Parshas Vayakhail

Bs”d
Parshas Vayakhail (5776)
By Mordechai Dolinsky
(35:1)—Rashi explains: Vayakhail Moshe—that this is lashon hifil—that when Moshe had to gather Klal Yisroel he refrained from doing it manually rather did it verbally. One can understand Rashi that Moshe refrained from physical tactics but rather made use of verbal manipulation, the basic underlying direction is still force. However, it is not likely that the intention of using ‘hifil’ is for this subtle difference. It is also very probable that the pasuk here is relating to us some great principle that Moshe used in gathering Bnei Yisroel for this very significant gathering. “Neesafu al pi diburo”—Moshe used his super verbal persuasive power to inspire them to be self-motivated.
The great lesson here is that the most effective form of influence is to reach the core of the person’s inner motivation for great, real achievement. This is accomplished by a consistent approach of positive communication. Our contemporary secular world has just recently come to this conclusion that our Holy Torah enlightened us of thousands of years ago. This is reminiscent of the episode of Rebbi Akiva delivering an intensive shiur to his talmidim and observing that a number his students were in a state of dosing off. The reaction could have been an outburst of indignation. Instead R’ Akiva chose to stimulate them with a trick question and perk up their interest by posing the following question: Why was Esther worthy of ruling over 127 provinces? Having stimulated them by puzzling them with this question he cleverly replied that she had an outstanding great-great grandmother, Sara Imeinu, who lived 127 years. Probably one way of understanding the depth of this answer is that through Sara’s great deeds that she did every year of her life she awarded a zchus for Esther this enormous kingdom.
This trait of positive communication is a unique and outstanding characteristic to the voice of Klal Yisroel, the true stamp of the sound of our speech. All this also includes the choice and selection of words. The Gemara in Pesachim relates how the Chumash went out its way in expressing the word “tamai” by saying “lo tahor”. This is indeed the trademark of the communication of our nation; in expressing one’s passing away we say he is no longer with us. We don’t have a noun for male anatomy. When Chazal tell us that one of the four great traits of Bnai Yisroel that made them worthy to be redeemed from Egypt was that they were loyal to their language this probably included not only Lashon HaKodesh but the manner of speech as we have discussed here.

How much we must be inspired not to be influenced by society in general and specifically by the countries in which we dwell, by their low standards and corruption, and to keep our speech standards high. With the understanding of this paramount foundation of the mentality and the supreme importance of the means of communication of Klal Yisroel it is understandable why inspiring Klal Yisroel with positive communication for self-motivation was the very first thing Moshe did upon his returning Motzai Yom Kippur.