19 Jul AN ODE TO DIVERSITY THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

In Search for a

Successor.

Miriam has died.

So has Aaron.

Hashem tells

Moses that his

turn is about to

come. “Go up this

mountain in the Abarim range and see the

land I have given the Israelites. After you

have seen it, you too will be gathered to

your people, as your brother Aaron was. .

. .” At this dramatic moment, captured in

this week’s portion (Pinchas), Moses

speaks to Hashem. “May the Lord, the

Hashem of the spirits of all mankind,

appoint a man over this community to go

out and come in before them, one who

will lead them out and bring them in, so

Hashem’s people will not be like sheep

without a shepherd.” One can only

imagine the emotions that engulfed

Moses at the time. For more than four

decades he had faithfully shepherded the

people; with astonishing self-sacrifice he

had committed himself completely to the

creation and development of the nation

of Israel. Now, as he is about to leave the

world, he beseeches Hashem not to leave

the people orphaned. We can be quite

certain that Moses’ brief words contained

far more than what is explicitly reported.

Indeed, this is the “job” of the Midrash,

to attune us to the nuanced expressions

and intricate intimations within biblical

narrative. The Midrash on this passage

focuses our attention to the peculiar way

in which Moses addresses Hashem at

this particular encounter: “Hashem of the

spirits”? What is the significance of this

title? “Just as no two faces are identical,”

states the Midrash, “no two personalities

are identical. Every human being

possesses an individual identity…

During the time of his death, Moses

requested from Hashem, saying, ‘Master

of the universe! You are aware of the

distinct personality of every single

individual and that no two of your

children are alike. When I pass away

from them, I beg you, please designate

for them a leader who will contain every

single one of them according to his

individuality… Hashem of the spirits!

You recognize the individual spirit of

each of your creatures, so appoint

someone who will know how to

walk with each individual

according to his spirit.'” Two

Forms of Leadership This is a

remarkable interpretation. Perhaps

more than anything else, it

captures Judaism’s view on the

meaning of genuine leadership.

Leadership, in all its forms — in

the family, in the work place, in

schools, organizations, spiritual

communes and societies — is not

about cloning people to fit the

image and disposition of the

leader. An authentic leader must

embrace, rather than shun, human

diversity. To a true leader, the

distinctions between people are a

positive phenomenon, not a threat. It is

rooted in the leader’s appreciation of the

creator of humanity as “Hashem of the

spirits,” one Hashem who created many

distinct faces, spirits and hearts, each of

them called upon to experience life in a

unique and individual fashion. One of

the great challenges facing many

marriages, communities and societies

today is the notion of “My way or no

way.” Or as a person once remarked: “I

am easy to get along with, once you

learn to worship me.” It’s a feeling

that the landscape of my emotions

and of my religious experience is the

only terrain worth treading on. If

you think differently, if you have a

different path, you must be on the

wrong team. Judaism, on the other

hand, declares the oneness of

Hashem and the plurality of man.

The idea that all of us must be the

same is foreign to the Judaic ethos.

John Lennon’s “Imagine,”

notwithstanding its powerfully

luring message, is merely that: a

figment of imagination, an abstract

fantasy not rooted in reality.

Diversity is sown into the very

fabric of existence. No two flakes of

snow are alike; no two people are

alike. A leader’s goal is not to have

all of his or her followers look alike,

but rather to contain within himself

or herself the unique disposition and

soul-energy of each individual,

guiding them to maximize their own

potential, just as the brain guides

individual limbs and organs to

function according to their

particular nature within a larger

organism. This applies to all

leadership positions, including, of

course, the respective leadership

roles of spouses in marriage. The

goal in marriage is not to think

alike, but to think together. No two

individuals think alike, nor should

they. A successful marriage is about

learning how to contain within your

own space the presence of a distinct

individual without feeling the need to

suppress the spouse’s otherness, so that

your identity reigns exclusively in the

relationship. Like notes in a ballad, each

of us represents a unique and distinct

note, and together we recreate the

symphony, not by singing the same note,

but by expressing our individual note as

an indispensible part of the song.

Absolutes Vs. Individuality Yet we have

to be committed to the same song. If not,

our individual notes can create chaos

rather than a melody. The importance of

individuality does not mean that every

whim and instinct of an individual ought

to be sanctioned in the name of

individual self-expression. If we wish

this world not to be a jungle, we must

recognize that Hashem, the “Hashem of

the spirits,” created absolute universal

standards of morality and ethics that bind

all of humanity. To the Jewish people,

Hashem presented an absolute system of

Torah and mitzvos. Yet this does not

compromise the focus of Judaism on

individual expression. Within the

framework of the moral life and the

Torah life, the paths to truth are endless,

not unlike the same 88 keys of the piano

which lend themselves to endless

musical combinations. Mozart, Handel,

Beethoven, Schubert, Bach and

Tchaikovsky did not need to create new

keys in order to display their creative

genius and musical brilliance. We, too,

need not create or change the moral and

Torah law in order to express our

individuality. External individualism

relies on external and visible changes in

order to assert itself. Internal

individualism, being in tune to your own

inner rhythm, allows you to transform

the same old notes into beacons of

pulsating creativity. Moses’ plea to

Hashem to appoint a leader who can

contain and embrace diversity

constitutes a lesson to us about the

quality of leadership we ought to

cultivate in our relationships with each of

our children, students, employees, and

people we have influence on, allowing

them to shine in their own beautiful way.

We must be leaders to whom people can

look to as a source of inspiration through

which they can embrace life with their

own individuated hug.