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