Parshat b'Ha'alot'kha

In the aftermath of some bitter complaining from the Israelites regarding the limitations of their diet in the desert (no meat), Moses himself bitterly complains to God about having to bear the burden of leadership alone. “Why have you dealt ill with your servant, and why have I not enjoyed your favor, that you have laid the burden of all this people upon me?” (Num. 11:11) In response (in addition to severely punishing the Israelites for their kvetching), God decides to empower 70 elders to share the burden of leadership with Moses.

Moses goes and gathers 70 of the elders and brings them to the tent. God comes down in a cloud (as is God’s wont) and “drew upon the spirit that was on [Moses] and put it upon the 70 elders.” (11:25) They begin “speaking in ecstasy” (a Hebrew scriptural version of speaking in tongues?) and then they stop, the transference complete. Meanwhile, back in the camp, two people who hadn’t invited to the party, Eldad and Medad, all of a sudden also start speaking in ecstasy, right where they are. This disturbs Joshua, Moses’ adjutant, who goes to the boss urging him to stop them from their unauthorized prophecy.

Moses’ response strikes me as a model of mature, positive, results-oriented leadership: “Are you wrought up on my account? Would that all God’s people were prophets!” (11:29) Moses doesn’t get upset at the infringement of his position or power, he realizes that he is overburdened, and that it is to the benefit of the people for others to be involved in the leadership. Even though it is specifically said that some of spirit of God is being removed from Moses to enable this to happen, he is not only okay with it, he welcomes it. And even when some of that spirit heads off in an unauthorized direction, to people he didn’t even realize had leadership potential, he is happy about that too. He realizes that when leadership is shared in this way, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

This is really something that leaders of all kinds – business, not for profits, synagogues, federations, etc. – can stand to learn. Leadership must be shared – if leaders keep it all in their hands, not only will the people get restive, but the leaders will get resentful. When that happens, other people will be brought in to the process, even people we may not have foreseen as being interested in or capable of leadership. And when the spirit of God is shared in this way, then the potential for holiness – of success – of the entire endeavor is much improved. In fact, it is guaranteed.