TORAH PORTION

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AUGUST

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The Religious School
The Beth Hayeled

Chairmen: Steven Parzen - David Maiseloff

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44

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1992

For Today's Leader
Consider Moses

JOCELYN RUTH KRIEGER

Special to The Jewish News

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43041 W. 7 Mile • Northville

hen Ross Perot
abandoned ship,
many Americans
believed they would sink with
their remaining presidential
choices. In the Perot-less
primaries, voters had ap-
proached the polls pondering
which candidate, if elected,
would cause the least harm
rather than which was most
qualified. "Where are our
leaders?" voters cried in
dismay. In a nation con-
sidered to be the leader of na-
tions, an outstanding leader
is yet to be found. Did such a
leader ever exist? As self-
appointed moralists dig into
the graves of past leaders
making sure the good is inter-
red with their bones and the
evil they may have done does
indeed live after them,
Americans are beginning to
wonder. .
"Get you wise men, and
understanding men, and
known to your congregation,"
Moses instructs the Jewish
nation in the Torah portion
Devarim (1:13), thereby
establishing autonomy. These
three qualifications were in
addition to those established
by his father-in-law Yisro.
Yisro, .a convert to Judaism
(Sanhedrin 94), suggested the
overburdened Moses should
appoint judges who were: 1.
Able (interpreted as wealthy)
2.. God-fearing 3. Truthful 4.
Hating unjust gain (Exodus
18:21): A judge could be deem-
ed acceptable even if he
possessed only one of these
attributes.
Where are our leaders?
Perhaps in the cradle. How
will they become leaders?
King Solomon advises,
"Train up a child in the way
he should go and when he is
old, he will not depart from
it." (Proverbs 22:6) Maimoni-
des (Rambam) cautions, "If I
do not develop character and
acquire ideals when I am
young, when will I? Surely
not when I am old."
Armed with these doc-
trines, parents who are sear-
ching for leaders must seek to
replenish our bankrupt socie-
ty by demonstrating to their
children the essence of a
leader. Parents who en-
courage or patronize their off-
spring with rock idols,
athletic idols, Hollywood
idols, many with drug-
demented souls or epitomiz-

Mrs. Krieger is a writer and
lecturer who has studied at
Chabad Torah Centers.

•

ing immorality, undermine
their own positive efforts.
The 19th-century German
Rabbi Samson Raphael
Hirsch provides an in-
teresting perspective on
qualities. "There is not a
single quality given to man
by God that is bad in itself,
nor is there any quality that
may be called good by merely
existing," he writes in his

Essays on Pedagogic Prin-
ciples. "The true character of

each quality depends on its
use and the direction in
which it is channeled . . .
Decency is an art, probably
the most difficult that man is
called upon to practice in his
lifetime. "lb be good' means to
strive towards an ideal goal of
ethics and morality, to subor-

•
a

Shabbat Chazon:
Deuteronomy
1:1-3:22
Isaiah 1:1-27.

dinate all . . . to the Will of
God which is to rule over our
existence. It is far easier to
achieve perfection in the
fields of intellectualism or
technology than to rear a
child as a decent and good
human being. The popular
ideas of 'no master is born as
such' and 'training makes the
master' apply fully to the
field of ethics and morality."
Rabbi Hirsch offers amaz-
ingly contemporary advice for
the training of a neophyte
leader. "Accustom your child
and train him from his first
year to obey in a logical man-
ner. Teach him as early as
possible to realize he will not
have his own way by scream-
ing and rude behavior
especially when actions are
concerned which he knows to
be unmannered and harmful.
Be careful and economical
with your "Do's' ' and
"Don'ts?' Never order the
child to perform a superfluous
or indifferent act. Never pro-
hibit an innocent or harmless
activity. What you demand
must be done. What you for-
bade must be conceded
because of the child's stub-
born or irritable resistance.
Give your child freedom as
long as it does no harm to his
physical and moral well-
being. Demand not what you
subsequently ignore — forbid
not what you will eventually
permit."
The greatest of leaders,
Moses, staunchly stood before
the Jewish nation 37 days

.

a