The Hineni – A Jewish Meditation on Leadership

A high point in our High Holiday liturgy occurs immediately before the Musaf (Additional) service. Just after the Torah is returned to the Aron we may hear a small, penetrating voice as the Chazzan (Cantor) slowly walks forward. We rise and listen to the pleas of the Hineni – the chazzan’s meditation – as the chazzan prepares to lead us in prayer.

The chazzan humbly prays to be able to guide our prayers despite the chazzan’s limitations. The chazzan acknowledges the awesome responsibility of representing us before God in this season of reckoning and forgiveness. The chazzan is humbled and strengthened by our trust and the seriousness of the hour.

While the Hineni focuses on a specific moment in our service, it is also a Jewish meditation on leadership and the values a leader must possess. Leaders serve others and not themselves. Leaders trust themselves but aren’t overconfident. Leaders are responsible both to those they lead and to the values that guide them. And leaders always have their moral GPS set to life and peace.

Hineni is the prayer of one who has been called to lead. The chazzan, the Shaliach Tzbur (the one sent by the community), opens by asking both us and God to be aware of his or her presence – Hineni / “Behold I am here” – and then acknowledging his or her own “lack of accomplishments”. Leaders possess the talent, knowledge, and training to accept their call, and yet, are aware of the limits of their learning and experience. This is not false humility but deep wisdom. The more we know, including self-knowledge, the more aware we become of the depth of our ignorance.

Despite this, leaders courageously take on the task. They willingly stand even in the presence of God to present their case, not with pride but with humility. They step up not to forward their agenda but on behalf of those they serve. The chazzan continues; “I have come to stand and petition You (God) on behave of the people who sent me.”

Leaders understand that they are no different from those they represent. They have the same needs, concerns, and hopes as those they lead. They need the same blessings. They stand with their people. They know that their failures will harm others. The chazzan prays, “Please do not consider them sinful for my sins … nor should they be shamed for my sake.”

Leaders take responsibility for their limitations and failures. They do not blame others. They see themselves as actors, not victims. In the Hineni, the chazzan understands the ramifications of chazzan’s shortcomings.

Leaders have a vision and offer hope. The chazzan prays for the transformation of our circumstances and our souls; “Please turn all our troubles and hardships … to joy, happiness, life, and peace, and may we love truth and peace.” Leaders know we succeed only when our hearts are turned to higher purposes.

Leaders do not work for themselves but for others and for high principles. As the Hineni draws to an end the chazzan asks God to accept our prayers not for the chazzan’s sake but “for the sake of all the righteous, loyal, pure and upright ones” and for the exalted values God’s name represents.

Finally, leaders know that success ultimately rests in powers beyond our capacities – in the love and grace we manifest in this world and in our ability to hear the prayers of others. The Hineni concludes with that affirmation that God’s blessed nature rests in God’s ability to hear all our prayers.

Leadership is a gift and a responsibility. When we are called to lead, let us respond in the spirit of the Hineni – with courage and humility.

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