04 Jun PARSHAS BAMIDBAR: BECOMING THE HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD

The pasuk says,
“And with you shall
be one man from
each tribe (ish, ish
l’mateh), a man who
is a leader of his
father’s household (rosh l’beis avosav,
hu).” [Bamidbar 1:4] The Sefer Imrei
Shammai has an encouraging insight on
this pasuk. The author comments that
every person has the opportunity to be a
leader of his family.
The Sefer Imrei Shammai cites a cute
story. A Jew who was an ignoramus
(Am ha’aretz) approached another Jew
who was a scholar (Talmid Chacham)
and started bragging about his lineage:
“You should know my ‘yichus’. I come
from a line of great people! However,
you do not come from anyone of
importance.” The Am ha’aretz was
obviously jealous of the Torah scholar.
He had only one thing going for himself
– his great ancestors – so he bragged

about his lineage. The Talmud Chacham
answered him sharply, “The difference
between us is that your ‘yichus’ ends
with you. In my case, my ‘yichus’ begins
with me.”
This capacity – to begin a distinguished
family lineage from oneself – is hinted
at in the above quoted pasuk. Every
person (ish, ish), no matter from where
he comes, has the ability to become the
head of his own family (rosh l’beis
avosav, hu) – meaning the beginning of
an illustrious chain in his own family
that will henceforth trace its origin to
him.
No person should feel discouraged
because he comes from humble
beginnings. On the contrary – ‘yichus’
has to start somewhere. If it hasn’t
started from one’s ancestors, let a person
make every effort to insure that great
lineage begins with him.
A Chassidic tale is told involving the
Maggid of Mezrich. When the Maggid

of Mezrich was five years
old, a fire burned down
his house. His mother sat
in front of the rubble
crying. She explained to
her son that she was not
crying because she had
lost her house. The cause
of her great grief was that
a family tree (shtar
yuchsin) going back many
many generations was lost
in the fire. Tradition has it
that the five year old,
future Maggid of Mezrich,
consoled his mother with
the words, “Don’t worry
mommy. I am going to
start a new ‘yichus’.”
He in fact became the start of a great
line of Chassidic leaders. Today if
someone can show that he traces his
ancestry back to the Maggid of Mezrich,
he is considered to be a person of great

lineage. Every person has the ability to
become the “head of the lineage of his
household.” Some people have the fate
of being the “end of the line” of the
‘yichus’ of their family. Others are able
to begin a new line of ‘yichus,’ from
themselves forward.