This week we encounter Moses at a pivotal point in his leadership. Since the Exodus, he has acted as the magistrate, serving as an intermediary between the people and God — literally, day in and day out. The people come to him to understand what God requires of them, and Moses, in a pastoral leadership role, responds. As a father–in–law who must realize how little time Moses is spending with his family — and frighteningly prophetic for our modern rabbis — Yitro advocates that Moses change his style of leadership. “But Moses’ father–in–law said to him, ‘The thing you are doing is not right; you will surely wear yourself out, and these people as well. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone’ ” (Exodus 18:17).
Yitro’s solution is to create a hierarchy of leadership. He instructs Moses to select “capable men who fear God, trustworthy men who spurn ill–gotten gain.” Yitro tells Moses to teach the “ordinances and laws” and “the way where they must walk” to act in his stead. Surely, there are cases that Moses should see himself, but many others can be managed by these “chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens” (Exodus 18:20–21). They share the burden of leadership and ease the load on Moses (and maybe he can have dinner with his family once in a while).
Rabbi Marc Wolf comments: ‘There are numerous lessons we can learn from this passage about the nature of effective leadership — most notably about the burden of leadership. Although we read that the Israelites came out of Egypt on eagles’ wings, we can assume from the tensions that surface that Moses felt as if he carried them out on his shoulders. From the models in his book Leadership Without Easy Answers, Ron Heifetz would define Moses as exhibiting an “ethic of responsibility.” These leaders, however, frequently suffer from stress and loneliness, “Because those who lead take responsibility for the holding environment of the enterprise. They themselves are not expected to be held. They do the holding, often quite alone” (250). Moses lived this loneliness; Yitro recognized it while offering his advice. Moses responds, implementing Yitro’s suggestions and shares his burden of leadership and allows others to stand in the breach with him.’
Prepared by Devorah Abenhaim
