I remember when one of our sons was invited to a leadership convention in Orlando. For a kid from London, it was a huge deal. He would be joining 4,000 Year 12 students, mainly from North America, and would be the only one from the UK.
The invitation also got me thinking. Cynics may consider “leadership” little more than a buzzword—a way to market a program. But even if all 4,000 students were destined to become leaders, what exactly were they being taught? Is there a right way to lead?
In Parshat Vayeilech, the Torah offers an answer. With the Promised Land in sight, Moses prepares to hand over leadership to his successor, Joshua.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points to the nuance the commentator Rashi finds in the different ways Moses and God advise Joshua. Moses says, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the Land.” God says, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people into the Land.”
Why the difference?
Rabbi Sacks explains that Moses speaks from experience. He had often led without consensus. He therefore advises Joshua to seek the people’s support and “go with” them into the Land.
Yet God offers a different warning. Joshua will not always be able to seek consensus. Sometimes he will need to “bring” the people into the Land—to lead decisively, even when others are reluctant to follow.
The episode of the spies shows why. Ten of the twelve spies returned with a negative report about the land of Canaan, dooming that generation to die in the wilderness. Only the last two spies, Caleb and Joshua, stood against the tide. Consensus, the story teaches, is not always right.
Marc Chagall depicted the transfer of this complex responsibility in several nearly identical images of Moses blessing Joshua. Moses occupies two-thirds of the image. Dressed in red, he extends his hands over the kneeling Joshua. Joshua occupies one small corner, his head bowed and his clothing gray-blue, while Moses seems to float above him.
To me, Chagall’s use of red to connect Moses to the sky and sun suggests that Moses does not bless Joshua alone. It is not only Moses’s hands that hover above Joshua’s head, but God’s as well. Together, Moses and God are preparing Joshua for the complexity of leadership.
Are Moses and God contradicting one another? I do not think so. Moses teaches that sometimes Joshua must lead from within the nation; God teaches that sometimes he must lead from the front.
Perhaps that is what a true leadership program should teach. The thousands of students being trained as future leaders will need more than strength and courage. They will need the judgment to know when to seek consensus and when to lead from the front. We will need both kinds of leadership to move forward as a people.
