Leadership
A Message for Parashat Devarim 2018
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Sefer Devarim presents Moshe’s final mission as the leader of Am Yisrael.
Understanding that he would soon die and that the nation would then enter the
Land of Israel, he prepared them for a future without him. Instead of speaking
about the future challenges that lay ahead, however, Moshe turned to the past
and recounted their forty years of shared experiences in the midbar.
Am Yisrael stood on the brinks of a historic transition into an independent
homeland. They were in dire need of vision for the future. Why, then, did Moshe
focus primarily on their past history instead of on the future
that lay ahead?
I believe that Moshe based his decision upon a deep understanding
of the people’s mindset at that time. Am Yisrael had suspended all
prospective thinking over the course of their forty-year journey in the
wilderness. In a state of constant search for signs from above – “By God’s
word Bnei Yisrael would journey onward” (Bemidbar 9:18) – the people
relinquished any control over their future. Moshe needed to shift the people’s
collective consciousness by redirecting the trajectory of their thought from
the present to the future. But how could he do so?
Theoretical biologists refer to our ability to learn via stimulus
and response as a “remembered present.” (For example: After touching the oven
and burning my hand I understand that I shouldn’t touch the oven again). A
“remembered future,” however, is when we retain memory traces even when the
stimulus is no longer present. (For example: After touching the oven and
burning my hand, I now understand that it is harmful to touch anything boiling
hot in the future). [1]
Following two centuries of slavery and several more decades of blind wanderings
in the desert, Am Yisrael was stuck in a state of “remembered present.”
They were trained to think in the present and could not even fathom planning
for the future. Moshe understood, however, that “future thinking” begins with
the ability to draw insights from the past. And so, he began to teach them
their history.
Viewing Sefer Devarim through the
lenses of Moshe’s mission to build an independently future-thinking nation, we
may better understand several of his surprising statements in our parashah.
At the beginning of his talk to the people,
Moshe remembered:
And I said to you at that time, saying, “I cannot carry you by
myself…Oh, how can I carry by myself your trouble and your burden and your
disputing? Get you wise and understanding and knowing men according to your
tribes, and I shall set them at your head.” And you answered me and said, “The
thing that you have spoken is good to do.” (Devarim 1:9-14)
Moshe’s retelling of the episode of the
judges’ appointments differs from its earlier description in the Torah. In Parashat
Yitro (Shemot 18:13-26), it was Moshe’s father-in-law Yitro
who suggested that he appoint judges, after which Moshe forced the system
onto the nation. In Moshe’s retelling at this time, however, it was he
who realized his inability to lead alone and then turned to the nation for
their approval of the new judicial system.
Moshe made a similar change in his
reminiscence of the story of the meragelim:
“And you came forward to me, all of you, and you said: ‘Let us
send men before us that they probe the land for us and bring back word to us of
the way on which we should go up and the towns into which we should come.’ And
the thing was good in my eyes, and I took from you twelve men, one man for each
tribe. (Devarim 1:22-3)
Whereas Parashat Shelah (Bemidbar
13-14) presented the meragelim’s mission as God’s command, Moshe
now remembered it differently. He recounted the people’s self-insight
and consultation with him regarding the plan – “And you came forward to me,”
and his own approval – “And the thing was good in my eyes.”
Prominent Jewish thinker Micha Goodman
suggested that Moshe was driven by a shared motive in each of these deliberate
“rewritings.” He was aware of his central role in the nation’s history, and now
wished to diminish it. Moshe rebranded his leadership role from being the sole
conveyor of God’s will to the sensitive figure who was attentive to the
heartbeat of the nation.[2]
By placing the people at the focus of past decisions, Moshe empowered
them to courageously tackle future decisions by learning from the strengths of
their past.
Indeed, leadership experts consistently
stress the importance of empowering the people to lead. Consider, for
example, the description of several leadership gurus:
Authentic
leaders recognize that leadership is not about their success or about getting
loyal subordinates to follow them. They know the key to a successful
organization is having empowered leaders at all levels, including those who
have no direct reports. They not only inspire those around them, they empower
those individuals to step up and lead.[3]
Best-selling author and billionaire Ray Dalio
similarly explained that authoritarian managers don’t develop subordinates,
which means that those who report to them stay dependent. And systems built
upon dependency are weak, as they often collapse when the constituents grow
tired of silent obedience. Dalio warned: “When you are the only one thinking,
the results will suffer.”[4]
As he pondered the future of a nation that
depended upon his central role for so many years, Moshe realized that his
absence would leave them powerless. He knew that in order to transition the
people from their “present-thinking” consciousness to one of future perspective
he needed to first build their sense of history. Moshe thus began teaching them
their history while carefully tweaking the details in order to decentralize
himself and empower the people. Informed of a history of self-strength, the
people could now march into the future with confidence.
[1] For a survey of the
recent research and studies in this field, see Oren Harman’s Evolutions:
Fifteen Myths that Explain Our World (New York, NY, 2018), pg. 228-230.
[2] Micha Goodman, Moses’
Final Oration (Or Yehuda, IS, 2014), pg. 21-2.
[3] Bill George, Peter Sims,
Andrew N. Mclean and Dianna Mayer, “Discovering Your Authentic Leadership,” in Harvard
Business Reviews Ten Must-Reads on Leadership (Boston, MA, 2011), pg. 176.