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Parshat Shelach
2005
Speaking By Listening
A wise older friend once remarked to me, "If you want to know who is losing an argument, look at who is shouting louder." Insecurity often inspires bravado. Confidence, ironically, allows a person to be open to the ideas of others.
Yet as we learn from our everyday Hillel experience, leaders can't only listen. True, we need to create safe spaces for public expression, but not chaotic power vacuums. It's hard to know when to speak boldly - and when to listen boldly.
This week's Torah portion gives us three different models of leadership operating as the spies return to the camp speaking harshly of the land of Israel.
First, "Moshe and Aaron fell on their faces before the entire congregation of the assembly of the children of Israel." (14:5) They, the leaders, are silent. It is unclear where their intention is to apologize to the people, confuse them or pray for them. Certainly, though, they do not feel that it is an appropriate moment to contest the chaos of the Jewish people.
Second, "Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Yephuneh, of the spies of the Land, tore their clothes. They spoke to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel, saying, 'The Land that we passed through, to spy it out - the Land is very, very good! ...You should not fear the people of the Land, for they are our bread." (14:7-9) These two leaders, in contrast to Moses and Aaron, demonstrate clearly their dissatisfaction with the spies' complaints and respond point for point. Confidence, confrontation and resolve form their reaction, leaving little tolerance for the tantrums of an infantile people.
A third, subtler moment of leadership finds its way into this episode. At the end of the story, God singles out Caleb as a devoted leader: "But my servant Caleb, because a different spirit was with him and he followed me wholeheartedly, I shall bring him to the Land to which he came, and his offspring shall possess it." (14:24) Why does God uniquely reward Caleb if Joshua reacted with the same passion and boldness?
Earlier in the story, when the spies first give their report, Caleb apparently notices Moshe's silence and senses an impending vacuum. He does not respond loudly: "Caleb silenced the people toward Moshe and said, 'We shall surely ascend and conquer it, for we can surely do it." (13:30) Caleb knew that Moshe, after all these years of suffering with this stubborn, stiff-necked people, would not attempt to counter them as they spoke. Instead, he silenced the people first - he brought them to the point where they would be able to listen.
By sharing a moment of silence, Caleb aimed to communicate that Moshe had indeed heard what the people were saying, a reality they could not appreciate while so enraptured in the Jewish ritual of nagging. "He heard you," Caleb said through the silence, "now listen to him. He - we - think we can conquer the Land despite the enemy's strength." Rashi, in fact, suggests that Caleb merited the honorable mention because of his ability to silence the people for a moment.
Moshe and Aaron, at this point, are broken leaders but loyal advocates for the people to God. Joshua is a conventionally bold leader. Caleb, at least at the outset, prefers to articulate his boldness by bringing both sides to a space where they can hear each other.
Just as winning an argument is not reflected in the volume of one's voice, leadership is not perfectly mirrored by the boldness of one's speech - or by any speech at all. Our Torah portion gives us options for leadership, yet it's our role to determine which situation calls for a given style.
I once asked Rabbi Avi Weiss, a renowned activist and spiritual leader, what makes a great leader. He said to me, "Yehuda, there are no great leaders, only great challenges." May we place ourselves in the full presence of the pressing challenges of our day.
Prepared by Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, manager of religious life, Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Shelach at MyJewishLearning.com.
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