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Our Rabbi's Message
June 27th 2008
By Rabbi Aaron KriegelOne of the real problems constantly facing people is that of leadership. Animals do not have such an issue. Usually the strongest animal is the leader. The rest of the animals know where their place is by who can beat them in battle or who can retrieve food faster. Any animals can challenge for leadership, but only those with a chance of winning usually do, and in that manner animal society has existed from time immemorial.
People never really were able to follow the animals system because people judge the ability to lead from many different vantage points. Of course in early societies the strongest man was in charge and women had little power because they were never stronger than the strongest man. In time people learned to organize and the better organizer could always beat the strongest individual. When man became more sophisticated leadership was decided by heredity and then by the vote of the people. The man who could make the most friends was most likely to be made leader. Once people found God, the most religious, based upon many standards of religious behavior became leader.
In the Torah portion we read this week we see a challenge to the leadership of Moses and of Aaron by Korah, who believed that he had strength, organization, and heredity on his side. He knew that the people were dissatisfied with Moses leadership and he thought that he could wrest that leadership from Moses and Aaron and make it his own. He failed, as many revolutionaries often do, but in his failure we see to what extent people will strive to wrest leadership.
Indeed, that simple Bible story does display the most constant reason for revolution and war in the histories of all peoples. Unlike animals, we have many ways of describing and determining leadership. Those who want power will use every one of those tools to acquire leadership.
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