NUM256 … rarely did Moses retort with impatience or anger. Fundamentally he was a leader with a boundless love and devotion for his people. As the Midrash put it, he had a pact with the Almighty: "When Moses grew angry at the people Israel, the Holy, Blessed One would reconcile him. Should the Holy One be angered at the Israelites, Moses would reconcile Him" (Midrash Rabbah, Exodus xlv 2; Deuteronomy iii 15; Midrash T'hillim xxv 6). Every present-day Jewish leader would do well to study and emulate Moses--be he Prime Minister of Israel, Rabbi of a synagogue, or the president of an organization. Should he begin to falter or weaken under a steady barrage of petty, carping criticism, let him remember our Law-giver, and bear with our people, as Moses did. Despite massive doses of frustration and irritation, Moses never condemned his people out of hand, to send them to perdition. Over and over again he defended them before the Almighty, and returned to guide them gently but firmly, slowly but surely toward righteousness and moral achievement. The Hatham Sofer, though, raises an objection: If, as the mishnah teaches, no sin could occur through him, how could Heaven let him smite the rock at Kadesh instead of speaking to it, when the error was to cost him the right to enter the promised land? [this verse, Numbers 20:7-13]. The answer lies in the reason behind the principle: No sin will occur through the leader, we noted, so that his disciples should not go on to eternal life in the Hereafter and he to perdition; once he has brought a multitude to virtue, his destiny remains linked with theirs, that he may share fully in their eternal reward. The generation of the wilderness, to whom Moses taught and gave the Torah, had already been sentenced to die without reaching the promised land. Therefore Heaven allowed Moses this one serious transgression, that his destiny should remain linked with theirs. And so, when Moses later told of his sentence, he said, "the Lord was angry with me on your account ..." (Deuteronomy 3:26). But though he did not enter the promised land, he had a share in mitzvoth which could be observed only there, when they were done there by the younger entering Israelites; for he had taught them the mitzvoth.