When Moshe delegated authority to the seventy Elders, he was teaching a significant lesson regarding the dissemination of Torah throughout Klal Yisrael. Moshe brought the Elders to his own tent. This was the tent from which he taught Torah, from which the “bottom line” in halachah was decided and disseminated for one purpose – to instruct the elders in their goal as teachers of Klal Yisrael. They were given the lofty responsibility of transmitting Torah throughout Klal Yisrael. Indeed, Chazal say that the day of the appointment of the Zekeinim, Elders, was as beloved to Hashem as the day He gave the Torah. Horav Y.A. Hershovitz, zl, explains that as long as the Zekeinim had not been nominated to accept the Torah Shebaal Peh, Oral Law, from Moshe to teach and circulate it throughout the nation, the Written Law had no purpose. Without teachers, the Torah would be forgotten! Only through the Elders of that generation — and every generation thereafter — does the Torah have a kiyum, is upheld and adhered to.
For this reason, Moshe’s response to Yehoshua is written in the middle of the Torah’s recording of the induction of the Zekeinim. Moshe tells Yehoshua that the function of the Torah teachers is to assure that each individual Jew achieves the zenith of spirituality, so that he no longer needs his rebbe, teacher, to instruct him. He has become capable of his own instruction; he is prepared to teach others. This has been the function of our Zekeinim throughout the generations. They have been the vehicle through which the Torah has been transmitted, preparing each generation to transmit our heritage to the next.
A hidden danger, however, lurks in this process. The Elders might get “carried away,” thinking that they are equal to Moshe. They might teach laws that they did not hear from Moshe. If they sense that Hashem has inspired them with Moshe’s spirit of kedushah, they might no longer need Moshe. They could do it on their own. No longer would we have one Torah with one standard, there would be many Toros – each one using his own perspective to develop his own position in Torah law. This tragedy must be prevented.
Thus, Hashem Yisborach proclaimed to Klal Yisrael, “Not so is my servant Moshe; in My entire house he is to be the trusted one,“(12:7). Moshe Rabbeinu, the quintessential teacher and Navi, is different. As virtuous as any Navi, Moshe is far greater. “B’chol beisi nee’man hu,” “In My entire house he is the trusted one.” Aharon and Miriam, in whose merit we enjoyed the Ananei Ha’kavod — “Clouds of Glory” — and the well of Miriam, preceded Moshe in prophecy. Yet, neither was as great as he. When they thought they were equal to him, that they could question his behavior, Hashem immediately reproved them. Moshe is different; he is in a category of his own. Miriam was punished. She conceded her error and lamented her transgression. All of Klal Yisrael waited for her to recover, so that forever after it would be acknowledged that Moshe Rabbeinu is different. No Navi, no sage, regardless of his virtue, holiness and brilliance, can ever compare himself to Moshe. No halachah that has not been transmitted directly from Moshe — or derived through the hermaneutic rules that were given to Moshe on Har Sinai — is acceptable. There is one Toras Moshe – the one that Hashem Yisborach gave to Moshe Rabbeinu on Har Sinai. It is as immutable and eternal as Hashem, Himself.
