Alshich's Thoughts on Perek Cuf-Zayin

ועל אשר צוהו יתברך והעמדת אותו וכו', אמר ויעמידהו לפני וכו' ויסמוך וכו'. ואחשוב כי משה אמר, הנה צוני יתברך שאסמוך ידי אחת, ובה שתים אשפיע בו. אחד, קדושה. שיוכל להשפיע ולרעות גם את הנקראים עם ה'. שנית, לתת בו הדר מלכות. ולא צוני שאסמוך את שתי ידי רק אחת, כי אם שאכוין גם לתת מהודי עליו. ובא לקנא עם שהוא תלמידי, אמר לו שלפני אלעזר הכהן יעמוד ושאל לו וכו', מה שאין כן אני שאיני צריך שאלת כהן. על כן אעשה את שלי, שמה שהיה לי לעשות שתים ביד אחת אעשה בשתים בשתי כוונות. אחת, למען תחול בחינת הקדושה בימין. ובחינת הדר מלכות ביד שמאל. כי חכמה בדרום שהוא הימין. ולתת מהוד מלכות עליו הוא בשמאל, כי מלוכה 

בצפון כנודע. כוונה שנית, להפליג השפע:

על כן ויסמוך את ידיו, הן שתי הידים, עליו. ועל ידי כן כאשר ויצוהו לנגיד על כלם, הופלג עד גדר שהיה כאשר דבר ה' בידמשה. שהוא, כאשר היה דבר ה' ביד משה, מדבר הוא יתברך לצורך ישראל. כאשר היו ביד משה, כן עתה בהיותם ביד יהושע. כי כאשר היה עם משה, היה עמו. כי על פי ה' שהיה מדבר עם יהושע, היה יוצא ובא הוא וכל ישראל כאשר בהיותם ביד משה. שלא הוצרך למשפט אורים ותומים כי נביא הוא, ואין צורך אורים ותומים רק למי שאינו נביא. כי גם דוד לא השיג רק רוח הקדש. ואילו היה סומך ידו אחת עדיין היה צריך לאלעזר. על כן טרם יסמוך ידיו העמידו לפניו, להורות כי קודם סמיכת שתי ידיו צריך עמידה לפניו אך לא אחרי כן:

By this דיבור המתחיל, Alshich looks to explain an apparent contradiction in the text. In Pasuk 18, Hashem tells Moshe וסמכת את ידו אליו, but when Moshe actually does it, it says in Pasuk 23, ויסמוך את ידיו אליו. Why did Moshe put two hands on Yehoshua's head instead of just one?

Alshich answers that Moshe was only required to put one hand, his right hand, on Yehoshua in order to give him קדושה but chose to put a second one upon him to give him מלכות as well. Alshich says that Moshe thought that Yehoshua might get jealous that Elazar got a whole ceremony when he was appointed כהן גדול while Yehoshua only gets this quick thing where Moshe gives him סמיכה, so in an attempt to rectify that, he gives Yehoshua a subtle but significant gesture that he full endorses him as the next leader of Bnei Yisrael and has all the respect in the world for him. Alshich goes on to say that because of this gesture of סמיכה with two hands, Yehoshua was able to lead Bnei Yisrael and have Hashem with him exactly the same way that it was with Moshe. Additionally, Elazar had the whole ceremony to give him the אורים ותומים, but Yehoshua actually got something greater as he never needed to use the אורים ותומים a single time throughout his leadership, instead receiving straight Nevuah from Hashem like Moshe did (if not on the same level of Nevuah).

Alshich's best proof for his ideas is that the אורים ותומים are not mentioned a single time throughout ספר יהושע, and his basic premise of Moshe wanting to make sure Yehoshua didn't get jealous fits well with the פשט as well.

In terms of lessons from this idea, Alshich does not dwell on them as much as he usually does, but a few of them that he's implying are not to show favoritism among your children as a parent or to your child (or nephew) compared to your other students as a teacher. Alshich also implies the importance of a leader supporting his successor. Other than that, Alshich makes a point at the end about how סמיכה is given, that if it's given with one hand, you don't have to stand up, but with two hands, you do (of course it was always given with two hands because of that).

This is a really cool פירוש as it gives a whole new perspective of the changing of the guard from Moshe to Yehoshua in that he's not just reluctantly listening to Hashem's command to appoint Yehoshua his successor but also choosing to bestow upon him additional merit to help him lead in the future. That's vintage Moshe, willing to be humble and pass on as much of his greatness as possible to his greatest student. The whole idea that Yehoshua might be jealous is a little off- why would Yehoshua be jealous?- but it does fit in with his character (at the end of ספר יהושע, he expected to live longer than he did even though he was 110 years old when he died). I still don't love that idea- I guess it's the פשט, but what's wrong with simply saying that Moshe wanted to pass down his greatness to Yehoshua? You could turn around his פירוש and say that Moshe didn't really want to give Yehoshua the two-handed סמיכה but only did it because he felt like he had to and was humble enough to do something he didn't want to do to keep Yehoshua happy. At the end of the day, I love the idea of how the second hand parallels and even overcomes the אורים ותומים and that will shine through for me even as the other idea falls short.