaShem commands Moshe to appoint Joshua as the next leader of the Jewish people.
He says to Moshe:
“וְצִוִּיתָ אֹתוֹ לְעֵינֵיהֶם”
“And you shall command him before their eyes.”
The Ohr HaChaim zt”l, whose yahrzeit is observed today, offers a remarkable insight into these words.
The word “ve-tzivita” (“and you shall command”) does not merely mean “to command.”
It shares the same root as the Aramaic word “tzavta,” meaning connection, partnership, or togetherness.
HaShem is not merely instructing Moshe to give Joshua directions.
He is asking him to establish a profound bond with him—to transmit his character, his dignity, and his spiritual radiance, to implant a part of himself within Joshua.
This teaches us a profound truth about leadership:
True leadership is never imposed from the outside.
It must flow from within, born of a deep continuity between generations.
It must emerge from genuine connection.
Yet this idea reaches even deeper.
Our Sages (Chazal zt”l) taught:
“Gadol ha-metzuveh ve-oseh mi-mi she-eino metzuveh ve-oseh.”
The traditional translation is:
“Greater is one who is commanded and fulfills a mitzvah than one who fulfills it without having been commanded.”
But when viewed through the lens of the Ohr HaChaim zt”l, an entirely new dimension emerges:
“Greater is one who acts מתוך ‘tzavta’—in a relationship of connection—than one who acts without that connection.”
When HaShem gives us a mitzvah, He is inviting us into tzavta—into a relationship with Him.
Every mitzvah becomes an opportunity to connect with Him, to receive His light, and to carry it into the world, just as Joshua received it from Moshe.
May we be privileged to experience that connection with every mitzvah we fulfill, and may we carry a spark of His glory wherever we go.
