Moses' disappointment.

Hidden beneath the surface of Parachat Pinchas, the sages uncovered a story of great poignancy.

Moses, having seen his sister and brother, Dye knew that his own time on earth was coming to a close.

He prayed to God to appoint a successor. May the Lord the God of the spirits

of all mankind appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will

lead them out and bring them in so the Lord's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.

There is, though, an obvious question.

Why does this episode appear here?

It should surely have been positioned seven chapters earlier,

either at the point of which God told Moses and Aaron that they would die without entering the land,

or shortly thereafter, when we read about the death of Aaron.

The sages sensed two clues to the story beneath the story.

The first is that it appears immediately after the episode in which the daughters of Slavhat sought and were granted their father's share in the land. It was this that triggered Moses' request.

Omidrash explains,

what was Moses' reason for making this request

after declaring the order of inheritance?

Just this, that when the daughters of Slavchad inherited from their father,

Moses reasoned, the time is right for me to make my own request.

If daughters inherit it is surely right that my sons should inherit my glory.

Moses wanted a son of his to be his successor.

The second clue lies in Moses' words, in God's words, to Moses immediately before he made the

request for the appointment of his successor. Then the Lord said to Moses, go up this mountain of

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