76 | MARCH 28 • 2024
G
ood leaders know
their own limits.
They do not try to
do it all themselves. They
build teams. They create space
for people who are strong
where they are weak. They
understand the
importance
of checks and
balances and
the separation
of powers.
They surround
themselves with
people who are
different from them. They
understand the danger of
concentrating all power in a
single individual. But learning
your limits, knowing there are
things you cannot do — even
things you cannot be –—
can be a painful experience.
Sometimes it involves an
emotional crisis.
The Torah contains four
fascinating accounts of such
moments. What links them
is not words but music.
From quite early on in
Jewish history, the Torah was
sung, not just read. Moses
at the end of his life calls
the Torah a song. Different
traditions grew up in Israel
and Babylon, and from
around the 10th century
onward, the chant began to
be systematized in the form
of the musical notations
known as ta’amei ha-mikra,
cantillation signs, devised
by the Tiberian Masoretes
(guardians of Judaism’s sacred
texts).
One very rare note, known
as a shalshelet (chain), appears
in the Torah four times
only. Each time it is a sign
of existential crisis. Three
instances are in the book of
Genesis. The fourth is in our
parshah. As we will see, the
fourth is about leadership. In
a broad sense, the other three
are as well.
THE FOUR EXAMPLES
The first instance occurs in
the story of Lot. After Lot
separated from his uncle
Abraham he settled in Sodom.
There he assimilated into the
local population. His daugh-
ters married local men. He
himself sat in the city gate, a
sign that he had been made
a Judge. Then two visitors
come to tell him to leave, for
God is about to destroy the
city. Yet Lot hesitates, and
above the word for “hesi-
tates” — vayitmamah — is
a shalshelet. (Gen. 19:16). Lot
is torn, conflicted. He senses
that the visitors are right.
The city is indeed about to be
destroyed. But he has invested
his whole future in the new
identity he has been carving
out for himself and his daugh-
ters. The angels then forcibly
take him out of the city to
safety — had they not done
so, he would have delayed
until it was too late.
The second shalshelet
occurs when Abraham asks
his servant — traditionally
identified as Eliezer — to
find a wife for Isaac, his
son. The commentators
suggest that Eliezer felt
a profound ambivalence
about his mission. Were
Isaac not to marry and have
children, Abraham’s estate
would eventually pass to
Eliezer or his descendants.
Abraham had already said
so before Isaac was born:
“Sovereign Lord, what can
You give me since I remain
childless and the one who will
inherit my estate is Eliezer of
Damascus?” (Gen. 15:2).
If Eliezer succeeded in
his mission, bringing back
a wife for Isaac, and if the
couple had children, then his
chances of one day acquiring
Abraham’s wealth would
disappear completely. Two
instincts warred within him:
loyalty to Abraham and
personal ambition. The verse
states: “And he said: Lord, the
God of my master Abraham,
send me … good speed this
The
Courage of
Identity Crises
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH