What does it mean to be a true leader? Does it mean to be better then everyone else around you at the task at hand? Maybe it means to be exceptionally intellectual, understanding the intricacies and details of the project in front of you? Or maybe it just requires that one is bigger and stronger then everyone around him and can push his way to the top?
In this weeks Torah portion, we learn that being a leader doesn’t involve any of the above qualifications at all. After being taken out of Egypt by the hand of Hashem, with Moshe as their righteous leader, the Jews none the less decided to build a golden calf. In a way, their intentions were some what understandable. Moshe told them that he would be back in forty days, and due to miscalculations they were slightly off. They didn’t want to replace Hashem, rather they wanted a new Moshe, a new leader that would connect them closer to Hashem, and idols was what they were most familiar with. A golden calf sounded like a logistically acceptable option.
So as Moshe is getting the tablets from Hashem on mount Sinai, the Jewish people are in the camp building and dancing with, rejoicing at their new god the golden calf. Hashem tells Moshe that you’re people aren’t doing so well down there, go and see what’s happening. When Moshe comes down, he see’s what the Jewish people have gotten themselves into and he walks into the middle of the camp, and breaks the tablets right in front of the people. The Gemara shows that Moshe was highly praised by Hashem for this act. “From where do we know that the Holy One, Blessed is He, agreed with him? And Reish Lakish goes on to explain that Hashem tells Moshe “ishar koach sheshebarta” Your strength shall be true, because you broke the Tablets!”
But one second, why is Hashem praising Moshe? These are the tablets made by G-d Himself. G-d’s marriage contract to the Jewish people, and Moshe has the hutzpah to take it into his own hands and break them? Even more so, to break them right in front of the people, couldn’t this set a bad example for the people? After all, G-d was Moshe’s Boss, and if Moshe defies the Holy One in such a way, does it mean that everyone else could do the same also?
One of the answers given is that when G-d made the tablets, they were so much of Himself that they only contained in the written Torah, the message directly from Hashem. But Hashem didn’t really want the Jewish people to only get the written Torah, rather He wanted them to get the oral Torah as well. If we only received the written Torah, then we would just be doing things because we were told to, in a makif surrounding type of way, but it wouldn’t penetrate us inside and we wouldn’t do things by choice. The oral Torah on the other hand, which came with the second set of tablets which Moshe carved out, gives us an opportunity to really get close to the commandments, to intellectually and emotionally internalize them. To struggle over trying to figure out what they mean to every individual. The Torah then becomes personal and meaningful to each and every Jew. Therefore Moshe acted on G-d’s accord and for this he is rewarded.
But this still doesn’t make so much sense. The Rebbe points out that if G-d really wanted to give us a way to internally connect to the Torah, then He could have done it with the first set. So is there a deeper reason? After breaking the Tablets Moshe went back to mount Sinai to plead for Hashem’s mercy on behalf of the Jewish people. At this point Hashem is pretty upset. Hashem tells Moshe, look at these people… they’re no good, let me just start over, I’ll wipe them out and I’ll start from you Moshe. After all, Moshe was on the mountain the whole time the people were making the calf; he had no part at all in this sin. He was completely in the clear. But Moshe was not so okay with this idea. And he replied to Hashem by stating, that if a chair on three legs is shaky, how much more so would a chair on one leg fall over? In other words the Jewish people came from three forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Yakov and they made the calf, and if you rebuild the nation from just me, of coarse it would not be as strong. And with this statement, Hashem agreed.
This example, show’s much more so, why Moshe was praised by Hashem for breaking the tablets. When Moshe came down from the mountain, he really was holding the words of Hashem. Similarly, he was in the clear, being on the mountain and having no participation what so ever in the sin. Yet as he came down, he saw what the Jewish people were doing. And He knew that the contract he was holding in his hands between the Jewish people and Hashem would make the act of the Jews much more liable to punishment. Yet if he could walk into the middle of the camp, acknowledge that what the people were doing was wrong and then startle them, shake them up, show them their unjust path. But also to join them.
Moshe had no clue what would happened to him if he broke the tablets. They were made by G-d and he was sent to deliver them. Yet he chose to decrease the severity of the punishment on the people, allowing for himself to be open to G-d’s wrath. And this is what G-d was proud of Moshe for. G-d was proud that Moshe was a true leader. One that was willing to stand up for his people, to make himself vulnerable to protect his people. Moshe had immense self sacrifice on behalf of his people. When the Rebbe told this over at a farbrengen in crown height, tears rolled down his face. Being a leader doesn’t mean being the best, the brightest or the strongest, but rather it means being there for the people you are leading. Being a leader means being willing to sacrifice your own status and your own needs to help the people around you. For this you don’t even have to be in charge of a big operation or company, rather you can apply this to every aspect of your life, how you treat your family, your friends and others around you, because after all, you are the leader of your life.
