The Challenges of Leadership

image from www.peoplemattersglobal.com

A record (remember those?) I used to listen to was called “You Don’t Have to Be Jewish” by Bob Booker and George Foster. At about the 12-minute mark is a sketch called, “The Presidents.” LBJ welcomes “the President of Israel” who acknowledges that Johnson is president of a country with 190 million people, “But I am president of a country of two million presidents.”

In one respect, probably not intentional on the record, is Korach’s claim in in this week’s Torah reading, that kol ha-eidah kulam k’doshim,” the whole entire community is holy.” Here, Korach, from the tribe of Levi, is challenging the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and by extension, of God, who chose them to be the political and religious leaders of the Israelite community in the wilderness.

In TaNaKh, there’s a theme that in order to be a prophet or leader, you have to be reluctant. Moses tries to get out of the job at the Burning Bush; Samuel, which is this week’s haftarah, doesn’t have a choice, his mother, Hannah, made that decision for him. In both cases, these men were called upon by God to serve and lead, and they did their best under challenging circumstances. Both faced questions from parts of the community regarding their fitness to be in charge, and by extension, challenged the One who selected them.

In the Torah reading, things don’t end well for Korach and his followers; God doesn’t accept their offering of incense and the ground opens up and swallows them. In the haftarah, Saul is confirmed as king, ending the 400 year period of leadership by various Divinely appointed judges.

Robert Alter, in his translation and commentary, notes a pun in the text of the haftarah (1 Samuel 11:14-12:22). The name Saul–Sha-ool–shares the same root as the verb sha-al, which means to ask, or to question. Perhaps the text is telling us that God is ambivalent about selecting Saul, or responding to the people’s request for a king with a veiled threat of, “be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.”

Challenging the status quo and challenging authority are part of who we are as people, as Jews, as Americans. When we do bring these challenges, may we be blessed with the ability to choose wisely. After all, we are all holy and so is our community.

 

 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Sermons

Yom Kippur: Hope, Despair And A Shining Sun
Yom Kippur: Hope, Despair And A Shining Sun

Yom Kippur 5783 Like many of the quotes and poems that make their way into use, a poem attributed to an anonymous person in a concentration camp, or in hiding, became somewhat of an urban legend, and has often been taken out of context, as well as not accurately...

Kindness

Kol Nidre, 5783 On Rosh Hashanah, we began our prayers in the hopes of moving God, the Holy Blessed One, from kisei din, the throne or seat of judgment, to kisei rachamim, the throne or seat of compassion. Ten days later, here we are at the eve of Yom Kippur,...

Shema: Listening, Hearing and the Shofar

Rosh Hashanah 5783, Day 2 The word, “Shema.” What do you think of when you hear it? Usually, we think of “The Shema” as the verses we chant or sing from the book of Devarim, Deuteronomy, and in that context, it’s a bold theological statement. It is an idea which goes...

Latest Midrash HaZak

Kedoshim: Coming of Age in Holiness
Kedoshim: Coming of Age in Holiness

Photo and art by Rabbi Susan Elkodsi Kedoshim: Coming of Age in Holiness Rabbi Dr. Jill Hackell As I move through my 70s I find myself increasingly aware of my “senior” status in our society. Suddenly, by virtue of my age I am in a category that labels me vulnerable–I...

Parasha Vayakhel: A Mirror of the Holy Whole
Parasha Vayakhel: A Mirror of the Holy Whole

                                  Parasha Vayakhel: A Mirror of the Holy Whole Cherie Karo Schwartz  My Mom, Dotty Karo of blessed memory, was an ultimate crafter. She had a room stuffed with kaleidoscope-colored treasures she’d collected or had been gifted by...

Ki Tavo: Entering the Land and a New Age

Ki Tavo: Entering the Land and a New Age Charles Goldman This midrash speaks to me. Just as the people of Israel were about to embark on the next mega steps of their lives in the Holy Land, and Moses was intoning to them that they have “a heart to know, eyes to see,...

Latest Personal Blogs

Blessing My Bended Knees-A Poem
Blessing My Bended Knees-A Poem

This past week, I participated in a Ritualwell class with Alden Solovy on "Writing From One Word of Torah." I distilled 3 stream-of-consciousness prompts on the word "Baruch/Berekh," the root of which can mean "blessing' and "knee, into this poem. Blessing my bended...

The Eshet Hayil In Our Lives
The Eshet Hayil In Our Lives

Photo: publicdomainpictures.net The Eshet Hayil In Our Lives An email from My Jewish Learning about “A Woman of Valor” prompted me to pivot the next evening’s planned adult learning session to looking at these 22 verses from Mishlei, the Book of Proverbs. These verses...

Live Long and Prosper?
Live Long and Prosper?

By Oklahoma Heritage Association, Gaylord-Pickens Museum - Author, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25656727 Live Long and Prosper? January 5, 2022 began the third year of the seven and a half-year cycle of Daf Yomi, the practice of...

Pin It on Pinterest