JANUARY 4 • 2024 | 37
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I

used to say, only half in jest, that the 
proof that Moses was greatest of the 
Prophets was that when God asked him 
to lead the Jewish people, he refused four 
times: Who am I to lead? 
They will not believe in me. 
I am not a man of words. 
Please send someone else.
It is as if Moses knew with 
uncanny precision what he 
would be letting himself in 
for. Somehow, he sensed in 
advance that it may be hard 
to be a Jew, but to be a leader of Jews is 
almost impossible.
How did Moses know this? The answer 
lies many years back in his youth. It was 
then when, having grown up, he went 
out to see his people for the first time. 
He saw them enslaved, being forced into 
heavy labor.
He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, 
one of his people. He intervened and saved 
his life. The next day he saw two Hebrews 
fighting, and again he intervened. This time 
the man he stopped said to him, “Who 
appointed you as our leader and judge?”
Note that Moses had not yet even thought 
of being a leader and already his leadership 
was being challenged. And these are the 
first recorded words spoken to Moses by a 

fellow Jew. That was his reward for saving 
the life of an Israelite the day before.
And though God persuaded Moses, 
or ordered him, to lead, it never ceased 
to be difficult and often demoralizing. In 
Devarim, he recalls the time when he said: 
“How can I myself bear Your problems, 
Your burdens and Your disputes all by 
myself” (Deut. 1:12). 
And in Beha’alotecha, he suffers what can 
only be called a breakdown: “He asked the 
Lord, ‘Why have You brought this trouble 
on Your servant? What have I done to dis-
please You that You put the burden of all 
these people on me? Did I conceive all these 
people? Did I give them birth? Why do You 
tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse 
carries an infant, to the land You promised 
on oath to their ancestors? … I cannot carry 
all these people by myself; the burden is too 
heavy for me. If this is how You are going to 
treat me, please go ahead and kill me — if I 
have found favor in Your eyes — and do not 
let me face my own ruin.
’” Num. 11:11-15
And this was said, don’t forget, by the 
greatest Jewish leader of all time. Why are 
Jews almost impossible to lead?
The answer was given by the greatest 
rebel against Moses’ leadership, Korach. 
Listen carefully to what he and his 
associates say: “They came as a group 

to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to 
them, ‘You have gone too far! The whole 
community is holy, every one of them, 
and the Lord is with them. Why then 
do you set yourselves above the Lord 
assembly?’” Num. 16:3
Korach’s motives were wrong. He spoke 
like a democrat but what he wanted was to 
be an autocrat. He wanted to be a leader 
himself. But there is a hint in his words of 
what is at stake.
Jews are a nation of strong individuals. 
“The whole community is holy, every one 
of them.
” They always were. They still are. 
That is their strength and their weakness. 
There were times when they found it diffi-
cult to serve God. But they certainly would 
not serve anyone less. They were the “stiff-
necked” people, and people with stiff necks 
find it hard to bow down.
The Prophets would not bow down to 
Kings. Mordechai would not bow down 
to Haman. The Maccabees would not 
bow down to the Greeks. Their successors 
would not bow down to the Romans. Jews 
are fiercely individualistic. At times this 
makes them unconquerable. It also makes 
them almost ungovernable, almost impos-
sible to lead.
That is what Moses discovered in his 
youth when, trying to help his people, 
their first response was to say, “Who 
appointed you as our leader and judge?” 
That is why he was so hesitant to take on 
the challenge of leadership, and why he 
refused four times.
There has been much debate in British 
and American Jewry recently about wheth-
er there should be an agreed collective 
stance of unconditional support for the 
state and government of Israel, or whether 
our public position should reflect the deep 
differences that exist among Jews today, 
within Israel or outside.
My view is that Israel needs our support 
at this critical time. But the debate that has 
taken place is superfluous. Jews are a nation 
of strong individuals who, with rare historic 
exceptions, never agreed about anything. 
That makes them unleadable; it also makes 
them unconquerable. The good news and 
the bad go hand in hand. And if, as we 
believe, God loved and still loves this people 
despite all its faults, may we do less? 

It should be noted for context that this essay was 

written by Rabbi Sacks in November 2010, amidst a 

widespread communal debate regarding Israel.

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

The Challenge of 
Jewish Leadership

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

NICK YOUNGSON CC BY-SA 3.0 ALPHA STOCK IMAGES

