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day, and show kindness to 
my master Abraham.” Gen. 
24:12
Eliezer’s loyalty to 
Abraham won, but not 
without a deep struggle. 
Hence the shalshelet.
The third shalshalet brings 
us to Egypt and the life of 
Joseph. Sold by his brothers 
as a slave, he is now working 
in the house of an eminent 
Egyptian, Potiphar. Left 
alone in the house with 
his master’s wife, he finds 
himself the object of her 
desire. He is handsome. 
She wants him to sleep with 
her. He refuses. To do such 
a thing, he says, would be 
to betray his master, her 
husband. It would be a sin 
against God.
Yet over “he refused” is 
a shalshelet, (Gen. 39:8) 
indicating — as some 
rabbinic sources and 
medieval commentaries 
suggest — that he did so 
at the cost of considerable 
effort. He nearly succumbed. 
This was more than the 
usual conflict between sin 
and temptation. It was a 
conflict of identity. Recall 
that Joseph was living in a 
new and strange land. His 
brothers had rejected him. 
They had made it clear that 
they did not want him as part 
of their family. Why then 
should he not, in Egypt, do 
as the Egyptians do? Why not 
yield to his master’s wife if 
that is what she wanted? The 
question for Joseph was not 
just, “Is this right?” but also, 
“Am I an Egyptian or a Jew?”
All three episodes are 
about inner conflict, and 
all three are about identity. 
There are times when each 
of us has to decide, not just 
“What shall I do?” but “What 

kind of person shall I be?” 
That is particularly fateful in 
the case of a leader, which 
brings us to episode four, 
this time with Moses in the 
central role.

DECIDING WHO WE ARE
After the sin of the Golden 
Calf, Moses had, at God’s 
command, instructed the 
Israelites to build a Sanctuary 
which would be, in effect, a 
permanent symbolic home 
for God in the midst of the 
people. By now, the work 
is complete, and all that 
remains is for Moses to 
induct his brother Aaron 
and Aaron’s sons into office. 
He robes Aaron with the 
special garments of the High 
Priest, anoints him with oil, 
and performs the various 
sacrifices appropriate to the 
occasion. Over the word vay-
ishchat, “and he slaughtered 
[the sacrificial ram]” (Lev. 
8:23) there is a shalshelet. By 
now we know that this 
means there was an internal 
struggle in Moses’ mind. But 
what was it? There is not the 
slightest sign in the text that 
suggests that he was under-
going a crisis.
Yet a moment’s thought 
makes it clear what Moses’ 
inner turmoil was about. 
Until now he had led the 
Jewish people. Aaron had 
assisted him, accompany-
ing him on his missions 
to Pharaoh, acting as his 
spokesman, aide and sec-
ond-in-command. Now, 
however, Aaron was about to 
undertake a new leadership 
role in his own right. No 
longer would he be one step 
behind Moses. He would do 
what Moses himself could 
not. He would preside over 
the daily offerings in the 

Tabernacle. He would medi-
ate the avodah, the Israelites’ 
sacred service to God. Once 
a year on Yom Kippur he 
would perform the service 
that would secure atonement 
for the people from their 
sins. No longer in Moses’ 
shadow, Aaron was about to 
become the one kind of lead-
er Moses was not destined to 
be: a High Priest.
The Talmud adds a further 
dimension to the poignan-
cy of the moment. At the 
Burning Bush, Moses had 
repeatedly resisted God’s 
call to lead the people. 
Eventually God told him 
that Aaron would go with 
him, helping him speak (Ex. 
4:14-16). The Talmud says 
that at that moment Moses 
lost the chance to be a Priest: 
“Originally [said God], I had 
intended that you would be 
the Priest and Aaron your 
brother would be a Levite. 
Now he will be the Priest 
and you will be a Levite.” 
Zevachim 102a

MOSES STRUGGLES
That is Moses’ inner struggle, 
conveyed by the shalshelet. 
He is about to induct his 
brother into an office he 
himself will never hold. 
Things might have been oth-
erwise — but life is not lived 
in the world of “might have 
been.” He surely feels joy 
for his brother, but he can-
not altogether avoid a sense 
of loss. Perhaps he already 
senses what he will later dis-
cover, that though he was the 
Prophet and liberator, Aaron 
will have a privilege Moses 
will be denied, namely, see-
ing his children and their 
descendants inherit his role. 
The son of a Priest is a Priest. 
The son of a Prophet is rarely 

a Prophet.
What all four stories tell 
us is there comes a time for 
each of us when we must 
make an ultimate decision as 
to who we are. It is a moment 
of existential truth. Lot is 
a Hebrew, not a citizen of 
Sodom. Eliezer is Abraham’s 
servant, not his heir. Joseph is 
Jacob’s son, not an Egyptian 
of loose morals. Moses is a 
Prophet, not a Priest. 
To say ‘Yes’ to who we are, 
we have to have the courage 
to say “No” to who we are 
not. Pain and struggle is 
always involved in this type 
of conflict. That is the mean-
ing of the shalshelet. But we 
emerge less conflicted than 
we were before.
This applies especially to 
leaders, which is why the case 
of Moses in our parshah is so 
important. There were things 
Moses was not destined to 
do. He would never become 
a Priest. That task fell to 
Aaron. He would never lead 
the people across the Jordan. 
That was Joshua’s role. Moses 
had to accept both facts with 
good grace if he was to be 
honest with himself. And 
great leaders must be honest 
with themselves if they are 
to be honest with those they 
lead.
A leader should never try 
to be all things to all people. 
A leader should be content 
to be who they are. Leaders 
must have the strength to 
know what they cannot be if 
they are to have the courage 
to be truly their best selves. 

The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks 

served as the chief rabbi of the 

United Hebrew Congregations of the 

Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His teach-

ings have been made available to all 

at rabbisacks.org.