Parshat Shoftim: Is it Time for Bibi to Step Down?
We are living in a time where we see a recurring problem affecting many leaders of different nations. And it’s not something confined to dictatorships but even in some of the most vibrant democracies as well. And that is a leader who just refuses to recognize that their time is up, that their leadership is no longer effective and that their nation has lost faith in them. A leader who doesn’t have the humility and courage to step down from their position for the greater good of their people.
It is a worldwide trend dragging down countries such as Canada with Trudeau, Venezuela with Maduro, Russia with Putin, Syria with Assad, Iran with the despised Mullahs, among others. And sadly it seems to be the case with Israel’s Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu. (As an aside, whether you like him or not, and whatever you think may have led to it, President Biden has been the one exception to the rule.)
We are approaching a year since the horrid tragedies of October 7th. The war with Hamas grinds on, the hostages – some still alive, many probably dead – are still hostages. Hezbollah continues to be a menace in the north and things are heating up in Judea and Samaria. The protests and frustrations with Netanyahu, coming not only from the populace, but from within his party, his coalition and other Israeli leaders including the military, grows more and more.
The problem is that once this happens to the degree that is has, it inevitably creates a credibility gap. And once that sets in, a leader can no longer effectively lead. This is not to disregard Netanyahu’s past great achievements, and there certainly have been many. Israel’s economy and identity as a “Start-Up Nation” are mostly thanks to his efforts. But once a leader “loses the plot” as they say these day, then even if and when he makes the right decisions, he cannot go on because he no longer has the confidence of a critical mass of his followers. That seems to be the case with Netanyahu right now.
Truth be told, there is nothing really to be ashamed of once a leader hits this wall. It happens to the best of them. There comes a point where even a great leader with a fantastic track record reaches a time and place where they are no longer the best person for the job. This happened to even the greatest leader of all time – Moshe. Even the lofty Moshe reached a point when his time was up.
The former chief rabbi of the UK, Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l expresses this in parshat Chukat, the parsha where Moshe was punished and told that he will not take the Israelites into the Promised Land.
To recap, it was toward the end of the 40-year period of wandering the desert and, just as it happened much earlier in their travels, they couldn’t find water and the people complained. The first time this happened at the beginning of their 40-year travels, Moshe was told to strike the rock and water will flow from it, which it did. But this time, he was told to speak the rock. Instead he struck it like on the first occasion. Water didn’t come out, so he struck it again and the water arrived. And for this he was punished.
There are many views as to what went wrong but Rabbi Sacks has a very original and unique take on it. He explains that this episode demonstrated that Moshe was no longer the best person to lead the Israelites. I know that sounds radical, and when I once presented this idea in a class, one older gentleman went ballistic to even suggest that there might be a flaw in the great Moshe. How dare I or anyone ever suggest such a thing! But as Rabbi Sacks notes:
Leadership is a function of time. Each age produces its leaders, and each leader is a function of an age… A leader must be sensitive to the call of the hour – this hour, this generation, this chapter in the long story of a people. And because he or she is of a specific generation, even the greatest leader cannot meet the challenges of a different generation. That is not a failing. It is the existential condition of humanity.
The remarkable fact about Moses and the rock is the way he observes precedent. Almost forty years earlier, in similar circumstances, God had told him to take his staff and strike the rock. Now too, God told him to take his staff. Evidently Moses inferred that he was being told to act this time as he had before, which is what he does. He strikes the rock. What he failed to understand was that time had changed in one essential detail. He was facing a new generation. The people he confronted the first time were those who had spent much of their lives as slaves in Egypt. Those he now faced were born in freedom in the wilderness.
There is one critical difference between slaves and free human beings. Slaves respond to orders. Free people do not. They must be educated, informed, instructed, taught – for if not, they will not learn to take responsibility. Slaves understand that a stick is used for striking. That is how slave-masters compel obedience. Indeed that was Moses’ first encounter with his people, when he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite. But free human beings must not be struck. They respond, not to power but persuasion. They need to be spoken to. What Moses failed to hear – indeed to understand – was that the difference between God’s command then and now (“strike the rock” and “speak to the rock”) was of the essence. The symbolism in each case was precisely calibrated to the mentalities of two different generations. You strike a slave, but speak to a free person.
Moses’ inability to hear this distinction was not a failing, still less was it a sin. It was an inescapable consequence of the fact that he was mortal. A figure capable of leading slaves to freedom is not the same as one able to lead free human beings from a nomadic existence in the wilderness to the conquest and settlement of a land. These are different challenges, and they need different types of leadership… The fact that at a moment of crisis Moses reverted to an act that had been appropriate forty years before showed that time had come for the leadership to be handed on to a new generation.
Yes, even the great Moshe had to come to terms that his leadership needed to be handed over to another. There is nothing wrong when a leader comes to recognize – either by himself or through the guidance of others – that it is time to move on and let someone else take over. There’s no shame in acknowledging that one is not perfect for all times and all places and all situations. Hopefully Bibi will soon see this and learn from God’s directive to Moshe, and finally listen to the throngs of voices that are asking him to step aside and step down.
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word…
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand
I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringin’
-Coldplay
