Shmot 2010; Moses and Leadership

Shmot; Birth of Moses and Leadership

Our Torah reading this morning deals with the towering character of Moses. It is an unusual story, akin perhaps to the stories of Joseph. As a narrative, it stretches the bounds of plausibility: for Joseph, a slave in Potiphar’s household becomes a viceroy of Egypt. And in the case of Moses, a slave baby becomes a prince of Egypt. Clearly, both texts are implying that the hand of God is involved. It is God that makes sure that the people have just the leaders they need at just the right time.

Moses in particular. For the Torah, Moses is the quintessential leader; the most important, the most central: the savior and the law giver, from military leader to wilderness guide. Moses takes on the Pharoah, deals with a cranky stiff- necked people, stands down a dangerous rebellion, brings God’s rebuke to the people and delivers their salvation. In the case of Moses, God is directing history, as He does in all the other stories of the Bible.

But Moses is unique. There is something more to Moses; something different from all the other characters in the Bible. For Moses has a distinct personality: we can learn from his central place in the history of our nation, but we can also learn from his well defined and compelling character. Moses, as a man, can teach us how to be leader. And ultimately, Moses, as a man, can teach us how to be a complete human being. Let’s take a look.

We learn the most about the young Moses in his first interaction with God. God says to this one time prince and now simple shepherd: “I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt…and now go, I will dispatch you to Pharaoh and you shall take My People, the Children of Israel, out of Egypt.” And Moses’ famous reply, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and that I should take the Children of Israel out of Egypt.” Rashi paraphrases Moses, “ma ani chashuv ledaber im melachim,” Moses asks God, “ am I important enough to speak with Kings?”

Moses, of course, grew up as the son of a King --why wouldn’t he think himself important enough? The text tells us why in the Book of Numbers: “v’ha ish Moshe anav meod mikol ha adam asher al p’nai ha adamah.” The man Moses was the humblest man on the face of the earth.

Humility, the first and most important character trait in a leader. The great Musar master Rabbi Bachya Ibn Pekuda, 12th century Spain, wrote in his work, “Duties of the Heart,” that “All virtues and duties begin with humility.” Proverbs 18: “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor goes humility.” Moses seemed more than comfortable with his lot as a shepherd: sheep don’t rebel, for the most part, they don’t whine and complain. For Moses, even growing up as a prince of Egypt ---he did not see himself as the savior of God’s chosen people; in fact, he did not see himself special at all.

Humility requires that a person take an accurate assessment of the self. Moses knew himself quite well, Chapter 4, verse 10 “Please my Lord, I am not a man of words….for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of speech.” Moses argues with God about his ability to fulfill this Divine mission; Moses is not engaging in self-abasement, here; he challenges God’s choice in him because of a recognized lack of skills. God is not deterred; God will be with him, Aaron will be with him: God essentially says, “ you don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect leader.” But you do have to be humble.

Humility leads into the next essential quality of leadership. The Pharaohs of Egypt built great monuments to themselves. Go to Cairo and visit the great Pyramids which cost thousands of lives to build in order to entomb one, single Pharaoh after he dies. The Pharaoh’s looked out at the world and saw them. Their concern was their honor, their glory, in fact, what they considered to be their divinity. Moses grew up in the Pharaoh’s household but was different. And this is how he was different. The text says, “it happened in those days that Moses grew up and went out to his brethren and observed their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brethren. He turned this way and that and saw that there was no man, so he struck down the Egyptian… “
What I find important about this verse is the phrase, “observed their burdens.” After he grew up --matured, became an adult, he went out and observed the burdens of his people. There is a saying: “if you want to truly know me, you have to see and understand what it is that causes me pain.” The Pharaoh looked out over his kingdom and saw no one but himself; his own needs and desires. Moses looked out over the kingdom and saw the injustice: saw human beings with heavy burdens; he saw his brethren in pain. A true leader focuses away from the self and witnesses and responds to the pain of those he presumes to lead.

And finally, a leader must honor incertitude. Moses was unsure how the people of Israel would respond to his mission to lead them out of Egypt. He asked God, “behold when I come to the Children of Israel…..and they say to me, what is [this God’s]Name? What shall I tell them?” “ And God answers Moses, I shall be what I shall be. And[God] said, “so shall you say to the Children of Israel, “I Shall Be has sent you.” Well, one might rightly ask: what kind of name is that? It doesn’t sound like a name; it doesn’t make sense. Moses is launched into his mission with uncertainty. He doesn’t understand how he is going to achieve his goal. He is unsure about the Pharaoh, he doesn’t trust his own people and now, the God who sends him is incomprehensible. Moses begins his prophesy with more questions than answers and must tolerate that uncertainty. Here is the ugly truth about leadership. No leader knows exactly what he is doing. No leader can predict the future and know what will happen as a result of any decision that is made. A true leader must fully understand that and share that with those he leads and yet remain focused on his goal. A leader or anyone else who purports to know the whole truth regarding anything is a deceiver. And if he believes it himself, he is naïve and even worse, dangerous. Leadership is a messy business. Moses understands that, shares that with his people and yet succeeds despite the uncertainty.

When I speak about Moses as a model for leadership, I am really speaking about all of us. We are all leaders in some part of our lives. At work, in the shul, as parents. We all must stand before others at some time or another and express our ideals, our vision, our goals. So the character traits of Moses: humility, a concern for others even at the expense of our own needs and accepting the fact that we don’t know everything --these characteristics are important for us in our everyday lives. They are the necessary characteristics of leadership, but they are also the necessary characteristics for being an adult; for being a mentch.

Shabbat Shalom