By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO — Is it possible to give something away and not lose, but gain in the process? Absolutely! Moses shows us how.
As we all know, the Israelites were not a happy lot. After awhile, their kvetching finally got to Moses. He complained to God, “I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it is too much for me. If you would deal thus with me, kill me rather, I beg You, and let me see no more of my wretchedness!” (Nu. 11:14-15)
God responds to Moses’ suffering by assigning him some help: “Gather for Me seventy of Israel’s elders…and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them take their place with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it upon them..” (Numbers 11:16-17)
In other words, God relieves Moses of some of his responsibilities by assigning seventy of the wisest Israelites to serve as his deputies.
But it seems that their elevation to leadership roles will come at Moses’ expense. God will take away some of Moses’ “spirit” and “put it on them.” It appears that he will suffer a net loss in stature by sharing his “spirit” with others.
The Midrash begs to differ: “To what may Moses be compared? To a lit candle on top of a menorah. You use this candle to light other candles, but this does not diminish its own warmth and brilliance. So it was with Moses. Sharing his learning with others did not diminish his wisdom. He lost nothing in the process.”
A similar midrash shares a different analogy. “It is like a person who smells the scent of an etrog. The person enjoys the fragrance and the etrog remains the same.”
When one gives away a material gift, one experiences a “net loss.” This is not true about spiritual gifts. When we share our wisdom, our concern, our sympathy, our empathy, or our love, we lose nothing. In fact, we often gain in the process.
This phenomenon is what Elbert Hubbard, an American writer and poet who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, observed when he wrote about sharing love: “Love grows by giving. The love we give away is the only love we keep. The only way to retain love is to give it away.”
Or, as he was later paraphrased by Sir Paul McCartney and the Beatles: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted via leonard.rosenthal@sdjewishworld.com