Our leaders often have a sense of their own dignity and self-worth that is far removed from the estimation of the common folk. Periodically, in the United States, we endure the eruption of this dichotomy as legislators try to justify a wide range of privileges and benefits that the rest of us--with much smaller incomes--don't enjoy. Writing checks when they don't have any money, free health club membership, free mailings, cheap haircuts, and a slew of other privileges make them look more like royalty than like elected representatives of the people.
Apparently the trappings of power form a temptation so great that few are able to resist. Access to great issues and constant seduction by a fleet of lobbyists is too much for most people to resist. Small wonder, then, that Senators and Representatives can experience the deference due their office as personal tribute, and leaders of all stripes inflate their own worth with the homage paid their position.
The Torah offers a corrective insight into the proper attitude of a true leader. In Parashat Tazria, the Torah explains how a kohen is to examine an Israelite suffering from tzara'at, a degenerative skin disease: "When a person has on the skin of his body a discoloration, a scab, or a shiny mark, and it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of his body, it shall be reported to Aaron the kohen or to one of his sons, the kohanim. The kohen shall examine the affection on the skin of his body..."
In addition to posing a medical trauma, the metzora (the sick person) also entered a state of ritual impurity. Medicine was the purview of others in the biblical view, perhaps of the prophets. But even when healed of the illness, the metzora still required the religious attention of the kohen, who would examine the metzora and then supervise the steps leading back to full participation in the religious life of the community.
Midrash Va-Yikra Rabbah records surprise that someone as august as Aaron, the first Kohen Gadol, is expected to dirty his hands and sully his status by poking around the sores of a metzora. It records the saying that Rabbi Levi transmitted in the name of Rabbi Hama ben Rabbi Hanina: "Moses was extremely aggravated by this matter, saying, 'Is this the honor of Aaron, my brother, that he should be the examiner of the sick!?'"
Moses, it seems, is taken by his family's status and authority. The most humble person in the entire biblical panoply, he reveals his humanity by succumbing to the perks of his office. Somehow, it strikes Moses as unbecoming that his brother should have to perform such indecorous and unpleasant tasks.
Yet, God's response to the great leader is instructive for our generation as
well: "Said the Holy Blessed One to Moses, 'Doesn't Aaron enjoy the 24 donations to the priesthood?' God reminds Moses that Aaron doesn't complain about all the benefits he derives from his work, so he can hardly complain about added expectations either. The price he pays for extra benefits is extra responsibilities.
That balance between perks and obligation was pithily noted in the midrashic
proverb: "One who eats the palm heart will be whipped with the dried palm."
The added rewards come because of the heightened expectations; social prominence emerges from social responsibility. No surprise, then, the Talmudic observation that the Messiah can currently be found bandaging the wounds of those afflicted with tzara'at. True greatness is manifest in a willingness to serve.
That reality has not changed in our day either.
Leadership, the Torah teaches, involves a willingness to extend oneself, to take on the onerous tasks and the necessary responsibilities to ensure that all Jews have access to their Judaism, that all humanity can enjoy the fellowship of other human beings.
In that regard, we are all called to be leaders. Roll up your sleeves, there is much to be done.
Shabbat Shalom!