Why Moses Asked God for a Leader Who Bears Every Temperament

(Numbers 25:10–11:) "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Phinehas son of Eleazar, etc." Let our master teach us: One who sees human beings who are different — how does he bless? Thus our Rabbis taught: One who sees the dark-skinned person, and the red-blotched, and the white-blotched, and the abnormally tall, and the freckled, and the dwarf, and the dropsical, says, "Blessed is the One who varies the creatures." One who sees [the amputated], the blind, and the one stricken with boils, says, "Blessed is the One who varies the creatures, the true Judge." When? At a time when they were whole and became changed. But if they were so from their mother's womb, he says, "Blessed is the One who varies the creatures." One who sees beautiful creatures and beautiful trees says, "Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the World, who created such in His world." But if he saw multitudes of human beings, he says, "Blessed is the Knower of secrets." Just as their faces are not alike one to another, so their minds are not alike; rather, each and every one has a mind of his own. And so it says (Job 28:25): "to make a weight for the wind" — the weight of each and every one. Know for yourself that it is so, for so did Moses request of the Holy One, blessed be He, at the time of death, and he said before Him: Master of the World, the mind of each and every one of them is revealed before You, and the mind of this one is not like the mind of that one. And at the time when I depart from them, I beg of You, if You wish to appoint over them a leader, appoint over them a man who will bear with each and every one according to his mind. From where? From what they read on the subject (Numbers 27:16): "Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint, etc."