Gershom
- Leann Shamash
- Jul 16
- 4 min read
#parshatpinchas #pinchas #summer2025 #wordshavewings #seferbamidbar #moshe #moses #gershon #gershonsonofmoses #joshua #desert #theexodus
Much transpires in Parshat Pinchas. The Pinchas narrative concludes with him receiving a Brit Shalom. The daughters of Tzelophachad go before Moshe to ask for their share of inheritance when they reach The Land. There is yet another census and Joshua is appointed as Moshe's successor.
And י -ה-ו-ה answered Moses, “Single out Joshua son of Nun, an inspired man, and lay your hand upon him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him in their sight.
Invest him with some of your authority, so that the whole Israelite community may obey.
But he shall present himself to Eleazar the priest, who shall on his behalf seek the decision of the Urim before י-ה-ו-ה. By such instruction they shall go out and by such instruction they shall come in, he and all the Israelite [militia], and the whole community.”
Moses did as י-ה-ו-ה commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community.
He laid his hands upon him and commissioned him—as י-ה-ו-ה had spoken through Moses.
Numbers 27:18-23
It is not Joshua who I wish to focus on this week, nor Pinchas or even the amazing Daughters of Tzelophachad, but Moshe's sons. Moshe married Tzipora, seemingly so long ago, and had two sons with her, Gershom (I was a stranger there) and Eliezer (God is my helper)
In Torah we read very little of Tzipora, or either of Moshe's sons. As I read this week's parsha though I thought of Moshe's sons who lurked somewhere in the background of the narrative. Aaron's surviving sons continue the priesthood and now Joshua has been chosen as someone of the new generation to lead the Hebrews to The Land across the river. Where are Moshe's sons? Why do we hear so little of them? The rabbis have various explanations. Did the sons return to Midian and not experience life in the desert? Since the sources suggest that due to Moshe's heightened spiritual status, he needed to separate from his wife? Did this also include his sons, or perhaps, as some suggest, the boys did not learn enough Torah? The text says so little that it is easy to allow ourselves to imagine the story of the sons.
I took the liberty here to create a scenario involving one of Moshe's sons, Gershom. It is not based on a midrash or any text. I just tried to imagine what it might have been like to be the son of a spiritual giant and the head of a nation. Perhaps this scenario is something that extends past Moshe Rabeinu and his sons and continues to occur with fathers to this very day. Perhaps yes or perhaps no?
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom and peace.
May we hear good news soon.
Leann
Gershom
Forgive me,
but words do not flow easily from me.
Like my father, they burrow deep inside.
You may not have heard much about me,
perhaps you don't recognize my face,
but my father is as familiar to you as your own name.
My father.
You may know him as the reluctant leader,
the man who talks with God
or he whose face glows so deeply that people shield their eyes.
He is the man on the mountain top, the teacher and judge,
an extraordinary man he is,
my father.
I am his son.
I am Gershom.
My name means “ A stranger there”
But who is the stranger and where do I stand?
With broad shoulders he carries the complaints of a nation.
My father's responsibilities, as expansive as the law,
as towering as the lifted walls of the sea as the people crossed.
He answers to One and One alone,
yet here I stand, that boy lost in the fine print.
Herding a stubborn nation leaves little time
for the stumbles of a boy,
even the stumbles of a son.
To be his son is to be aware of his presence,
almost always from afar.
To see him surrounded by people,
seemingly present everywhere,
but his presence in my life is as small as a thimble
with absences that stretch across holes in time,
from day to day, Shabbat to Shabbat,
year to year,
but still I grow.
My father casts a long shadow,
but rarely has it sheltered me in its cooling shade.
I sit far outside of that shadow.
in the harsh light of the mid-day sun of the desert
blinking against the light.
What is a child but a partially sculpted
lump of clay,
waiting to be modeled,
whose rough edges require smoothing
sculpting, as only a parent can sculpt.
Who am I?
I am Gershom ben Moshe,
I am that stranger standing alone over there.
Other Posts on Parshat Pinchas From Words Have Wings
A Prayer for the Severed Vav- a piece about Pinchas' Brit Shalom
Thoughts about new leadership.
An imagined letter from the mother of the 5 daughters of Tzelophachad. (One of my favorites)
https://www.wordshavewings.net/post/to-my-daughters-a-letter-to-mahlah-noa-choglah-milcah-and-tirzah
An oddity in the census. One of the daughters of Asher who keeps popping up, despite the years flying by. She is the woman who doesn't die!!!
For More on the Story of Moshe's Sons
גֵּרְשֹׁ֑ם
Comments