Vayikra 5785 - Leadership and Responsibility

Vayikra 5785

Leadership is worthy of its name when it is characterized by a humble assumption of responsibility, not only for others but primarily for oneself.

Rav Yosef Albo, the 15th-century Spanish author of the Sefer HaIkkarim (4:26), noted that it was this unconditional assumption of personal responsibility that enabled the endurance of King David’s reign despite serious mistakes, while King Shaul’s kingdom did not last. David’s response to his mistakes was chatati, straightforward acknowledgement of his guilt and culpability (Shmuel II 12:13), whereas Shaul denied, blamed, and tried to save face (Shmuel I 15:20-25). One cannot possibly assume responsibility for others without being accountable for oneself. 

This lends meaning to a comment of the Midrash cited by Rashi (Bereishit 36:3), that there are three things that bring a person complete forgiveness: conversion, marriage, and the assumption of a position of leadership. Teshuva, which is the touchstone for earning forgiveness, is achieved by the acceptance of personal responsibility. That can be assumed at any juncture where an individual assumes responsibility for others, including when joining another in marriage, when becoming part of the Jewish nation, and when rising to a position of leadership.

Our parsha (Vayikra 4:22) teaches this critical idea when it opens its discussion of the sin offering of a prince with the phrase Asher nasi yecheta, “When a prince shall inadvertently sin.” Rashi there cites Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai’s comment in the Talmud (Horiyot 10b): The word asher is connected to the word ashrei, meaning “fortunate” or “happy”. “Fortunate is the generation whose leader takes care to atone even for an inadvertent act, how much more so for his willful sins.”

That sense of good fortune is not only because of the refreshing honesty and humility that the leader exhibits, but because it is that kind of leadership that is the key to a better future. It is that level of character that made David the one suited to ultimately bring us to the perfected world of Moshiach.

Yosef and David were both kings who faced situations of personal temptation and moral challenge. Yosef withstood the lure of the wife of Potiphar while David succumbed to the attraction of Batsheva. Yet, it is a descendant of the failed King David who will lead our world to perfection, while the Moshiach that will descend from Yosef will be limited to an ancillary and preparatory role.

If all we needed to do was to maintain an already perfect world, the model of Yosef the tzaddik (righteous) would be fitting. But our world is very imperfect, and it can only be made better by one who can honestly and humbly acknowledge failure and imperfection and move from there to correction. That was David’s strength.

The Jewish world is currently experiencing enormous disruption and is deeply imperfect. We will find our way out of this when we trade pride for humility and blame for accountability, looking honestly at ourselves to acknowledge where we have failed and to move on from there to better ourselves and make our world more perfect.