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Why does the Torah (תורה) write "rosheichem shivteichem" instead of simply "roshei shivteichem"? Rashi (רש"י) reads it as "rosheichem l'shivteichem"—your heads according to your tribes—teaching that tribal heads held national positions, not merely state ones. This explains why they appear before the Zekeinim: they bore executive responsibility for all of Klal Yisrael, functioning as a twelve-member presidium with national authority.
The shiur analyzes Rashi (רש"י)'s interpretation of the phrase "rosheichem shivteichem" in Parshas Nitzavim. The fundamental question is textual: why does the Torah (תורה) use this unusual phrasing when it could have simply written "roshei shivteichem" (heads of the tribes) using fewer letters? Rashi explains that the Torah deliberately writes "rosheichem shivteichem" to be read as "rosheichem l'shivteichem"—your heads according to your tribes—requiring us to insert an implied lamed (prepositional prefix). Rabbi Zweig emphasizes the difficulty of Rashi's explanation. If the Torah wanted to say "heads of the tribes," it could have used two fewer letters (removing the chaf and mem suffix) and written "roshei shivteichem" clearly. Instead, the Torah writes more letters in a way that seems unclear, forcing us to read in an additional letter (lamed) that isn't written. This apparent inefficiency demands explanation.
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Parshas Nitzavim 29:9
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