Yitro 2021 – Being Leaders

In this week’s Torah portion of Yitro, we read the following account:

It came about on the next day that Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from the morning until the evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw what he was doing to the people, he said, "What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit by yourself, while all the people stand before you from morning till evening?" Moses said to his father-in-law, "For the people come to me to seek God. If any of them has a case, he comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and God’s teachings." Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out both you and these people who are with you for the matter is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. (Ex. 18: 13-18)

Jethro tells Moses that he will remain the intermediary between the people and God and that he will admonish the people regarding the statutes and teachings and will “make known to them the way they shall go and the deeds they shall do.” But at the same time, Moses has to delegate much of the civic responsibility to members of the community, essentially setting up Moses as the Supreme Court and some of the delegated leaders as the local courts.

It’s a start, but I cannot see that model of leadership being anywhere near sufficient in today’s Reform movement. For starters, it puts all the God-stuff, all the spirituality, specifically in the lap of the Rabbi and all the admin in the lap of the Board and committees. That kind of model mistakenly implies that the work of committees is not sacred work, that it is done with the end goal of keeping the roof on, when, in fact, that is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The end is the encounter with the Divine, individually and communally, which in Torah happens immediately after Jethro’s management consultancy exercise. But the Torah community is profoundly hierarchical. Not only is that a product of its time but it also expresses the reality of the people’s connection to the tradition and to God at the time – indeed, midrash makes it clear that the people were so assimilated that they were almost not redeemed at all. As such, Moses’ task is to educate the people in law and in spirituality, to prepare them for a life lived in God’s presence and to hold them through that experience. In the meantime, the people take care of the things that they themselves are capable of attending to.

In Torah, the account of revelation that follows is a grand account, a top-down narrative of God above descending to the people below, who are too feeble to receive the revelation so they beg Moses to intercede on their behalf. It is an account of a spiritually inept community relying on their leader for God stuff. That is not me, and that is not us. Midrash changes that revelation account. There, (Song of Songs Rabbah 1:13) Rabbi Yochanan says that at Sinai an angel carries each utterance from God to each of the Israelites in turn. The angel says to each Israelite, “Do you take upon yourself this commandment? So-and-so many rules are attached to it, so-and-so many penalties are attached to it, so-and-so many precautionary measures are attached to it, so many precepts and so many lenient and strict applications are attached to it; such-and-such a reward is attached to it.” The Israelite would answer, “Yes.” The angel would then say, “Do you accept the divinity of the Holy Blessed One?” and the Israelite would answer, “Yes, yes.” Thereupon the angel would kiss the Israelite on the mouth and the commandment would be learnt. The other Rabbis disagree with Rabbi Yochanan and say that it wasn’t an angel but the commandment itself that would fly to each Israelite and ask the same questions before kissing them on the mouth. The point is the same whether it was an angel or a commandment – this is no longer the hierarchical model of revelation but the personal, intimate one. It is not forced upon each person, but requested, invited. Of course, not all midrash is as gentle – one (Shabbat 88a) talks of God holding Mount Sinai over the heads of the Israelites and giving them a choice – either accept Torah or die there. Nonetheless, this specific midrash that we’re focusing on presents a very different style of community, one that I believe is far more appropriate to our community today.

In approaching each person individually, this midrash shows us that connection to Judaism is individual in the context of the larger Jewish community. We aren’t monolithic in the way we think and the way we behave. As such, everything we do within community has to be in the context of relationship – coming to understand each other, our vision, our motivation, before we can move forward. That takes education, openness, love, dialogue, and patience. 

Where this midrash falls down in the context of a Reform community is in the assumption that every Israelite says yes to every command. Were that to happen today, and an angel flew to every one of us and asked, for example, of the command to stone our rebellious child (Deut. 21:18-21), most of us would not answer “yes.” When the angel asks if we accept the Divinity of God, I think that instead of saying “Yes, yes” as in the midrash, most of our community members would answer with a question, “Well, what do you mean by God, exactly?” Not content with acceptance of top-down hierarchical authority from a supernatural being, many… perhaps most… of our members might start talking about how they relate to God, experience God, question God, wrestle with God, doubt God. The essence of Reform Judaism isn’t cherry-picking as it is often accused of being, but it is about informed choice, about balancing tradition and modernity. It’s not about obedience, about righteous people and sinners. If we are all made in the image of God, as Genesis clearly states (Gen. 1:26), then the answer “no” to an outdated ancient tradition could also be a godly response.

Jewish community today is therefore very different to the community as presented in Torah and somewhat different to how it is presented in midrash. Our community is one where we appreciate our differing spiritual journeys, educational journeys… indeed, personal life journeys. Instead of waiting for revelation on high, here at Temple Beth Shalom we seek it together in the context of community. We don’t force individuals to believe particular things or to behave in particular ways, but instead we come together in our varied and individualized expressions of Judaism from those who meet God on Sinai to those who meet God in the still, small voice (I Kings 19:11-13) to those who do not meet God at all.

And with all this in mind, we turn our attention not just to everyone in our community but specifically this week to our board members and to our new members. To our outgoing board members, we thank you for your dedication to creating a sacred space, a space of tolerance, of learning, of welcoming, of community. To you we share this prayer:

You have sustained and nourished us with the sacred wisdom and traditions of our people, helping us to teach Torah to each other, so may God bless you and keep you.

You have worked alongside us to bring the light of justice and compassion to God’s broken world, so may god’s face shine upon you and always be gracious to you.

You have helped to bear witness to our lives and accompanies us on our journey, you have helped elevate our consciousness and search for God’s presence in our lives. So, for your dedication to our community, may God lift your hearts and grant you wholeness, fulfillment and peace, and let us say, Amen.

To our incoming board members, we share this prayer:

May God help you!

I kid, of course. To our incoming board members, we pray:

Holy One of Blessing, bestow Your blessing on these leaders who have been elected to serve our community. Instill in them insight and understanding, perseverance as well as patience. Inspire them to work together in pursuit of our community’s greatest aspirations, even as they watch over its daily needs. O God, we are thankful for the dedication and giving spirit that bring our new Board members before You, prepared to devote their energies to Your service and to the benefit of us all. Grant success to their endeavors, and help them to lead us in the pursuit of our sacred mission, and let us say, Amen.

And finally, to our new members, we pray:
May we cherish your presence among us, learning and growing from your presence in our community. May we welcome you with open arms and open hearts as we together open doors of learning, of spirituality and of companionship. May we support each other through good times and through challenging times. May we grow together as travelers on a journey through life. May we help each other receive and respond authentically to the individual call to wrestle with our tradition. May we, through our connection with each other bring out the best in each other, and let us say, Amen.