Jewish Leadership
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5768
There is an old uncle Moishy tune that goes “don’t walk in front of me I may not follow, don’t walk behind me I may not lead, just walk beside me and be my friend and together we will walk in the way of Hashem”.
I am bothered by “don’t walk behind me I may not lead”. That line speaks to the heart of a great problem, what I would call the “challenge of Jewish Leadership” and the fear of leading. The Gemara raises this issue very powerfully in the context of the destruction of the second temple and it is one that plagues us today in many areas of Jewish life.
Instead of railing against the rabbis, which would not be wise since I am one of them, I would like to try and paint a picture this morning of the ideal Jewish leader and try and discover what attributes that position requires.
The place to start then is right at the beginning of our parsha. Hashem rejects Moshe’s plea to enter the land of Israel and instead instructs him to “command Joshua and strengthen him, because he is going to cross the Jordan in front of the nation and he will cause the people to inherit the land, or possibly more literally he will give them the land as an inheritance.”
Before we get to the verse itself and its explanation we have to ask ourselves: why is Joshua chosen? And what is expected of him as a Jewish leader?
The first question is actually relatively clear. There are two things that we know about Joshua that enable him to lead.
- The most well known is that he was one of the two meraglim (spies) who came back from the mission to Israel and stood up against the 10 with negative and pessimistic reports. He and Caleb stood up and took an unpopular stand because they knew that it was right. They said what needed to be said despite the inherent danger in doing so. Aaron could not do it by the sin of the Golden Calf and according to the Midrash his brother in-law Chur was killed in the attempt to stand against the people.
- The second thing that we know is that he never left Moshe’s tent. That ensured that he too was a master of the Torah and tradition. He stayed with served and learned from Moshe for a very long time.
The trick is to have both ability to stand up for what is right and take a stand even if will not be an easy or popular one while at the same time being steeped in the tradition to know what it is that you should be fighting for.
Very often even in the last year and throughout our history, we have had people with one of these traits and not the other. Unfortunately we have some who have the courage the take a stand but don’t know enough about Judaism or halacha and thus take the wrong stand causing real damage to our communities.
On the flip side we have people who know what the halacha and Judaism demands of them but are missing the first component, the courage to speak up.
Joshua is chosen because he has both – the courage and the knowledge. As an aside, that is why Caleb was not chosen – maybe he had the former and not the latter, the courage but not enough of the knowledge, or not as much as Joshua.
When you look back at Parshat Pinchas where Moshe is first told to appoint Joshua as his successor the only description we have of him is “Ish asher ruach bo” – a person who has ruach or spirit- that is why he was chosen.
What does that mean?
Eben Ezra offers a fantastic explanation and focuses not on the word ruach but on the word Ish or man and he points us to another text where the same word is used.
He points us to the second chapter of the first book of kings and the context is also the transfer of leadership, namely from David to Solomon.
מלכים א פרק ב
(א) וַיִּקְרְבוּ יְמֵי דָוִד לָמוּת וַיְצַו אֶת שְׁלֹמֹה בְנוֹ לֵאמֹר
(ב) אָנֹכִי הֹלֵךְ בַּדֶרֶךְ כָּל הָאָרֶץ וְחָזַקְתָּ וְהָיִיתָ לְאִישׁ
(ג) וְשָׁמַרְתָּ אֶת מִשְׁמֶרֶת יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו לִשְׁמֹר חֻקֹּתָיו מִצְוֹתָיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו וְעֵדְוֹתָיו
1. And the days of David drew near that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,
- I go the way of all the earth; be you strong therefore, and show yourself a man;
- And keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Torah of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself;
Those are two different directives.
The second is to keep the Torah in all of its facets. That is Joshua who does not leave the tent.
The first directive- strengthen yourself and become man speaks more to the second component- as we would say today- be a man- or be a woman – have the strength and courage to do what is necessary.
It is a brilliant piece of commentary. Eben Ezra picks up on the one word that connects two different texts each containing a similar scenario and highlighting the same two aspects.
It goes without saying the most obvious job requirement for a Jewish leader is that they are expected to lead.
To conclude I want to return to the verse from our parsha with which we started.
“He (Joshua) will cross before the people; he is the leader and he will cause them to inherit the land.
Rashi quotes the Midrash which argues that if Joshua will lead then the Jews will inherit but if he does not then the Jews won’t inherit the land.
To live up to the ideals of Judaism and to reach that Promised Land we need leaders who
- know what that right destination is
- have the courage to take a position for what is right
- have a desire to lead
No disrespect to uncle Moishy- but that is our ideal Jewish leader!
