We find in this week’s parsha that Moshe Rabbeinu requests from the Ribono Shel Olam to appoint his successor for klal Yisroel. Moshe understood he was not entering Eretz Yisroel so Hashem told him to appoint another leader, as the pasuk says (27: 20) v’nasata mei’hodcha mei’alav; ‘You shall bestow some of your majesty upon him’; not all. Rashi quotes a gemara that says the face of Moshe was like the sun while the face of Yehoshua was that of the moon. The gemara concludes (not quoted in Rashi) that the elders of bnei Yisroel said ‘woe unto us is the embarrassment- woe unto us as a k’lima‘.

The basic understanding of the aforementioned gemara is that these elders who were zoche to live under the leadership of Moshe Rabeinu saw how the leadership diminished with the replacement of Yehoshua as their new leader. It was for this reason that they let out a sigh.

The first question here is Yehoshua was also a respected person. Granted he was not of equal caliber to Moshe Rabbeinu, but he was still a navi and a tremendous talmud chochom. So why would the elders call it a busha, an embarrassment?

Secondly, Chazal say that the elders said ‘oy vey’ (so to speak) look at our new leader. It doesn’t seem appropriate for our elders to use such terminology. Why the negativity and the saddened heart by such a change of leaders?

The Chofetz Chaim answers with a powerful parable:

There was a small city that was mostly comprised of poor people, but there was one wealthy person who was in the diamond business. He wouldn’t just go to a wholesaler to buy diamonds; he would travel the world for long intervals. He knew how to dig, cut, polish and sell them. He knew it all, everything from A to Z. On one of his overseas trips home he put up a letter in the local town square advertising for an assistant. He needed help with his business and was looking to hire a competent individual. There were a lot of applicants who wanted the job, the reason being they wanted to be wealthy, like him. However, none of them liked the travelling schedule. Finally, one man who applied for the job was accepted. After a full year on the job watching his superior tend his affairs this man picks up the business quite quickly. He can do everything just like the boss. He expanded his boss’s business, opened new locations and made his boss even more successful than he already was. He not only became wealthy himself but he had also made a name for himself as a diamond expert. He was no longer an ‘assistant’ he was now his own established person bringing in plenty of money as well.

When he returned home to the town where he originated from, the other people saw him and they realized the missed opportunity they had squandered. The owner they weren’t bothered by; was already established and he was already a powerful and wealthy businessman. But the assistant, he was one of them! He was just like them and look what he became. He himself was successful, wealthy and well established now. Look at what we could’ve become!

So too is p’shat with the elders of klal Yisroel. They weren’t chas v’shalom upset by the fact that Yehoshua was becoming the leader or at the fact that their leadership diminished. They were saying that Yehoshua was on their level, he was just like them. He was one of the spies just as they were. At one point they were all equal but he studied and served Moshe Rabeinu and he slowly distanced himself from others- ultimately rising to becoming the manhig of klal Yisroel. They realized the missed opportunity that each and every one of them had to become the future leader of klal Yisroel. ‘Look what we could have become’ is why they were sighing.

There’s no greater frustration than growing up with someone and being equal with them only to later watch them grow and prosper to become something great. Only then will a person realize and see the opportunity that they too had, to become a great person-and yet they wasted it away.

Friends and classmates that rise through the ranks, be it in Torah or in any other matter, when a person looks back and says ‘we were equal; he was no better than me’-look what I could have been had I not wasted and passed up the opportunity back then. Only then will a person realize what he could’ve become.

Let’s not wait for that to happen; each of us should open our eyes and look for the opportunities that are knocking at our doors on a daily basis.