care for the people you serve. You must have
a sense of empathy and concern for the Jew-
ish community and for the individual Jews
who comprise it. You must love them – as a
group and as individuals – even in moments
of trial and frustration. This is not always easy
to accomplish, but your role as a rabbi can-
not be fulfilled without such feelings of
fondness and devotion.
Finally, you must be identified as a
Haham,
a Sage – a wise and judicious person.
You must employ your knowledge and direct
your empathy in ways that are wise. It is not
always easy to know precisely how to behave
respectfully and judiciously. You must listen
to your heart. You must also pay attention to
the instruction of your mind. Mind and heart
together will help guide you as you seek to
lead and assist others.
How is it that you can exercise this kind
of leadership that will evidence the qualities
contained in the titles the Sephardic tradition
employs to identify the rabbi? As is always the
case, our weekly
Torah
reading aids us in an-
swering this question, and I would turn to
this week’s
parasha
and two commentaries
upon it that offer distinct guidance in how
leadership should be exercised.
In our text, it states in Numbers 7:1,
“
Va’y’hee b’yom kalot Moshe l’ha’keem et ha-
mishkan
–
and it was on that day that Moses
completed the setting up the tabernacle.”
How should this verse be understood? After
all, we are aware that the
Torah
describes in
some detail all the help and assistance Moses
was given in the construction of the ancient
Israelite tent of worship. As it cannot be liter-
ally true, in what sense can we understand its
meaning? There are two different commen-
taries that I would cite that give us insight
into the meaning of this verse and provide us
with two different models of how rabbinic
leadership can and ought to be exercised.
In the first commentary, contained in
Midrash Rabbah,
the rabbis say that Moses
went and oversaw every single activity of every
artisan and every craftsman as they worked
upon the construction of the Tabernacle.
Moses himself made sure that every detail of
what was to be done was carried out precisely
as God had instructed him. And when Moses
saw that they had performed all the tasks,
only then did Moses bless the people at the
end of the day with the words of “May the
favor of the lord our God be upon us. Let the
work of our hands prosper. Prosper the work
of our hands.” The
midrash
continues by say-
ing that Moses would then disassemble the
tent of meeting by himself without the help of
the Levites. In the morning, he would re-
assemble it alone – and this he did each and
every day.
This is one mode of leadership. As
leader, you carefully watch each and every
activity that every single person under your
guidance is undertaking. You instruct them
and you critique them when they do not do
precisely what it is that you want them to
do or you praise them when they follow your
instructions precisely. Your blessing is contin-
gent upon their fulfilling your instructions
and your words. This mode of leadership re-
quires incredible effort and, from my own
perspective, this mode of leadership does not
reflect genuine leadership at all. To be sure, it
bespeaks a great sense of duty and effort.
However, it hardly reflects an ability to enlist
others as responsible partners who collaborate
together with you to achieve the task at hand.
Thus, I would turn now to the com-
mentary found in the
Tanhuma,
where there
is a different understanding of how it is that
Moses exercised his leadership. In this mode
of leadership, Moses is not alone as he works
with, inspires, and entrusts his people. He de-
pends upon the men and the women who are
working on the construction of the taberna-
cle to undertake and complete their
assignments. It is true that he provides a vi-
sion of what it is that the tabernacle should
be. However, the work is carried out and per-
formed by those whom he trusts and in
whom he believes. Moses believes in persons.
In so doing, he empowers them and brings
out the best in them.
My hope and prayer for you on this day
is that you too will exercise leadership – but
not the kind of leadership where, because of
a lack of trust or because of overwhelming
narcissism, you feel you have to oversee each
and every activity in which everyone you lead
is engaged. Instead, may yours be a leadership
that will inspire, direct, and allow persons to
understand that the strength and goodness
that resides within them can come to be man-
ifest in the world, and that they are capable
of working together with you to attain that
which is proper and just. It is an exacting task
and you will undoubtedly stumble more than
once along your path. Nevertheless, as you
leave our
Beit Midrash
on this day and enter
into the world as a rabbi, I am confident you
will employ your knowledge of
Torah
in kind,
gentle, committed, and insightful ways, and
that when you speak, your people will be
moved. May God bless you and watch over
you always.
G
rowing up in an inter-
faith home in the 1950s
was sometimes difficult, es-
pecially when it came to
fitting in. My Jewish friends
said I was never really Jewish because my
mother was Catholic, while my Catholic
friends said I was not really Christian because
my father was Jewish. Despite this, my parents
never forced my sister or me to take sides.
Today, she is a devout Catholic and I am an
observant Jew, and we love and respect each
other for our choices. Our parents, who passed
away several years ago, were pleased for both of
us and never biased our decisions.
“
That’s an interesting story,” you might
be saying, “But what does it have to do with
us as we graduate today?”
Only this: when I decided to follow the
Jewish faith, it was Reform Judaism and
its commitment to inclusion that allowed me
not only to make that choice, but to be em-
braced and accepted without hesitation.
Without that commitment and acceptance, I
would not be standing before you today,
proud of my Jewish heritage, committed
to my faith and, I hope, representing to
Cincinnati – June 7, 2009 – Dr. Scott S. Cowen,
President, Tulane University
Graduation/Ordination/Investiture
2009
2009
ISSUE 72 | 85
