{"id":44363,"date":"2018-11-20T15:30:22","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T13:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=44363"},"modified":"2022-06-14T12:27:54","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T09:27:54","slug":"wanted-leaders-who-can-take-responsibility-for-their-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wanted-leaders-who-can-take-responsibility-for-their-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanted: Flawed Leaders Who Can Take Responsibility For Their Actions"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[402,571,412,400],"acf":{"old_id":"44363","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37918,"related_cahpter":"94","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The leader does not sin despite his exalted position but precisely because of it","content":"

Human societies require leaders. But with hierarchy of any kind comes the perennial temptation of abuse of power. It may be almost inevitable that leaders will stray, and sometimes even commit grave crimes. The path fallen leaders choose has vast implications not only for the leaders themselves but also for the entire society they lead. <\/span><\/p>\n

The chapter catalogues the various situations in which a purification offering (c<\/em><\/span>hatat<\/span><\/em>) is required. After opening with a general description\u2014\u201cWhen a person unwittingly incurs guilt in regard to any of the Lord\u2019s commandments about things not to be done, and does one of them\u201d (Leviticus 4:2)\u2014it goes on to describe the requirements in each case. The same introductory word\u2014\u201cif\u201d (<\/span>im<\/span><\/em>)\u2014is employed each time: \u201cIf (<\/span>im<\/span><\/em>) it is the anointed priest who has incurred guilt…\u201d (4:3); \u201cIf (<\/span>im<\/span><\/em>) it is the whole community of Israel that has erred…\u201d (4:13); and so on. <\/span><\/p>\n

But one lone case reads differently: \u201cIn case (<\/span>asher<\/span><\/em>) it is a chieftain who incurs guilt by doing any one of the things which by the commandment of the Lord his God ought not to be done unwittingly.\u201d (4:22). There is something odd about this shift from \u201cif\u201d to \u201cin case,\u201d and it leaves the reader wondering why the usual formula is altered. <\/span><\/p>\n

Noting that \u201cunwittingly\u201d appears to be a misplaced modifier, the Netziv (R. Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin, 1816-1893) understands our verse to be \u201chinting\u201d at a radical claim: \u201cThe [leader\u2019s] elevated status causes him to commit sins that are so egregious that [ordinary] people do not even commit them unwittingly\u201d (Ha\u2019amek Davar<\/em> to Leviticus 4:22). <\/span><\/p>\n

The point these interpreters make is sobering: The leader, they argue, does not sin <\/span>despite<\/em> <\/span>his exalted position but precisely <\/span>because<\/em> <\/span>of it. Power all too often leads to a sense of not being accountable to the same standards as \u201cregular people\u201d are. So the Torah warns the leader: Your status does not raise you above the moral (or religious) law. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since leaders are only flesh and blood, they are bound to be less-than-perfect. In light of this, the question we face as a community is what kind of imperfect leaders we want. We learn from here that we should seek flawed leaders who are genuinely capable, without dissembling or descending into double-speak, of taking responsibility for their failings and nurture a culture in which people are able to say, \u201cI have sinned against God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":54862,"id":54862,"title":"jo-end-leadership","filename":"jo-end-leadership.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joshua-preserves-and-adapts-tradition\/jo-end-leadership\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo-end-leadership","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":54861,"date":"2019-05-04 21:23:32","modified":"2022-06-14 09:27:48","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":696,"height":348,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership-300x150.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership.png","medium_large-width":696,"medium_large-height":348,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership.png","large-width":696,"large-height":348,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership.png","1536x1536-width":696,"1536x1536-height":348,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership.png","2048x2048-width":696,"2048x2048-height":348,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership.png","post_full_size-width":696,"post_full_size-height":348,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jo-end-leadership.png","home_baner-width":696,"home_baner-height":348}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Wanted: 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