| Dear {{first_name}},
כָּל מַחֲלֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, אֵין סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. אֵיזוֹ הִיא מַחֲלֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, זוֹ מַחֲלֹקֶת הִלֵּל וְשַׁמַּאי. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, זוֹ מַחֲלֹקֶת קֹרַח וְכָל עֲדָתוֹ:
Every dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure; But one that is not for the sake of Heaven, will not endure. Which is the controversy that is for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Hillel and Shammai. And which is the controversy that is not for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Korah and all his congregation.
I have spent my life as a politics junky. The reality is that in recent years as the political discourse has become more and more toxic it has become harder and harder to love politics. But the reality is we should all love politics, not for its sport, but for its very basic purpose. Its purpose is to care about the collective and to help further the goals of the group. The premise behind all politics is to step forward and lead. We all know that leaders have egos. They have to have egos in order to believe they have the ability and the right to be in front of the masses. One must believe in his/herself to be able to lead and that self-belief, and courage, are deeply linked to our ability to have an ego. But what’s to be said about the person whose ego is too great? What’s to be said about the person who wants more power, not because of the group, but because of the way (s)he feels from having that power? The answer is that person is not a leader so much as a power-hungry individual.
When looking at this week’s Torah portion, Korah, we find the story of a person demanding power. Korah comes forward and publicly questions Moses’ power and authority. When Korah came forward, he accused Moses of so much wrong doing and said everyone deserved to have power… not just Moses. The problem with this generous reading of Korah’s actions is it fails to account for the fact that Korah was not “every man.” He was not ordinary. He was a member of the priestly tribe… the same one as Moses, and as such he already had more power than most others. The reality was he didn’t have enough of it. Many of us have this issue in our lives. We can never be satisfied with what we have… we always want more and more. In the case of Korah, the power he craved would never have filled him up because there always would have been someone more powerful than him.
Our world needs leaders who lead for the sake of those being led and not for their own fame and legacy. Our world needs leaders who see from time to time that altering one’s course is a brave and noble thing to do. Our world needs leaders who display empathy for those they lead. We often mistake empathy for sympathy. The reality is leadership is not about feeling bad for people but about recognizing they have pains and needs as much as the next person. It’s about seeing the world through their eyes as best as one can. Korah was not capable of being that leader. He needed more power to make him feel better. Someone who needs power will never be the right person to meet our needs as our leader.
This Sunday, if everything goes according to plan, the State of Israel will have a new leadership team in place. Prime Minister Netanyahu has served for 12 years straight along with a stint in the 1990s. The new government is comprised of eight parties and their leaders. It makes up a sliver of a majority, 61 to 59, but it’s clear the people who have been selected are doing so to help the state move forward. They have each made the decision to diminish their egos and to enlarge their capacity to work with others.
When looking at the quote from Pirkei Avot that I opened with, I think we can easily see the relevance of the passage today. Hillel and Shamai are given as a good example of how to disagree and debate. They cared about each other and worked together. They didn’t assassinate each other’s character and they didn’t “hit below the belt.” The two of them demonstrated what we hope to see from our new leadership. We hope they work together to see that none of them has a majority without the others. We hope they see their task is to serve the State of Israel and, to a lesser extent, the Jewish people of the world. We hope they will succeed in seeing the world through the eyes of their constituents. We hope they are able to move the State of Israel forward into a brighter future. That success begins when leaders care more about principles and those they lead than they care about themselves and their power.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Hearshen |
