Parshat HaShavua - VaYikra

Everyone makes mistakes, oh yes they do… Or do they? This week in Parashat VaYikra, when we learn the offerings that different people must bring for unintentional mistakes, the Torah does not assume that everyone is equally likely to make them. But before understanding what the Torah teaches, it is worth pausing to consider: Who would you most or least expect to make mistakes among the categories addressed by the Torah: individuals, religious leaders, political leaders, or the nation as a whole? What do you think?

For three of these categories, the Torah uses the language of im/אִם, or “if”: a Kohen (Lev. 4:3), all of Israel. (Lev. 4:13) and individuals (Lev. 4:27). The Torah thus suggests that people in these particular categories might not actually commit an unintentional sin. Various explanations are offered for why in each category. The Kohen, according to Rabbeinu Bachya, “is careful not to sin because the eyes of all Israel depend on him, whether for their bodies and sustenance, or for atonement of their souls / כי הכהן הגדול נזהר מן החטא לפי שעיני כל ישראל תלויות עליו בין לענין צרכי גופם ומזונותם בין לענין כפרת נפשותם.” (Lev. 4:23) As for the idea that all of Israel might sin together, the Kli Yakar (Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz) optimistically offers that “it does not happen that so many would agree on a sin / שהוא דבר שאינו מצוי שרבים יסכימו על החטא.” (Lev. 4:2) The Kli Yakar employs some of this same optimism for individuals: “It is only in the smallest number of cases that an individual will sin…as one person alone without a partner or friend /  ומיעוטא דמיעוטא הוא שיש לך איזו יחיד חוטא….נפש אחת לבד ולא יהיה לו דמיון וחבר.” (Lev. 4:2)

And who does the Torah assume will definitely make mistakes, with a ringing endorsement even from the optimistic Kli Yakar? Political leaders. As stated in the pasuk: “When the leader sins / אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָשִׂ֖יא יֶֽחֱטָ֑א,” using the word “asher/אֲשֶׁר” – when – instead of im/אִם, “if.” The first place commentaries look to explain this is Sefer Devarim, when the Torah simultaneously permits and cautions us regarding the idea of a king: when he sits on the throne he must always keep the Torah with him, to read throughout his life, “so he will not in his heart feel above others or deviate from the command to the right or left / לְבִלְתִּ֤י רוּם־לְבָבוֹ֙ מֵֽאֶחָ֔יו וּלְבִלְתִּ֛י ס֥וּר מִן־הַמִּצְוָ֖ה יָמִ֣ין וּשְׂמֹ֑אול.” (Deut. 18-20) As the Kli Yakar observes, “a leader who elevates oneself above everyone and leads haughtily from ‘a feeling in his heart of being above others’ will certainly sin, so it says ‘when a leader sins.’ This language is teaching us about something that will definitely happen, without a doubt / הנשיא המתנשא לכל ראש ונוהג נשיאתו ברמה מתוך ׳רוּם־לְבָבוֹ׳ ודאי יבא לידי חטא. לכך נאמר, ׳אֲשֶׁר נָשִׂיא יֶחֱטָא.׳ כי לשון ׳אשר׳ מורה על דבר שודאי יהיה ואין בו ספק” (Lev. 4:2)

In the Leviticus volume of Covenant and Conversation, Rabbi Sacks discusses the inevitability of leaders making mistakes in an essay entitled The Sins of a Leader. “Leadership,” he writes, “demands two kinds of courage: the strength to take a risk, and the humility to admit when a risk fails.” He suggests giving leaders some benefit of the doubt when he observes that politics “is an area of conflict” and “involves difficult judgments.” What is the Jewish perspective on leadership, according to Rabbi Sacks? “What matters is not that leaders never get it wrong – that is inevitable, given the nature of leadership – but that they are always exposed to prophetic critique and that they constantly study Torah to remind themselves of transcendent standards and ultimate aims. The most important thing from a Torah perspective is that a leader is sufficiently honest to admit his mistakes. Hence the significance of the sin offering.”

We can find hints from the other categories as to what might mitigate the mistakes of leadership: Like the Kohen, being aware that all are watching, and all depend on a leader to some degree for their physical and spiritual well being. Additionally, a leader should hear different voices of a community rather than think there is total agreement about a particular action or decision, and not act alone.

One final note: it seems to me that the mistakes of leaders are rarely if ever their mistakes alone, and those who are being led should not be quick to point the finger of blame without also looking in the mirror. Yehuda Amichai’s poem “Five Squares / חמשה מרובעים” opens with the following stanza:

טָעוּת לְעוֹלָם חוֹזֶרֶת. וְהִיא חוֹזֶרֶת אֵלַי.
לֹא שֶׁלִּי הָיְתָה וְלֹא שְׁלַחְתִּיהָ
וְהִיא חָזְרָה אֵלַי.
עַכְשָׁו הִיא נִמְצֵאת עִמָּדִי. נָתַתִּי לָהּ מִכֵּלַי.
אֲנִי מַתְחִיל לֶאֱהֹב אוֹתָהּ. כִּי רַק הִיא שָׁבָה אֵלַי.

A mistake always returns. It always returns to me.
It wasn’t mine and I didn’t send it away
and it returned to me.
Now it is found with me. I gave it my things.
I am beginning to love it. Because only it returned to me.

May our leaders not be haughty, and be ever aware of their power and their responsibility to hear the different voices that are present and deserve to be heard in every community. And may the communities they lead recognize that the mistakes of leaders are also our own, to be reflected upon and corrected as much as we possibly can.

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head
Rabbinic Advisor