A Leader's Role: To Go All In
There's a passage in this week's Parsha, Shemot, that I always found odd.
"But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?”
And He said, “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” https://www.sefaria.org.il/Exodus.3.11-12?lang=en&aliyot=0
In essence, Moshe's request for a sign is answered by Hashem's reply, and I'll paraphrase, "After you stick your neck out, suffer immensely, live in exile from your wife and children, are belittled by Pharaoh, his servants, and are even denigrated by Jewish officers and officials who feel that you are exacerbating the Jewish people's plight - after all of that, a trial by fire many many times over, then - after all of that - you will come to this mountain, and worship me."
For a sense of perspective, take this as a theoretical example.
I said to the gabbai of our shul, "We should replace all of the furniture in our shul. It will cost $100,000."
He responded, "I think you're crazy, prove to me that we can reach that amount," to which I responded, "In one year's time, we'll have $100,000 in our bank account."
For one, I highly doubt that my assurance would assuage the gabbai's skepticism. But secondly, even on a logical level, the sign, or proof I've offered the gabbai is tautological by nature.
And from this, I would take a dual message. Leadership is sometimes walking blindly, not knowing what will follow, especially when one walks with little but the assurance of the Almighty. That faith requires defying logic sometimes.
Secondly, it would seem that to believe in a goal, at times, and to inspire others, one needs to believe with such faith and confidence, that nothing - nothing, but nothing - can undermine the fulfillment of one's goal. Only the faith in the end goal, when it is so absolute, can sometimes see a person through all the trials and tribulations faced on the way.
Shabbat shalom,
Yoav
B"H
ReplyDeleteshavua tov, yogi!!
i hope and pray that there will be $100,00 in your shul's bank account long before a year, so that you are able to purchase the new furniture. please be in touch with me by email, so that i can make a small contribution to help your shul realize your vision.
emuna and bitachon defy logic plain and simple. i came from a logical (non-torah) back ground. and now i live in an emuna and bitachon (torah) world. the bottom line is that there are things that happen in this world that defy logic. please explain to me why your signifcant other is your signifcant other.
those who live in a logical world brush that stuff under the carpet because it is beyond of what they can understand - logic. those of us who live in a jewish world filled with emuna and bitachon rejoice in those moments.
logically, how can the modern state of israel exist? the war of independence, when five stinking arab countries attacked us, and somehow we prevailed. where is the logic in that? and then there was the 67 war. if only we had listened to the chief rabbi at that time, shlomo goren, and blown up the dome of the rock and stinking al azaka mosque that pollute the temple mount, jewish people would be able to pray on har habayit all the time. logic prevailed, and now we're tormented by the stinking arabs who turn their ass to jerusalem, and pray toward mecca five times a day. then there was the 73 war, the 1st and 2nd lebanon war, and on and on and on.
and now there are stinking arab/muslim countries who realize we are the winners in this fight, and have aligned themselves with israel. how logical is any of this?
as you pointed out, a true leader has to have emuna and bitachon in KBH, and what he/she believes. and one doesnt need to be a jewish person for this to happen. donald trump is the greatest example of this. he accomplished more in his 4 years than all the presidents who served in my lifetime combined. and, BH, he is still the president for another 11 days, and who knows what might happen?
and while donald trump at the moment is being tormented and scorned just like moshe rebainu was, he will come to a much better place because of all this. and this is true for all of us.
the trick is to have emuna and bitachon in KBH. and all of us who realize that all the bs that is taking place these in the world these days, especially the fraud of the supposed covid pandemic, is somehow leading to the redemption of the jewish people by melech moshiach, and the ultimate geula.
when i come to the end of shimon esrei three times a day, i always thank KBH for all the blessings of which i am aware, because they are sweeter than sweet. and then i thank KBH for the hidden blessing, which by a kal v'chomer have to be even sweeter. and then i finish by thanking KBH for the blessings that seemed at the time they happened were like a curse, because without those experiences, i would have very little emuna and bitachon, and would still be a logical person.
we see with moshe rebainu that the more one struggles, the greater are the heights that one can scale. we should all merit to tap into the small bit of moshe rebainu inside each of us, and rise to heights we can't logically comprehend.
git vock!!!
raphael abir
I wonder who you believe is the leader sine qua non in Israel today..
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