We, as a community, have arrived at my favorite part of the Jewish liturgical calendar: the days of awe. For those of you who regularly attend minyan, we have been blowing the Shofar and, more importantly to me, reciting the psalm for the season of repentance. In addition to the eccentricities, every Shabbat we have been reading haftarot from the book of Isaiah, as they are meant to provide consolation amid the depths of the sadness of Tisha B’Av and spiritually prepare us for the new year. The Torah portions, on the other hand, are Moshe Rabbeinu extolling the lessons he’s learned as the leader of the Israelites, both to those camped at the base of the mountain and to us camped at the base of our instincts. 

In this week’s double portion, Moses continues to admonish the ills of their society and to implore them to turn back to Hashem. He speaks about future redemption that lies ahead for those who are willing to walk humbly with their God. Moses, realizing his advanced age and inability to enter the land of Israel, goes in front of those who have depended upon him and tells them he can’t lead them any further. These Israelites have spent decades wandering the wilderness following him. The vast majority of them have known no other life other than looking to him for guidance, but Moses knows that he can not continue with them.

Joshua is being given an impossible task. Moses is handing him a wolf by the ear, a people who have known nothing but hot sand and a land of giants to conquer. Having been Moses’ right-hand man, Joshua knows exactly the weight of the burden he is incurring, yet is more than willing to shoulder it. Joshua will go on to lead the people through a difficult and turbulent time and, much like his predecessor, will split a body of water and help to perform miracles as Hashem’s conduit on earth. But at this point, he is just a layman, as a larger-than-life figure announces his future ascendance to lead the people.

Much like Joshua, you are being handed a seemingly impossible task: to succeed. To succeed in acing classes, building a social life, having fun, getting enough sleep, meeting your nutritional needs, and solidifying your Jewish practice and identity. And, like Joshua, you are being handed this task by those who have led you and made these decisions for you. Leadership is a balancing act. It’s about understanding and balancing competing interests. Your task, too, is a balancing act on a very narrow bridge, and the most important thing is to remember to have no fear. I want to leave you with the words Mose says to Joshua to pass him the torch “Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall go.”