Sukkot

The reading for Chol Hamoed Sukkot features some of my favorite verses in the entire Torah. The verses describe an extremely deep and profound theological and philosophical conversation between God and Moses, one that has been dissected by many philosophers and theologians, including the Rambam (Maimonides) in Guide for the Perplexed.

In this conversation, Moses attempts to convince God to let him know his essence, to know what or who God is. Moses wants to see God’s true face.

For his argument, in these verses the term מָצָ֨אתִי חֵ֤ן בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ or “gained Your favor” appears no less than five times.

It is clear to Moses and it is clear to God that there is a special relationship between them. No other human being has ever come so close.

God makes it clear that despite Moses’ truly unique traits as a leader, he is still human. And no human can know the essence of God and live.

As the world is currently facing a crisis of leadership, it is interesting to ask, what made Moses such a great and unique leader? Why has he “gained God’s favor” so much?

To answer this question I’d like to share with you a teaching by educator Netanel Elinson, as it was delivered as a part of a night where rabbis and teachers who normally passionately disagree with one another taught together.

Elinson opened his talk by sharing that when he was a soldier, spiritual guidance was always modeled after the biblical judge Gideon who said: “מִמֶּ֥נִּי תִרְא֖וּ וְכֵ֣ן תַּעֲשׂ֑וּ” “Watch me,” he said, “and do the same.”

A good leader according to this Gideonian ethos is, leading by example. I will do it first and with that enable you to follow. Follow me. I am in the lead, leading you who are behind me.

The biblical leader is often compared to a shepherd. In the book of Ezekiel, the scrutiny of leadership sounds like this: “Ah, you shepherds of Israel, who have been tending yourselves! Is it not the flock that the shepherds ought to tend?”

When we think of leadership it is easy for us to imagine the shepherd leading the flock from one direction to another.

Elinson shares an activity that he has done with his students. In a small fenced, area he had asked them to lead a small flock of sheep from one enclosure to another.

The students were surprised to discover that this task was much harder than they thought and for some of them it was impossible.

The problem was, he later explained to them, that their impression of the shepherd leading a flock was completely false. Those who know anything about shepherding know that the shepherd walks BEHIND the flock and not in front of it.

When you walk behind the flock you have a full peripheral vision of the entire flock. The way to make the flock go one direction or another is to throw a stone quite far in the opposite direction to which you’d like your flock to go. That is why, historically shepherds were always great rock throwers. The most famous example is our King David, who was a young shepherd. The reason David was able to hit Goliath with a rock right between his eyes was his experience as a shepherd, who necessarily must also be an accurate rock thrower.

But the reason that the biblical leader is compared to a shepherd goes a lot deeper than that.

What do you gain when walking behind the flock and lose when you walk in front of it?

When you walk behind the flock you notice the weak sheep. The one who got stuck in a bush of thorns, the sheep who just gave birth and can barely walk, the old goat who is wobbling at the end of its life.

A good shepherd walks at the pace of the weakest in society and not the strongest.

Two verses later in Ezekiel appears one of the most beautiful Tochecha (rebuke) verses in the entire Tanakh. These words refer to sheep.

“אֶֽת־הַנַּחְלוֹת֩ לֹ֨א חִזַּקְתֶּ֜ם וְאֶת־הַחוֹלָ֣ה לֹֽא־רִפֵּאתֶ֗ם וְלַנִּשְׁבֶּ֙רֶת֙ לֹ֣א חֲבַשְׁתֶּ֔ם וְאֶת־הַנִּדַּ֙חַת֙ לֹ֣א הֲשֵׁבֹתֶ֔ם וְאֶת־הָאֹבֶ֖דֶת לֹ֣א בִקַּשְׁתֶּ֑ם וּבְחׇזְקָ֛ה רְדִיתֶ֥ם אֹתָ֖ם וּבְפָֽרֶךְ׃

“You have not sustained the weak, healed the sick, or bandaged the injured; you have not brought back the strayed, or looked for the lost; but you have driven them with harsh rigor.”

May this teaching be an inspiration to our leaders. It is not rhetoric and witty speech which a leader needs — Moses stuttered. It is not strength that a leader needs. King David was a mere child.

We need shepherds as our leaders. Men and women who walk behind the flock and not in front of it. Ones who have the ability to push us all forward.