Exemplifying Strong Leadership: In Praise of Congresswoman Gillen
Power may be intoxicating but it’s also a burden as Sefer B’midbar (The Book of Numbers) illustrates. Moses found himself tested time and time again as he led the people through the wilderness.
Despite receiving the ancient equivalent of Door Dash at no cost, after tiring of the scrumptious divinely provided manna, the people complained to Moshe about the lack of variety on the menu. Shortly after, his siblings challenged his leadership (likely inadvertently) by equating themselves to him. That was immediately followed by the people’s demand to return to Egypt after hearing the spies issue their report about the Promised Land. There was no rest for Moses. After the debacle of the spies, he was forced to contend with his own cousin Korach’s,uprising against him. Just as you thought things couldn’t get worse for Moses, members of Bnei Yisrael (The Children of Israel) were seduced by the Moabites and Midianites women and took part in an idolatrous orgy. It’s no wonder that Moses lamented to God, “Why have you done evil to your servant…that you place the entire burden of leading this nation upon me?”
Even Moses, one of the greatest leaders to ever live, found leadership to be difficult. The reason why leadership is difficult is because leaders must make choices, which inevitably, some will dislike. There are two common traps which leaders often fall into. The first is that they attempt to avoid making the difficult choices which need to be made, instead attempting to be all things to everyone, which inevitably pleases no one. The second is that they pander to those they believe to be the most powerful. However, simply pandering to the powerful doesn’t exemplify leadership – but a lack of it. In essence, the roles become reversed as the leader becomes the follower and the followers become the leader. The crown was taken from King Saul’s family because of his failure to lead. Instead of destroying the possessions of the Amalekites as God had commanded, Israel’s first king appeased his troops, allowing them to take contraband from the vanquished enemy.
Congresswoman Laura Gillen did not make the same mistake that Saul made. She exemplified strong leadership at the Legislative Reception hosted by the United Jewish Appeals and Jewish Community Relations Council of Long Island. The Congresswoman listed multiple reasons why she supports Israel- centering around the strategic value of Israel to the United States. However, her final rationale for her support of Israel, unlike the previous, was not transactional in nature. The Congresswoman from New York’s fourth congregational district plainly explained that she supports Israel because it’s morally correct to do so.
Being that much of the activist base in her own caucus is hostile to Israel, any statement of support for Israel should be considered an act of courage. Yet, the fact that the first term congresswoman declared that she supports Israel on moral grounds is of particular significance. It serves as a stark refutation of extremists across the political spectrum who have the chutzpah (temerity) to accuse Israel of genocide while at the same time, call for or refuse to unequivocally denounce calls to globalize the intifada, which in itself, is a call for genocide against Jews. The moral clarity which Congresswoman Gillen expressed is particularly well timed in light of the fact that the New York Times just published Nicholas Kristof’s piece which includes outrageously libelous accusations that Israel trained dogs to rape Palestinian Arab prisoners. The fact that experts say the claim is anatomically impossible, didn’t stop what many consider to be “the paper of record” from running that article.
Despite the challenges of leadership, throughout history, good leaders have risen to the occasion. When preparing to depart from Mt. Sinai, Moses was commanded by God to take a census of the nation. The act of counting one’s people reminds the leader that the power he/ she wields comes with the responsibility to care for those in his/ her charge. However, Moses was not commanded to simply count the people, but rather, count them by lifting up their heads. The counting through the “lifting of the head” is a reminder to the leader of his/her responsibility to provide moral leadership. Those who try to avoid making difficult decisions and instead endeavor to be all things to everyone or pander to the powerful, while holding positions of leadership, do not lead. Those who are willing to do what’s right even when it’s difficult, walk in the footsteps of Moses and exemplify leadership. As followers we must discern between those who exemplify true leadership and those who do not. Let us follow those who lift us up.