Sermon: Ki Tissa (Rabbi Maurice Michaels)

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 21 March 2015

This seems to be a year for presidential elections.  In Russia, Vladimir Putin was re-elected last Sunday amidst allegations of fraud and wrongdoings.  Nicolas Sarkozy, in his bid for re-election in France in April, is once again appealing to the far right with his comments on immigrants and his Prime Minister’s attacks on sh’chita and halal.  While the Republican candidates, in what should be an easy victory against the embattled and unpopular sitting president Barack Obama, appear to be doing everything possible to lose it by policies and statements that move further away from the American mainstream.  None of these leaders and potential leaders really impress.  But that shouldn’t be a surprise, because wherever we look there seems to be a dearth of real leadership, the calibre of leaders of the past is missing.  Although that might just be that the passage of time has created legends, I have a sneaky feeling that the political leaders of today are of a lesser stature.

This is also true of business leaders.  The charismatic entrepeneurs of the past seem to have given way, especially in the larger companies, to faceless grey men, usually accountants or lawyers – they’re aptly known as the suits.  The excitement somehow has disappeared.  And this is true across the whole gamut of industries, including show business.  And, to be honest, it’s also true of rabbis.  Wherever we may look, we are being starved of real leadership.

The topic of leadership is, as some of you may know, high on my list of priorities, as I have over the years spent much time and effort in training people to become leaders, both in commercial and voluntary settings, in the Jewish and wider community, in this country and overseas, including running a final year Practical Rabbinics programme at L B C on Leadership and Management Skills.

Whenever possible I look to the Torah for examples of leadership that I can use in my training programmes and in today’s sidrah of Ki Tisa there are many.  Of course, we all know that Moses is without parallel in Jewish history and that is also true of him in his role of leader of the Israelites during the forty  years of wandering through the wilderness.  But we see today a number of different aspects to him.  God has told him to appoint B’tzlalel and Aholiav to be responsible for making the Mishkan, the sanctuary, and all its furnishings.  Further they will be helped by all those in whose hearts God has put the appropriate skills.  Now all the instructions for making themishkan had been given to Moses, the details for all the furnishings and fittings had been carefully set out.  The mishkan was to be the place in which he and God would meet, no-one else was allowed in.  Surely it was most fitting that he, Moses, should take charge of the work, but others had been given that responsibility.  He it was who had taken the task of collecting the materials from the Israelites for its construction – and anyone who has tried to get donations for Jewish causes from the community would not envy him that task.  But the prize of supervising the work was not to be his. How many of us would feel like going off and sulking; if they’re going to be responsible, let them collect the materials.  But not Moses.  He saw the wisdom of God bringing in new blood, as it were, younger people to continue the covenant, not just the old elite. However, Moses did not walk away from the task, he worked in conjunction with B’tzalel and the others, providing them with support, enabling them to fulfil their potential, ensuring that the combination of age and experience with youth and enthusiasm created a more cohesive force.  This lesson in delegation is portrayed in a midrash, which had God telling Moses that he had made him a king and it is not befitting for a king to do anything himself, only to give orders for others to carry out.  In other words by delegating, Moses was not reducing his status, rather he was enhancing it.  And, as we see subsequently in the Book of Chronicles, Moses is still credited with having built the mishkan.

When I was in industry and evaluating young people for potential leadership roles one of the elements we tried to assess was called in our training speak ‘helicopter ability’. This meant being able to get above the details to see the whole picture.  A classic example of this was God, overseeing, as it were, the whole project, who recognised the need for the delegation in the first place.  Moses’ skill was in accepting God’s command to him and implementing it.  Indeed, throughout his term as leader of the Israelites, perhaps the greatest talent he showed was knowing when to accept God’s command and when to argue against it – and when he did argue, knowing when to stop!  Those are skills so often lacking in today’s leaders, who are either ‘yes men’ and never question what they’re told, or they refuse to accept anything on trust, preferring to disagree on principle.

Later in the sidrah, we hear the story of the making of the Golden Calf.  The commentators have come up with reasons to justify the people’s request that Aaron should make them this image and also to excuse Aaron for having complied.  But the literal reading of the passage is quite clear to us and so it seems to God.  God tells Moses, who is still on Mount Sinai receiving the Tablets of the Commandments, what has happened; that they have made the calf, worshipped it, sacrificed to it, and referred to it as the god that has brought them out of Egypt.  The text continues: The Eternal said to Moses, ‘I have considered this people and I see that they are a stubborn people.  Now let Me be that I may vent My anger on them and that I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation.’

Moses is being told by God that he can substitute leadership of the Children of Israel for the formation of a dynasty, the Children of Moses.  But he does not fall for that temptation.  In a speech of intercession on behalf of the people, this man, who we understand to have had a stutter, to have been unable to speak to Pharaoh, to have needed his brother Aaron as a spokesman, emphatically and articulately sets outs his appeal.  First he responds to God’s reference to ‘this people’ by talking about ‘Your people’, who ‘You brought out of Egypt’.  He tells God what it is going to look like to the Egyptians and the rest of the world, the idea of God bringing the Divine name into disrepute.   Moses then reminds God of the Divine promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give the land to their descendants.  In this section, Moses not only produces the arguments necessary to change God’s mind, not only displays the moral courage to turn down God’s offer of effective immortality, but also dares to ignore God’s ‘Let Me be’, recognising it rather as a hint to do the opposite.

Another example of leadership comes from B’tzalel, who has the God-given skills to be able to work in all the materials of the mishkan.  He shares his responsibility with Aholiav, his assistant and the others with the appropriate talents.  And he works without questioning to the instructions of Moses, although, as we learn in a later sidrah,  he changes the order of the construction of the fittings to make more practical sense. Although appointed as a leader, B’tzalel demonstrated his ability to work as a member of a team, while retaining the overall responsibility.  Again one of the most important of leadership roles, so often lacking in today’s leaders, who so often think they know it all and don’t need anyone else’s help.

Good leadership – we all recognise it when we see it – but unfortunately it’s quite a rare commodity in today’s world.  Come back Moses, all’s forgiven!