"קח לך את יהושע איש אשר רוח בו” (כז:יח)
The Torah refers to Yehoshua as an Ish Ruach. The Sforno explains that what this means is that “He is ready and prepared to receive the light of the Countenance of the [eternally] living King, similar to that which the pasuk says, ‘And in the heart of all those wise of heart He gave wisdom.”
This could be understood as follows. A person is composed of two totally different entities: a body and a neshama, representing gashmiyus and ruchniyus. This is echoed in the words of the Ramah in his explanation of the bracha of asher yatzar, “Hashem does a wondrous feat in that which He guards the ruach (spirit) of man inside of him, and binds something spiritual into something physical .”
Whenever it is possible to have shleimus in both components of that which comprise the adam, ashrecha v’tov lach. However, whenever shleimus in both is not possible, the individual must make a choice whether to impoverish his ruchniyus for the sake of a more complete gashmiyus, or to allow his gashmiyus to become impoverished for the sake of a more complete ruchniyus.
Without a doubt, the correct choice is to allow an impoverishment of gashmiyus, which, after all, is only temporary, and not to impoverish ruchniyus which is eternal.
Even when there is no choice but to allow for a certain degree of impoverishment of one’s ruchniyus component, for example if one needs to engage in efforts to make a parnassa, he should nevertheless remain cognizant of the main objective; and, whenever possible, to re-focus on the ruchniyus.
This type of choice can be relevant to a person for one minute, one hour, one day, one year, or ten years. The definition of an Ish Ruach is one who, when confronted with this decision, will never choose to impoverish his ruchniyus for the sake of his gashmiyus; the gashmiyus will always remain secondary for him vis a vis his ruchniyus. Hashem told Moshe that this is a quality required for a leader of Klal Yisrael, and that Yehoshua has this quality.
Rav Moshe Twersky ztz"l
