Shalom Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShevua — Parshat Va’eira is being sponsored anonymously dedicated Lilui Nishmas the sponsor’s grandparents Moshe ben Yaakov Hirsch and Chana bat Beryl and dedicated for the safe return of all Chayalim — physically, mentally and spiritually and for the Liberation of all remaining hostages and for Kol Klal Yisrael. To our anonymous sponsor, many thanks for your sponsorship and kindnesses through the years.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
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Early in our Parshat Va’eira, Torah records:
“Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aaron and commanded them regarding the B’nei Yisrael…” (Sefer Shemot, Perek 6, posuk 13 rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
Rabbi Zelig Pliskin provides this profound discussion for our time regarding leadership traits in his Sefer “Growth Through Torah” (pages 151 – 152) :
Anyone in a leadership position must develop the traits of patience and tolerance.
Rashi comments that the Almighty commanded Moshe and Aaron to lead the B’nei Yisrael gently. They were told to have patience in dealing with Am Yisrael. This, writes the Shaloh, is a lesson for any person in a position of leadership. Whenever one is in a position of authority, be careful not to get angry at the people you are dealing with. Watch out that, as a leader, one does not scream and shout. The reward of a leader who has this patience is very great. (Rabbi Pliskin citing Shnai Luchos Habris, Va’eira)
There are two possible attitudes for a person in a position of leadership. One is personal power. The person seeks leadership for his own ego. He demands that people listen to him because of his selfish vanity. His only focus is on his own success. The only reason he cares about other people is because that is how he will be successful. The people he deals with are not his goal, but just a means to an end…. his own self-aggrandizement and power.
But the Torah ideal of leadership is just the opposite. The entire goal of leadership is to help as many people as one can. The focus is on the benefit of the people one is dealing with. Such a leader’s focus is on being of service to others. When they are suffering, the leader realizes that they are likely to be moody and complaining. The more difficult they are to deal with, the greater the need for patience and tolerance. That was the Almighty’s command to the first leaders of the Jewish people. This is the model for all future leaders.
Close to the last posuk of our Parsha, Torah records:
“And the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they ripen later.” (Sefer Shemot, Perek 9, posuk 32 rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
Here, Rabbi Pliskin brings a further point in discussing leadership traits in his Sefer “Growth Through Torah” pages 157 – 158) :
Rashi explains that since the wheat and spelt were late ripening, they were soft when hail [the seventh plague = mako] struck and were able to bend with the wind. This flexibility on their part enabled them to bounce back and they were not uprooted.
This idea has practical applications. We find in the Talmud (Rabbi Pliskin citing Taanis 20b) the statement that a person should always be as soft as a reed and not as hard as a cedar tree. In Avos D’Reb Noson (Rabbi Pliskin citing 41:1) we find an elaboration of this theme. When a strong wind blows, a reed bends in the direction of the wind. Regardless of how strong the wind, it remains in its place. A cedar tree, however, does not bend at all. A soft wind which moves the reed has no affect at all on the mighty cedar. But when there is a powerful wind, the cedar breaks and falls.
[Rabbi Pliskin cites his late Rebbe Rabbi Chayim Mordechai Katz, Rosh Yeshiva of Telz who spoke of] this concept frequently in the name of Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch, author of Shiurei Daas and Rosh Yeshiva of Telz in Lithuania: A person needs to be very strong in his principles and ideals. So strong that no power on earth should make him veer from the truth. The way to do this is to be like the reed. A person needs softness and flexibility when talking to others. This flexibility in approach should be in conjunction with firm grounding in Torah values and ideals. A person who is obstinate and inflexible when talking to others might seem to be stronger. But that is an illusion. Such a person can be broken easier. His lack of flexibility will cause that if he is moved, he will be entirely broken. Softness and gentleness combined with persistence in keeping one’s principles is the approach that will be victorious in the end.
It seems to this author that Rabbi Pliskin’s points and citings regarding leadership relate to more than how a leader approaches his subordinates. In the run-up to 7 October — the War of Simchat Torah, border observers’ warnings of Hamas’ unusual activity where met with anger, intimidation and demands to cease upon possible penalty of court martial from IDF’s high command. These “leaders” showed both inflexibility owing to their collective conception, or in retrospect, misconception of Hamas’ intent, as well as their political agenda, self-interests and maintaining hold of their power resultant [adjective: following as a result or consequence] from any contradiction of their “conception.” It also seems from recent reports, that a full situational assessment was not ordered despite warnings that something unusual was happening. Further, there have been assertions that the prime minister was not notified for crucial hours of Hamas’ invasion and massacres at the concert and in the Gaza border towns.
All of this indicates that the IDF high command needs to be cleansed of those who, by virtue of their political agenda, fell hook, line and sinker for the misconception of Hamas’ intentions. They need to be replaced, as Rabbi Pliskin stresses, by commanders focused on being of service to others, flexible in approaching subordinates, and very strong in principles with firm grounding in Torah values and ideals.
May it be that our Chayalim, regardless of the machinations of their high command, emerge totally victorious — eradicating from the face of the earth Hamas, their terrorist buddies and the so-called “innocent civilians” of Gaza who joined with Hamas in their murderous deeds, that the Chayalim return home whole — physically, mentally and spiritually and that the Chayalim Liberate and bring home all remaining hostages. And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his fifth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5785, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the US and Canada, the real Jews via matrilineal descent, make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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