The Call to Leadership

and Jewish Survival

As we enter the month of Adar and look forward to Purim on the 14th of Adar with Pesach only a short month beyond, on the 15th of Nisan, our thoughts turn to matters of the historical Middle East. Purim, of course, celebrates the defeat of Haman and his cohorts and their attempt to destroy the Jews in the land of Persia (now Iran), and no one needs reminding that Pesach celebrates our liberation from the trials of slavery in the land of Egypt. This period during March and April allows for reflection on the ideas of slavery and freedom, anti-semitism through the ages, and the triumph of single individuals doing courageous acts impacting multitudes of Jews, in essence demonstrating profound leadership. My column this month will explore the ideas of leadership, trust in others, in ourselves and in God.

   As much as Haman and Mordechai seem to get a lot of attention on Purim, especially with all the booing and gragger noisemaking at the mere mention of Haman’s name, and Mordechai serves as our foil to Haman, we must not overlook the profound significance of Queen Esther. She represents a single individual, who, irrespective of gender, through great risk to her own life, was willing to ‘do the right thing.’ And I will add to that, ‘do the right thing for her people.’ She prevailed upon her husband, King Ahasueros to save the Jews and destroy their true enemy. She did not have to do this. She wasn’t being begged to do this or forced in any way to do this. She wasn’t running for office and risking turning away her voters. She just understood the profound crisis facing Jewish survival and that she had the power of position to make a moral difference. And a moral difference she did make. She truly was responsible for saving the Jewish people in Persia.

   A similar tale obtains with Moses and Yitziat Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt. Moses, as we know, was a reluctant leader. Moses was not in Egypt when called by God. He was in Midian to where he had fled having killed an Egyptian in another act of moral leadership, taking the law into his own hands, after the Israelite slaves were so badly treated. When God summoned Moses at the burning bush, Moses resisted the ‘call to leadership.’ He did not want to take up the cause. It was a process of acceptance moving from unwilling to willing. Leadership is a difficult challenge. It is not just the ego-lift of being in charge. It comes with a set of onerous responsibilities, perhaps the most difficult of which is responsibility for life and death matters pertaining to yourself and others. Moses tried all the excuses with Adonai to avoid the ultimate responsibility, but in the end, with his brother Aaron as his spokesperson, overcoming his own objection to speak because he was a stutterer, Moses accepted the call.

   Most of us run as far away as we can from positions of leadership requiring moral responsibility for large groups of people. It’s just too hard, too much work, and too risky. But for those who embrace the call to lead, not for the ego-lift, the unbridled ambition,  the intoxication of power, and the control over others – all aspects of the dark side of leadership – but to truly make a difference in people’s lives in both a micro- or macro- way, to create the opportunity for the possibility of people to live together in peace and thrive, it is the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate mitzvah. Right in our own midst, one of our own members, Councilman Steve Fulop, is answering the call to leadership and running as a mayoral candidate in Jersey City. He will speak to us in our upcoming Friday evening Speaker Series on March 16, following an abbreviated Friday Night Live Musical Service! Steve’s parents are hosting the Oneg Shabbat in his honor. Be sure to mark your calendars.

   This semester at Harvard, I am having the privilege of sitting in on David Gergen’s class on Leadership at the Kennedy School. Twice a week he lectures a group of about 150 people representing many decades of adulthood, not just 20-something graduate students, but mid-career National Security Fellows, Fellows like myself from the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and even Fellows of the Advanced Leadership Initiative, senior corporate or government executives who want guidance about moving into leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector. As Gergen guides the students through conversations about all aspects of leadership, both internal and external, he often makes reference to public figures in American political history, mostly former Presidents, to illustrate his points. Occasionally, he reaches beyond to leaders of more global note, such as Mahatma Ghandi. But as the Spiritual Leader of Congregation B’nai Jacob, I always try to associate his points to our own long history as Jews and to find appropriate examples of moral leadership among our own leaders.

   While I could recount a myriad of moral Jewish leaders through the ages and the lessons they have taught us had I more space in this column, I would like to close my column with some thoughts on our most current, contemporary pressing problem for Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora throughout the world who care about Israel’s survival: the challenge of what to do about Iran. No longer the stuff of quasi-fairy tales of long ago, like Haman and Pharoah in Persia and Egypt respectively, with the current threat of Iran’s potential nuclear capability becoming more and more a reality every day, I was deeply moved by the penetrating Cover Story article in the Sunday New York Times magazine of January 29th, entitled ‘Israel vs. Iran; When Will It Erupt?’ Note that the question posited is no longer ‘Will it erupt?’ Rather now it is simply, according to the author, Ronen Bergman, a matter of time. And according to Bergman, time is very short. Israel’s leadership believes there is now only a six- to nine-month window before Iran will have a nuclear capability. The U.S. keeps stating a fifteen-month window. All prior solutions, most importantly extensive assassinations purportedly engineered by Mossad, perhaps have slowed Iran’s march toward nuclear capability, but have not stopped it. Nor has the sanctions option. Now the only path is for Israel to work towards approval of a peremptory military strike through the courts of international law.

   While all of this may seem very far away from Purim, Persia and Queen Esther and Passover, Egypt and Moses, ultimately, in our time, the onus of moral leadership falls on the shoulders of Israel’s two top leaders at this moment in our very long history, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, respectively Israel’s Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. Leadership is not easy; it is the most difficult role there is. As Ehud Barak has stated, “At the end of the day, when the military command looks up, it sees us – the minister of defense and the prime minister. When we look up, we see nothing but the sky above us.” Netanyahu and Barak are our modern day Moses and Aaron. We must accord them the same respect we accord Moses and Aaron, for they are brave human beings who have indeed accepted and embraced the difficult call to moral leadership. It is in them we must put our faith and trust as God’s choice of leaders to the Jews in our times.

   I wish you all a most Merry Purim and Happy Passover! Don’t forget our Megillat Esther reading and festivities on Wednesday evening, March 7th., at 7 PM. May we have peace in our time and may God’s will prevail. Amen. Chag Purim Sameach, and a Zissen Pesach to all!

 

Cantor Marsha Dubrow, Ph.D.

cantor@bnaijacobjc.org

(201) 910-4334