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In recent years, a common concern of many synagogues is finding members willing to assume leadership positions. When someone finally steps forward declaring, “I’ll do it!” he/she is immediately appointed to the board of directors, and maybe even the presidency. What qualifies one to be a leader? Is it just the ability to raise one’s hand, or is there more to it than that?
In the first and second portion of the book of Exodus, the cries of the Israelite slaves reach to the heavens. God responds with a Divine plan to rescue the Israelite nation from Egyptian slavery. To implement this plan, God personally selects Moses to lead the cause. Moses responds by saying, “The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech!” (Exo. 6:12)
The distinguished 19th century scholar and rabbi, Yehudah Aryeh Leib, comments, “If the children of Israel refuse to listen to their leaders, there can be no leaders who are able to speak, who can become a mouth for them, which could be of impeded speech [in the first place]. . . As long as there are those who will listen, then there can be those who speak, because the power of the leader issues from the people. For this reason, if the children of Israel listen to Moses, his mouth would be opened, his speech would be fluent, and his words would reach Pharaoh.”
Effective leadership, first and foremost, requires two commitments. A commitment by the leader to the needs and concerns of the people, and a commitment by the people to listen to their leaders. In the absence of commitment by one or both parties, the leader fails, and the people lose. Even though God appointed Moses to lead the Israelites, Rabbi Kerry Olitzky points out, “It is in the power of the Israelites (and in our power as well) to impede our leaders or put such an impediment in their speech.”
In today’s world, there is an over-abundance of “noise” and very little listening. We hear what we want to hear, and nothing else. No wonder there exists such a dearth of visionary leadership. Good leadership is too often lost in the deafening noise of demagoguery and divisiveness. Alas, people deserve the leaders they get; and we deserve better!
Rabbi Howard Siegel
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