RABBI DONIEL FRANK | Director, M.A.P. Seminars, Inc., Marriage and Family Therapist

Click here to download PDF transcript for Re’eh

Moshe tells the people that all Hashem wants of them is to fear Him. And the Gemara asks the obvious question. What does Moshe mean by “all He asks of you is to fear Him?†Fear is no small thing! And the Gemara answers that, for Moshe, fearing Hashem was, in fact, a small thing.

But what does that mean? If Moshe was talking to the people, why would he speak from his own vantage point? It may have been small for him… but it was huge for them!

The K’sav Sofer explains it by describing the challenge of leadership. He says that leaders have a uniquely formidable task, to make many important decisions without clear a guide that tells me what to decide, because many of their decisions depend on the time, place, and people involved. Every situation and every question has its unique answer.

That’s not easy, especially because the consequences of making bad decisions can be catastrophic. The level of accountability that Jewish leaders are held to is overwhelming. In fact, that’s what Moshe meant when he said, back in Devarim, that he couldn’t carry the People alone; that although he was able to lead them out of Egypt, split the sea, and bring down the Mann, judging them was too much for him. And Rashi says there that it’s because of the enormous responsibility that Hashem puts on Jewish leaders. The pressure is great, and that’s not easy.

So when Moshe spoke to the people, he was essentially saying to them, “What Hashem expects of me is incredibly difficult, for the reasons we just described. But that’s not what Hashem expects of you. Of you He simply asks that you follow instructions. How do you fear Hashem? He tells you how to do it. The mitzvahs are explicit in the Written Torah and clarified in the Oral Torah. They’re all there, all laid out as a shulchan aruch, a table that’s fully set with all the instructions you need in order to achieve the goals of life.â€

Therefore, when the Gemara says that with regards to Moshe fear was a small thing, it doesn’t mean that he was downplaying it to them, saying that if it was easy for him then it should have been easy for them too. That would have been very insensitive… and irrelevant. Instead, he was saying that, in relation to the responsibilities that he had been given as a leader, they were getting off relatively easy. After all, Hashem could’ve made life more difficult for them by requiring them to be involved in continuous decision-making of the kind that leaders are required to make. But He didn’t.

Of course, we all serve in some capacity as leaders in our lives, like when we parent our children. And there are other times that we face life’s grey areas, where there are no clear instructions on how to handle the situation and judgment must be made. And it’s precisely in those circumstances that we can separate the men from the boys based on how they decide. We all have that, and we all have to be prepared to deal with it at some level. But for leaders like Moshe, that is their entire life.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that Yehoshua succeeded Moshe. After all, how can someone learn to be a leader if a manual or a course cannot teach it? The answer is, apprenticeship… to watch a leader in action; to see the attitude he brings to the decisions he makes, the way he pays attention to the details and the people involved. Apprentices are in the best position to become great leaders.

Leadership cannot be scripted. It requires the ability and the confidence to make sound judgments in difficult circumstances that cannot be governed by standardized rules. Any leader, or any individual who faces grey in his life, has to learn how to develop the confidence to face the grey, consider all the factors of the situation, and make the best choice they can. These are the moments of truth that can show one’s true colors as a servant of Hashem.

DEDICATED TO A REFUAH SHELAIMA FOR YITZCHAK ben DEVORAH

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