What does real leadership look like? It is, in a sense, a question that is being asked around the world right now. In the Vatican, a conclave of
cardinals is about to come up with one answer. In Venezuela, a grieving (or not so grieving) population will have to come up with another. And as we inch our way closer to the holiday of Passover, our Jewish tradition invites us to consider this question for ourselves. It's easy to think we're talking about Moses here, or even God, when really Pesach challenges us to look inside for a deeper answer. And last week, in Israel, we were treated to a new, refreshing, and possibly watershed example of what true leadership may indeed look like.
There isn't just one way to lead, or even just one term for a good leader. Our Torah portion this week talks about prophets and priests, and our Haftarah - a parallel text, this week from the Prophet Ezekiel - adds words like 'king' and 'prince.'
Rabbi Ronnie Cohen has written a very interesting D'var Torah about the word 'prince' and how it signifies a very different type of leadership than king or prophet. Rabbi Cohen offers one particularly fascinating observation, stating that real leadership must be earned for oneself; it cannot be passed down from parent to child, or handed out to a chosen successor. We are defined by our own actions. Time and again in the Bible we see examples of failed leadership, of rulers who are insecure, cruel, paranoid, power-hungry, and/or petty. And we've certainly seen our fair share of the same in modern times...
In some ways, that makes us better at recognizing real leadership when we see it, because we're tired of all the people who got it wrong. Yet at the same time, some of us love to make the same mistakes over and over again... Last week, however, a new voice entered the arena of religious politics in Israel, and it may be the start of a new
era, or at least so we hope. Ruth Calderon, a newly elected Member of Knesset, dedicated her debut speech to teaching Talmud, something rarely done in Knesset, and CERTAINLY never done by a woman! In her speech, she said things like: "The Torah is not the property of any stream... We gave it away, when we thought
there was a more important task, to build the army and the state and
farming and industry. Now we must take back what is ours." Hundreds of thousands have watched her speech on YouTube, and she has already been heavily praised AND criticized from all sides of Israeli life. But finally we are talking about the Orthodox dominance in Israel! And nothing can really happen until that conversation begins.
One thing leadership is not, is status quo. The Bible teaches us, and the world around us constantly offers reminders, that we need to evolve and improve. Life is a journey, and real leaders want to join us on our travels; sometimes teaching and sometimes learning, but always moving forward. Calderon
has shown us the power of a single speech, with a volume of Talmud in hand. No one can GIVE you leadership, no matter how much you are knighted, anointed, appointed, elected, or white-smoked. True leaders earn it, and re-earn it again and again. We look on in fascination to see how things will yet develop in Israel, and hopefully they will indeed begin to move. But we also must look inside ourselves, find leadership traits in all that we do, and transform the world with our own actions. Sometimes leadership may seem like a spectator-sport, but really it's time we all get in the game.
Photos in this blog post:
1. CC image courtesy of archer10 (Dennis) on Flickr
3. CC image courtesy of Rachel-Esther on Flickr
4. CC image courtesy of The U.S. Army on Flickr
No comments:
Post a Comment