D’var Torah: Who Gets to Lead? Knowledge, Power and Ethics.

Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi

This week’s Torah portion is Tzav: Leviticus 6:1 — 8:36

The biggest questions often emerge from the smallest details. This week’s Torah portion is filled with very small details but ultimately, it’s asking: Who gets to lead? Or more broadly: How do we ensure that we live our lives inspired by Judaism’s core values?

This is perhaps the most important question of our time and the most important question of the Torah. Judaism’s most ancient texts caution the reader of every age to be skeptical of how leaders are chosen and how they use their power.

In this week’s Torah portion, there are overwhelming and complex details about animal sacrifices in the ancient Temple that was destroyed 2,000 years ago. But what does all of this have to do with leadership? Everything. According to the Torah and in a myriad of sacred and legal texts, the handling of the most precious resources of the community must be done not only in the most precise ways but by the most ethical people. Their attention to detail must be pure. Their motivations must be pure. Their execution of their tasks must be holy. And if not, they must be held accountable.

Sometimes the texts of the Torah seem so distant from our daily reality, especially sacrifices and many other ancient ritual practices. But in our ongoing search for meaning, it is essential that we ask these big questions. Very soon at our Passover seders we’ll gather to ask Mah Nishtanah? The biggest questions that emerge from the tiniest details of how we eat our vegetables. But throughout the Passover seder we are asking the same question in many different ways:

What meaning does the Exodus story have for us? The story of the redemption of an enslaved people is much more uplifting and its relevance much easier to comprehend than the fine details of the ancient sacrificial cult.

So why should we keep studying these passages so carefully when their direct relevance is long gone and their meaning for us is often hard to find? This week’s Torah portion, Tzav, however, doesn’t just describe the details of the rituals the ancient priests must perform, but it asks the bigger question: Just how precise, ethical and focused must a leader be in order to fulfill their responsibilities on behalf of the community?

Knowledge, precision, and character — whether in ancient ritual or contemporary leadership — matters.

It’s not just what leaders do, but who they are, how carefully they attend to their responsibilities and what they ultimately intend to achieve, that matters for the societies they serve. The ancient priests were carefully trained and had to be perfect in every area of their lives in order to serve.

The questions of the who, how and why of leadership couldn’t be more relevant to all of us as we look toward the future. What kind of leaders should be given the greatest power? Who should be trained to serve? Must a leader be all things to all people all the time? What are our ethical standards for leaders in any context?

When these questions are asked collectively and rooted in Jewish texts, we are much more likely to find ourselves focused not on the power of leadership, but on its ultimate purpose: to inspire us and challenge us to become better. That is Judaism’s ultimate goal. As we prepare for this Passover, let us clean out all that is holding us back from becoming the most ideal human beings creating the most ethical society possible.