Some years ago I  heard a talk given by a history professor about a book he  wrote in which  he discusses the contributions to American democracy of Alexander Hamilton, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The author mentioned that all of these men were worried about the legacies that they would leave behind, and wanted to be remembered in a good light. John Adams, in fact, began working on his legacy more than twenty years before he died. Finally, despairing of explaining himself properly to the American people, he said to his good friend James Madison, " take care of me when I'm dead," thereby entrusting his legacy to him. This story resonated for me because of what we read in this week's parsha about the petition made by the daughters of Zelophchod to Moshe, and the subsequent petition of Moshe to God, which, as we shall see, can be phrased as, " take care of my people when I’m dead."
After recording the census of the Jewish nation taken before entering the Holy Land, the Torah tells us that daughters of Zelophchod came before Moshe and Elozor and said that their father died in the wilderness without having any sons, and, therefore, they should receive his portion in the land. As Rashi points out, this episode occurred in the fortieth year after the exodus from Egypt, after the death of Aharon, because if Aharon had still been alive, the Torah would have recorded that it was Moshe and Aharon who the daughters petitioned, not Moshe and Elozor. Moshe, not knowing what the law was in this case, brought the petition before God, and He responded that the daughters were correct, and that they should receive their father's portion in Eretz Yisroel. God then told Moshe to ascend a mountain and view the Holy Land before he died, because he would not enter it. Moshe petitions God to choose a leader for the nation, and God tells him to appoint Yehoshua. Rashi writes that the reason Moshe made this request now was because he heard God's response that the daughters of Zelophchod spoke correctly, and they inherit their father's portion in the land. Moshe thought that the time had also come for him to claim his rights, and ask that his sons inherit his position and become the leaders of the nation. There are a number of things we need to understand, in connection with this explanation of Rashi. First, even though Moshe did not know how to respond to the daughters of Zelophchod, he did know that there is a law of inheritance. Therefore, why didn't he ask about the inheritance of his leadership earlier? Secondly, if Moshe was simply claiming his inheritance, why did he phrase his request in the manner in which he did, asking for a leader who would be able to relate to each person on their own level, and praying that the nation not be left as a flock of sheep without a shepherd? On the other hand, if his primary motivation was to assure that the people would have a leader after his death, why did he ask that his sons be appointed? Moreover, if he did have a claim for transferring the leadership role to his sons, why, then, was it given to Yehoshua, instead?
Rav Nissan Alpert, zt"l, in his Limmudei Nissan, writes that even though Moshe had been taught the laws of inheritance at Mt. Sinai, they did not register with him internally until he was confronted with an actual question in regard to their application. This explanation aligns with an explanation given by Rav Yechezkel Abramsky, zt"l, of the gemara in Shabbos, which tells us that when Moshe ascended Mt. Sinai to receive the Torah, the angels complained and said that the Torah should remain in heaven, with them, and not be given to human beings, who would only corrupt it. Moshe told them that the Torah should of right be given to man, because only human beings experience the circumstances to which the laws of the Torah apply. For example, he argued, only human beings, and not angels, have parents whom they need to honor and fear, and only men work for six days of the week and must observe the seventh day as Shabbos, as a testimony to God's creation of the world. Rabbi Abramsky explained that even though the angels understood this, they still wanted to retain control of the halachic process, and decide how the laws of torah should be applied, rather than allowing human beings to make such decisions. Moshe argued, however, that only those who actually observe the Torah are able to understand the halachic process in a proper way, and apply the laws appropriately. According to Rabbi Alpert, then, Moshe, in a similar way, did not appreciate the full implications of the laws of inheritance until he was confronted with an actual case that he had to decide. Once the daughters of Zelophchod presented their petition, Moshe realized that the time had come for him to make his own petition, as well. I believe, however, that there is an additional element in the petition of the daughters of Zelopchod that motivated Moshe to make his request, and can help explain why he presented it in the way which he did.
After the daughters of Zelophchod presented Moshe with the basic facts of their case, they asked, "Why should the name of our father be omitted from among his people because he had no son? " (Bamidbar 27:4). The words used to express the issue of being omitted, 'lamah yigarah' - literally, why should it be omitted - are very similar to the words used by the people who, as recorded in parshas Beha'aloscha, were impure at the time the Pesach sacrifice was brought in the second year after the exodus, and were thus precluded from bringing it. They then came to Moshe and said, "Why should we be left out by not offering God's offering in its appointed time among the Children of Israel" (Bamidbar 9:7). The words these people used were 'lamah nigara' - why should we be left out, similar to the words used by the daughters of Zelophchod, 'lamah yigara.' In both cases, the petitioners felt an inner sense of loss by being excluded from the Jewish people in a seminal event in its history, and asked Moshe to be included. When Moshe then realized that, just as the daughters of Zelopchod had a claim to their father's inheritance, his own sons had a claim to his, he also understood that a leader needs to respond to the inner essence of each individual, as expressed by the daughters of Zelopchod when they said 'lamah yigara,' and the petitioners in parshas Beha'aloscha said, 'lamah nigara. Therefore, when Moshe asked God to appoint a leader in his place, he said, " May the Lord, God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the assembly" (Bamidbar 27:14), meaning, as Rashi explains, that God, who knows the personality of each individual, should appoint a leader who will be able to deal with each person according to his unique personality.
Rabbi Avrohom Binyomin Sofer, known as the Kesav Sofer, writes in his commentary that the reason Moshe felt that only his sons were qualified to lead the people was that they had observed him on a day to day basis, dealing with the individual needs of each person who came to him. God, however, responded that his student Yehoshua, who never left his tent, and constantly observed him throughout their forty years in the wilderness, was the one who was really qualified to lead the nation in this manner. Why was Yehoshua more qualified than Moshe's sons to lead the people in a way that responded to each person's inner essence? Rabbi Avrohom Borenstein, in his commentary Shem MiShmuel, writes that while the leader of the nation must respond to each person's inner needs, he must, at the same time, maintain the unity of the nation. This is why, he says, the section of the daily olah sacrifice, or 'korban tomid,' immediately follows the section of Yehoshua's appointment. That daily sacrifice came from communal funds, and represented the unity of the nation. Although Rabbi Bornstein does not say this, perhaps we can suggest that this was also the element that Yehoshua had which Moshe's sons lacked, since Torah, as well, is the basis of the unity of the Jewish people. Thus Yehoshua, as Moshe's devoted student, understood not only how to respond to each person's inner needs, but also understood how these needs actually emanated from each person's connection to the Torah. With this understanding, he was able to maintain the unity of the nation while at the same time responding to each person's inner essence.