Parashat Vayechi: Biblical Leadership in the 21st Century

 Dedicated in respectful and loving memory of HaRav Avraham di Yitzchak HaLevy

Just over a month ago, on the 1^st December, I celebrated my 55th birthday.

One of the first thoughts that entered my mind after the shock of realising that I had reached my mid-fifties (they say that fifty is the ‘new thirty’ but I remain to be convinced) was the mathematical fact that I am now half the age that Joseph was when he died at 110.  His passing, at the end of this week’s Parasha also marks the conclusion of Sefer Bereishit.

More thoughts entered my mind.  Not only was Joseph 110 when he passed away, but so was Joshua, his great-great-great grandson.  Joshua’s grandfather’s grandfather was Ephraim, Joseph’s younger son.

Life is to a certain degree whatever we make of it.  We can flit through our twenties, thirties and even early forties hardly aware of what might come next.  After all, many of us are focused on two distinct strands.  These centre around our careers and finding a spouse.  For some, the former is easier than the latter.  For others, it is the reverse.  Blink for an instant and your twenties are a memory.  Blink again and you’re in your mid-thirties.  By the time you reach your forties, your eyes may require some assistance in the form of glasses to help you focus on what’s in-front of you after you’ve blinked.

And then you hit fifty.  Hopefully, you have a career to look back on, in whatever field of employment you found yourself pursuing.

55 happens and you think to yourself, “What have I achieved?”

What can I aspire to be?

Who can I look to as my role model?

You might have already chosen someone, but the thought that hit me squarely in the face was this.  I’m 55, Joseph and Joshua died at 110.  If in the unlikely event I happen to double my current innings and bow out at their venerable ages, what will they have taught me and is this relevant today in my lifetime?

My mind wandered and wondered and the vision that became clear focused on the similarities between these two peoples’ lives.  (With the help of spectacles, I should add…I am in my mid-fifties after all!)

Both grew up in difficult circumstances.

Joseph lost his mother at an early age and we know what transpired when he was seventeen.

His rise to power was anything but guaranteed.  Having raised the ire of his brothers through being the favoured son, they were about to kill him but fortunately abandoned that plan.  Thirteen years later, he rose to the position of Vizier of Egypt.

Joshua was raised as a slave in Egypt.  We know little about him until his name is mentioned in connection with the attack by the Amalekites on the Bnei Yisrael at Rephidim two months after the exodus from Egypt.  Moses asked him to ‘Choose men for us and go out and do battle against Amalek’ (in Parashat Beshalach) and we learn that he led the Israelites to victory which is a portend of what would take place in the future.  We can therefore assume that Moses’ had noticed Joshua’s leadership skills from an early age.

Joshua and Calev rendered themselves extremely unpopular when they justly opposed the other ten spies’ flawed reports of the Promised Land.  Both men narrowly avoided being killed (see Bemidbar 14.10 – ‘The community, all threatened to stone them to death but then the Lord’s glory was revealed to all the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting’).  Does this not sound familiar?

Joseph was responsible for bringing his family into Egypt whilst Joshua brought their descendants back into the land they had originally left centuries before.

Joseph took care of his brothers and Joshua looked after their descendants.  Joshua also ensured that his ancestor’s mortal remains were buried in Shechem fulfilling the final request that Joseph made shortly before he died as we read in the Parasha’s penultimate verse:

Then Joseph bound the children of Israel by an oath: “When Gd takes note of you, carry my bones up from this place.”

Two men who shared a familial bond and much more than that.  These are some of the greatest leaders our people have ever known.

We have been blessed to be led by many great Jacobs, Josephs, Ephraims and Joshuas since then.  The late Rabbi Sacks’ Hebrew name was HaRav Yaakov Zvi whilst our current Chief Rabbi, of whom we are also proud has just been knighted.  He bears the name of Joseph’s youngest son and we can heartily wish a huge Mazeltov to Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis!

One of Anglo Jewry’s greatest leaders in the late 20^th and early 21^st century, Rabbi Abraham Levy ztl bore the names of two of the patriarchs – HaRav Avraham di Yitzchak.  His name, alongside Rabbi Sacks and Rabbi Yosef Carmel shlita highlight the Biblical connection with my own status as a Rabbi as their signatures grace the bottom of my Semicha Certificate.

Rabbi Sacks, writing about Joseph states:

Every leader who stands for anything will face opposition…any leader elected to anything, or more loved or gifted than others, will face envy.  Rivals will say, “Why wasn’t it me?”  That is what Korach thought about Moses and Aaron.  It is what the brothers thought about Joseph when they saw that their father loved him more than them.  It is what Antonio Salieri thought about the more gifted Mozart according to Peter Shaffer’s play ‘Amadeus’.

Fortunately, Rabbi Levy did not have to endure the nightmare that was visited upon Joseph, Joshua or indeed Mozart!  He did however, like the Biblical heroes I have mentioned, demonstrate the fact that there are among us rare individuals who dedicate their lives to tangibly demonstrating their love for each and every Jew, irrespective of his or her religious belief and observance.  To Rabbi Levy, all Jews were equal and deserved to be treated as such.  Although he did not live until the age of 110, the majority of his 83 years (which incidentally matched those of my mother) were spent serving and leading our people.

Despite tremendous opposition from some within the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Community, he established the Naima JPS.  Their website bears the following message, part of which reads:

“It is with tremendous sadness that we regret to share the news of the passing of our beloved founder Rabbi Dr Abraham Levy OBE

Rabbi Levy was and always will be the heart and soul of Naima Jewish Preparatory School.

In his moving memoir ‘A Rocky Road’ (2017) he writes:

Against the persistent opposition, I took comfort from the following thought.  Every day in our morning prayers (just before the Shema), two of the qualities we ascribe to Gd are ‘oseh chadashot’ and ‘ba’al hamilchamot’, ‘Creater of new things’ and ‘Master of wars’.

Put the two together and you derive the idea that you can’t do anything new without stirring up arguments against it.  Some within the lay leadership of the congregation simply did not like the thought that someone they considered an employee had the nerve to do something without their blessing.  Some, perhaps, worried that it would distract me from my ministerial duties.  But there was the prevalent fear that I might fall flat on my face, that the school would prove unviable and end up a stain on the congregation’s good name.

In September 1983, JPS opened its doors to its first complement of pupils, fifteen girls and thirteen boys in a nursery and reception class.  It was an encouraging number.  For our motto, I chose a verse from Proverbs, “start a child on the right road and even in old age he will not leave.”

When I visited his son, Julian at the shivah, you could see the pride on his face when he mentioned the immense joy his father felt when he met the grandchildren of those children, who now attend the school.

He was the visionary who set up the Rabbinical (Semicha) Programme which had been discontinued when Jews’ College closed down at the end of the 1990s.  As Honorary Principal of the Judith Lady Montefiore College, he (in partnership with Lucien Gubbay, the Chairman) was instrumental in ensuring that my fellow students and I were able to receive fully funded extensive rabbinical instruction.  His remit was for the College to train open-minded and outward looking graduates to occupy traditional British pulpits, both in and outside the United Synagogue.  There were times during the rigorous course when many of us lacked self-belief in our abilities to succeed but through it all, Rabbi Levy always believed in us.

His gentle inspiring words and limitless support were always available.  When I enrolled on the course and began my studies shortly before my 46^th birthday, although I was understandably apprehensive, knowing that Rabbi Levy was our Principal was very reassuring.  We were later honoured to be gifted a copy of his memoirs which he personally signed for each of us.  His generosity knew no bounds.

Joseph, Joshua and Rabbi Levy are not the type of leaders who grace us very often and they continue to inspire, long after they have left their earthly forms.

Someone famously wrote:

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way…

In his blessings to Israel at the end of this week’s Parasha, Joseph echoed the same sentiment.

Joshua, the student of our greatest Rabbi became the person who, with Gd’s instruction, brought us back to our land.

Rabbi Levy showed us how we too can lead the way, from the youngest child in his nursery to the oldest student in his Rabbinical College.  The wisdom he imparted to his fellow Jews and Gentiles will continue to inspire me for the rest of my life.

Yehi Zichro Baruch – may his memory be a blessing to K’lal Yisrael.

Shavuah Tov