Leadership Means Listening to the Cries of Babies and Chicks

Who is a leader?
What does leadership look like?
When you think of a leader, who do you picture?

There is no one answer. That is why Moshe asks God for help in identifying his successor.

“Let God, the God who knows that the spirits of all flesh – that is, their dispositions – are different, appoint a man over the community who can relate to each individual personally.” (Bamidbar 27:16)

With so many different people with different personalities, preferences, and predispositions, how do we define leadership?

Jewish leadership is especially difficult because Jews are a notoriously tough people to lead.

David Ben-Gurion made a memorable and humorous comment regarding Jewish leadership in his meeting John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy said, “It’s really hard to be president of the United States. I’m the president of 190 million citizens!” Ben-Gurion replied, “It’s much harder to be the prime minister of Israel. I’m the prime minister of 2.3 million prime ministers!”

While much has been written and said about leadership, I think Moshe provides a very clear and succinct definition. Jewish leadership require a person:

“Who will go out before the people, and who may go in before them; who may lead them out and may bring them in; [who will ensure] that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep that have no shepherd.” (Bamidbar 27:17)

Leadership means being with the people. Leadership means acting – going and coming. Leadership means concern. Leadership means responding to the call of the hour.

Once, in the middle of the night, one of Reb Dov Ber’s children fell out of bed. Entirely engrossed in his studies, he did not hear the child’s cries. However, Reb Dov Ber’s father, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi known as the Alter Rebbe, heard the cries, closed his Torah books, and went to comfort the child.

The Alter Rebbe later said to his son: “No matter how deeply immersed you are in holy pursuits, when a child cries you must hear it; you must stop what you’re doing and soothe their pain.”

“The Crying Baby” story was famously told by Rabbi Yehuda Amital as capturing what he felt made Yeshivat Har Etzion unique.

Jewish leadership means being responsive, and we must all listen for the cry of what is needed.

Rabbi Moshe Taragin relates another story of Rav Amital that takes Jewish leadership one step further, “The Cry of the Chicks.”

There was once a terrible snowstorm in Gush Etzion, leaving its residents without heat. A kibbutznik arrived on Shabbat and told Rav Amital that the electricity in the hothouse where baby chicks were being raised had failed. If they did not restore the heat, the chicks would die. Rav Amital immediately put on his coat and walked through the storm to the kibbutz to offer his ruling. When he returned, people asked why he went, instead of simply asking more questions and then giving a ruling. He explained that Torah is to be lived in the real world and is not simply book knowledge. He wanted to hear the cry of the chicks himself before issuing his ruling (To Be Holy but Human, 28-29).

It is not enough to hear the cry. Leadership must be personal. One must be connected with the needs of the people. One must have “skin in the game.”

At times, it seems Jewish “leaders” have a lot to say even if they are not immersed in the issue or with the people. They are not listening to the cries of the baby or of the chicks. This is especially true when it comes to IDF service. Everyone must serve. It is insulting when Charedi politicians criticize the Religious Zionists and accuse them of hating Torah! They are not leaders if they are not with the people, hearing the cries and serving on the battlefront with the people. That is not leadership.

Like the IDF commanders, who lead from the front, being a Jewish leader means more than just making statements – whether supportive or critical. It means talking with people and not just at or past them. It means being with people and not just praising or condemning from afar. Leadership means that the primary concern is for the betterment of the Jewish people, so they thrive and not be lost like sheep without a shepherd.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote:

“Leaders lead because there is work to do, there are people in need, there is injustice to be fought, there is wrong to be righted, there are problems to be solved and challenges ahead. Leaders hear this as a call to light a candle instead of cursing the darkness. They lead because they know that to stand idly by and expect others to do the work is the too-easy option. The responsible life is the best life there is, and is worth all the pain and frustration. To lead is to serve - the highest accolade Moses ever received was to be called eved Hashem, “God’s servant,” and there is no higher honour.”

We can all be leaders. Each of us can listen more attentively for the cry of the baby and respond in whatever we can. We can lift the child and uplift those in need. We can give charity, offer a soothing word, or just be a comforting presence. We need to also go out to hear the cry of the chicks and be sure to stand with those in need and not remain apart or aloof to their specific difficulties.

This is leadership. If we rise to these calls, we will know what leadership looks like when we look in the mirror.