Pharaoh and Moshe as Leadership Paradigms

 There is a very subtle and nuanced difference between Moshe Rabbeinu and Pharaoh. It is clear that Pharaoh was an autocrat, and merciless ruler; Rashi cites the midrash that when he decreed that the Jews throw their sons into the Nile, he also decreed that the Egyptians themselves do so for one day. Pharaoh, like so many dictators we saw in the last century, ignored - even to their own demise - the better counsel of their closest advisors. 

But, there seems to be a pronounced difference, hinted at by a mere word in this week's parshah, that speaks volumes about the effectiveness of one leader over the next. 

As everyone knows, Moshe, was not a complacent man, who stayed at home - at arm's length, eschewing communal responsibility. Rather, his empathy beckoned, drawing him out, to see his fellow Jew's suffering and agony. Lavished with the luxury of Pharaoh's palace, Moshe found no comfort in the opulence in his midst. "Some time after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen." (Shemot 2:11)

That, is in stark contrast to Pharaoh's approach to the suffering of his very own people. After the plague of blood was wrought by Aharon, the common people suffer: "The Nile stank so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile; and there was blood throughout the land of Egypt." (Shemot 7:21)

What was Pharaoh's response: "Pharaoh turned and went into his home, paying no regard even to this." (Shemot 7:23). "Home" is the literal translation of the word "beito;" Sefaria, chooses, "his palace." In my humble opinion, "his home" is a better translation here, the point the verse is making, being: because Pharaoh sought out the comfort of his home rather than experiencing the travails of his people, he thus "paid no regard even to this," "this" being the plague of blood. 

Moshe left his home to feel the people, feel their pulse, and suffer with them. Pharaoh escaped that suffering, choosing his comfort, and thus denial, in turn.  

Comments

  1. bigbarthaJanuary 12, 2021 at 4:02 AM

    I spoke about this concept (vis a vis Hashem) at Eytan's Bar Mitzva! Can send you my notes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yoav Gedalia BarthJanuary 13, 2021 at 9:07 AM

    Yasher koach! Very nice. I would love that!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Parshat Kdoshim makes us think twice about how we treat people who are mean to us. "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow man as yourself: I am Hashem." The sages teach that taking a revenge takes the following pattern. One man asks his fellow man to lend him a sickle because his has broken and he needs to harvest his wheat and trim the weeds that threaten his wheat. His friend says no. A month later the same scenario plays out, just this time, the one who refused needs one himself. His friend says no. Why, he asks himself, would he lend his friend a sickle if his friend didn't lend him one? The rationale even makes sense. In the business world, there's a new term, "coopetition," companies usually do compete but sometimes cooperate for their mutual benefit. The thinking makes sense when it comes to the nitty gritty of human relations; Nobel Prize winner, Professor Israel Aumann talks about w...
Read more

Can Moshe Have Misheard God?

Sometimes we hear something, but we don't really hear what has been said. Or, we understand a message differently from how it was intended. That was what happened in this past week's parsha, Shemini, when Moshe's wrath flared against Aharon's sons, Elazar and Itamar for not eating the he-goat of their sin offering. He chastised them. "Hashem gave it to you to procure forgiveness for the community's sin and to atone on their behalf before Hashem. Its blood was not brought into the sanctuary within; it should have been eaten in the holy domain as I had commanded." For a little bit of background, for Aharon HaCohen, it had been a fraught day to say the least; Elazar and Itamar's older brothers, Nadav and Avihu, had been eaten alive in a heavenly flame that took their lives but left their bodies intact. Moshe commanded Mishael and Elzaphan, their cousins, to then remove them by their tunics and place them outside of the camp. The day, in essence, ha...
Read more

What if God Was One of Us

The answer is, it would be pretty darn bad.  This week's parsha speaks to four different situations where one accidentally sins, and the consequent atonement process.  On Shabbat, a friend asked me, "Why does the verse  say, ' When a chieftain (i.e. leader) sins, unwittingly bearing guilt by performing an act Hashem has commanded him not to do (Vayikra 4:22)..?' Why doesn't the Torah say " If " like it says for all of the other transgressors, 'If the annointed priest sins...If the high assembly sins...If a layman sins..?' What distinguishes between the Nasi or tribal chief, or head of Israel, and every other potential sinner'"? I told him, "You see, it's like the expression, ' She'elat Chacham, Chatzi Teshuva ' (the question of a wise person, is already half the answer). A person who has to lead others, will inevitably get his hands dirty." You can't lead without making mistakes, you can't be human withou...
Read more