{"id":57682,"date":"2019-06-18T20:38:15","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T17:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=57682"},"modified":"2023-01-11T08:36:16","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T06:36:16","slug":"samuel-personal-example-of-an-honest-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/samuel-personal-example-of-an-honest-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Samuel: Personal Example Of An Honest Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[528,402,839],"acf":{"old_id":"57682","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"244","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Judges and officers must be above any suspicion of mismanagement","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter preserves Samuel\u2019s \u201cswan song\u201d, spoken to the people of Israel, though Samuel\u2019s death is reported only 13 chapters later (I Samuel 25:1). In the course of this farewell address, Samuel asserts his innocence of any financial mismanagement during the time he led Israel: \u201cWhose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you. They said, \u2018You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man\u2019s hand\u2019\u201d (I Samuel 12:3-4). \u00a0Here Samuel seems to be elaborating on Moses\u2019 earlier assertion of innocence: \u201cI have not taken so much as a donkey\u201d (Numbers 16:15).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Midrash (Tanhuma Shoftim 3) emphasizes that \u201cjudges and officers\u201d (shoftim ve-shotrim, Deuteronomy 16:18) must be \u201cmen of distinction\u201d (anshey hayil) such as Moses chose to be leaders of the people Israel (Exodus 18:25). This means that Jewish leaders must be distinguished by their Torah learning, their good deeds and their greatness. And most important, they must be free of any judgement against them, so that no one can have any reason to criticize them. Such \u201cjudges and officers\u201d should have no stain, whatsoever, on their character. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To illustrate this basic principle of good government, the Midrash brings a story about Rabbi Haninah ben Elazar who had a tree planted in his field, and its boughs bent over onto the property of his neighbor. A man came to him and complained to him, saying: \u201cSo and so has a tree and its boughs are hanging over my field (apparently causing damage by the shadow they were casting on the crops below)\u201d. Rabbi Haninah said to him: Go away and come back tomorrow. The man said to him: All the cases which are presented before you, you judge immediately. So why is my case delayed?! What did Rabbi Haninah do? He immediately sent workers to cut back the tree in his own field, whose boughs were hanging over his fellow\u2019s field. The next day that same man appeared before him for judgement. Rabbi Haninah said to the litigant that the offending tree should be cut down. The litigant replied to Rabbi Haninah: But why then are the branches of your own tree hanging over the field of your neighbor?! Rabbi Haninah said to him: Go and see! Whatever you see of mine, so you should do with yours. Immediately the man did just that. Rabbi Haninah\u2019s behavior is an illustration of the basic principle of good government that \u201cjudges and officers\u201d should be selected only from those who have no stain, whatsoever, on their character.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":57683,"id":57683,"title":"isam12-integrity","filename":"isam12-integrity.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/samuel-personal-example-of-an-honest-leader\/isam12-integrity\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam12-integrity","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57682,"date":"2019-06-18 17:38:02","modified":"2019-06-18 17:38:11","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":285,"height":177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","medium-width":285,"medium-height":177,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","medium_large-width":285,"medium_large-height":177,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","large-width":285,"large-height":177,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","1536x1536-width":285,"1536x1536-height":177,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","2048x2048-width":285,"2048x2048-height":177,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","post_full_size-width":285,"post_full_size-height":177,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","home_baner-width":285,"home_baner-height":177}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Samuel: Personal Example Of An Honest Leader","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Judges and officers must be above any suspicion of mismanagement","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":57683,"id":57683,"title":"isam12-integrity","filename":"isam12-integrity.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/samuel-personal-example-of-an-honest-leader\/isam12-integrity\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam12-integrity","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57682,"date":"2019-06-18 17:38:02","modified":"2019-06-18 17:38:11","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":285,"height":177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","medium-width":285,"medium-height":177,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","medium_large-width":285,"medium_large-height":177,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","large-width":285,"large-height":177,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","1536x1536-width":285,"1536x1536-height":177,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","2048x2048-width":285,"2048x2048-height":177,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","post_full_size-width":285,"post_full_size-height":177,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam12-integrity.jpg","home_baner-width":285,"home_baner-height":177}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111411,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57682\/revisions\/111411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}