What Moses and the Torah Can Teach Us About Leadership Today

Over and above the spiritual and ritual laws of the Torah, there are themes of leadership that run through all five books, sometimes overtly and sometimes subtly.

An obvious example are the chapters we have been reading (Bemidbar from Chapter 11 to Chapter 28) in which the leadership of Moses was constantly challenged.

There were mass protests against Moses (Bemidbar 11). And then (Bemidbar 11:26)  two men, Eldad and Medad, were prophesying outside the Tabernacle.

Joshua saw this as a challenge to Moses, and wanted to get rid of them. Moses replied that he would be happy if everyone was a prophet and had the Divine spirit. Then Miriam and Aaron attacked Moses (Bemidbar 12), publicly claiming that God spoke to them too and throwing back at Moses his own words: “We are all holy and God has spoken to us too.”

After the failure of the scouts to recommend invading Canaan, the people then threatened to stone Moses (Bemidbar 14). There followed a rebellion over food and manna, and Moses had to justify himself by insisting he had never personally gained anything from his leadership. The most serious challenge was from Korach (Bemidbar 16). Yet even after Moses was vindicated, there was another rebellion over water — and then Moses hit the rock instead of speaking to it. This led to his death before entering Canaan.

These incidents show the constant challenges that Moses had to face. They illustrate the nature of leadership and its pitfalls — and how quickly admiration can turn sour. Moses is very much a reluctant leader and pleaded not to be given his role. Yet he stepped up to the challenge and struggled constantly with the stiff-necked children of Israel who on the one hand accepted his remarkable persona, yet time and again, wanted to appoint another leader and go back to Egypt.

It is amazing that only twice did Moses lose his temper (at least as recorded in the Torah). God’s punishment — that Moses could not enter Israel — can be understood as a lesson that nobody, however great, is indispensable, and that we all have our limitations.

There are other examples of Moses being willing to deal with specific requests and issues when necessary. And he is described as being a man of humility, the humblest of men (Bemidbar 12:3).

When Moses is sentenced to die, he immediately concerns himself with succession and turns to God (Bemidbar 27) and describes the qualities of leadership — “appoint someone from the community who will go out before them and come in before them and lead them forward.”

A man of the community and yet above them. Yet he did not ask for his sons to succeed him. God replied that such a man was Joshua. He led the battle against Amalek. He was with Moses at Sinai, and he had apprenticed himself to Moses to learn from him. and saw when to be aggressive and when to be compliant.

This theme of leadership and its challenges, recurs throughout the Bible particularly with regard to King David — and the challenges of authority as well as the family. We learn when to stand firm and when to accept one’s limitations — to be humble, not arrogant and not take advantage of one’s position. But the ideal is to combine spiritual with physical strength and humility.

There is no perfect political system, just as there is no perfect leader. Throughout our history we have found different ways of governance and different forms of leadership — different schools of rabbis, sects, and subdivisions. Now probably more than at any other time in our history, we need leaders with humanity, humility, and the strength to lead us into a new promised land.

The author is a rabbi based in New York.

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