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Rabbi Moshe Haber Path of the Just - The Heavy Burden of Authority and Spiritual Leadership 4.06.26 · Rabbi Moshe Haber - Daily Mussar/Weekly Perasha

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  So the idea that we're talking about is, is that a person
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  should not be focused and want authority.
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  It's tempting to like authority to be in that position because
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  it means power, it means status. It means, oh, there's no you.
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  Others need you, others need to call you and come on to you.
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  And that itself is a degree of feels good.
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  But he's telling you that that's a real level of humility, is to
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  be disinterested in that bannut, which in this context means in
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  the idea of authority. And he goes so far to say, and
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  no matter what the situation is, if a person is busy with being
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  in that position, they're in some danger.
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  How far does it go? On top of 460, actually, he says
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  vamru OD oy La La la bannut shimicabet ET balaya woe.
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  And it's dangerous to be in the position of authority, but it's
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  literally it buries all they know, the person who has it.
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  What's the classic most difficult example?
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  Yosef Uminawa. Yosef.
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  Yosef was one of the brothers. My self was sold into slavery.
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  His self ended up in Med time and he became one of the leaders
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  in Med time. And therefore he became the
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  leader of his brothers. So the leader of his brothers
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  took care of them, forgave them, was there for them.
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  You would think check, check, check is the best thing out
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  there. Hey yourself is the first of the
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  tribes to pass away. Why was the first of the tribes
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  to pass away? Shavez Shahin, he got small but
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  I bannut met called him Akhav because of the fact that he
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  acted in the position of power over his brothers that caused
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  that he died first and one second.
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  They did the worst things in the world to him.
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  He had all the reason in the world to be upset at them.
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  He was nice enough to look the other way, to instead take care
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  of them, bring them in, house them, give them jobs, give them
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  money, give them everything. And yet he passes away first
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  because he had a position of authority.
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  His authority was care for them. But the reality is, we're not
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  saying yourself is to blame, but we are saying there's a clear
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  concept. If someone is in the situation
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  of being on top, they are running a great risk.
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  And that risk is if you carry yourself that way, if you treat
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  yourself that way, if you treat others that way, even if not in
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  the mean way, so many treat others as if you were in control
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  of them. There are many different reasons
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  why a person like that runs a risk of danger and this has been
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  said. Certain people who turn down
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  positions, who turn down running schools, turn down running
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  schools, who turn that, wherever it is, they are in some degree
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  of more risk. And that is you're in an
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  authoritative position. It's be careful.
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  And why Carlos de Shatavar? The rule is treat authority like
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  a big burden, which is on the shoulders of those who carry it.
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  The reason that being in a position of leadership is seen
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  as a burden is that your relationship with Hashem is very
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  different. Is it better or worse different?
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  Now I'll tell you the better side first.
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  The better angle is, is that many people who may be average
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  or above average level people, but not the greatest things
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  ever, because they represent the group, because they represent
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  the community, because they represent the Hasidut, they
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  therefore have more connection to Hashem.
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  What does that mean? That means Hashem listens to
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  their blessings more. God carries out these people's
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  wishes more because they represent when you represent the
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  great group, even if you might well, I might not be the
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  greatest thing ever being that I am their representative.
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  I have the four majors riot. That's the idea.
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  Major Merritt, that's a good side.
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  The bad side is the opposite if it represents a group.
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  So our point was you don't want to be in that position, in the
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  entire position, because that's an arrogant angle and that's a
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  problem here. He's telling you if you
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  represent, you're running the risk of carrying their burdens,
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  which means they're a sin. So if you're part of, you're the
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  leader of a big group, whatever maybe, and someone in the crew
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  does something wrong, you have to, we have to take their brunt
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  of it because they're part of your pack and they made a
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  mistake. So the leader has to deal with
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  it. As he says, a person is an
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  individual and he's mixed into the crowd.
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  The only way he can ever get punished is because what he
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  himself did personally, once he became a leader, rise to a
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  position of power on 461. He now gets punished.
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  I'll call me shataka d'ado mem shatto.
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  He gets punished for anything that anybody does who's under
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  him. So any member of his school who
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  makes a serious mistake, any teacher in the school who does
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  nothing wrong, any member of his kahal who does nothing wrong,
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  that is on his shoulders. Kiallav Lahashkeef al Khulam,
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  now why is he to blame? Because he's supposed to be
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  looking over the situation with the auto Tom and be their
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  shepherd and guide them. They are the high skill, the
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  right way of thinking with Ayeshaim Mazam and the straight
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  in their actions. Him love Vasham mamba Rasham.
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  Their guilt is on his head. Steve now that is a real
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  problem. Honestly, this is something that
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  makes me actually pretty worried, which is my
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  responsibility, it's my burden and I pray to Hashem every day
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  all the time that I should never have to face in a Cajal such an
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  issue because it's a real problem, especially because we
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  live in the area of soft and it's very difficult.
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  Although people talk of the game, it's very difficult to
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  actually pinpoint a person and say you, that person out can't
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  be here. Or if you are, you're in shape
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  up. Can you wrap up in the community
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  today? It's very hard, But the idea and
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  the theme is that the Javetz Raim used to say that the person
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  he used to tell the rabbi before he became a rabbi, he said,
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  listen, when someone says there's something wrong, they're
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  coming to you. They're coming to you and
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  telling you it's your responsibility.
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  All this is meant to do is to tell a person who's coveting
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  honor, coveting a position, he's dying for that role.
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  All those things don't want it so much.
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  And if you have it, realize what it really means.
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  It does not mean the authority and the accolades that you think
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  it means. It rather means the burden and
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  the pain and the guilt and the responsibility.
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  That's the reality. So this whole picture that we
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  have of authority, so and so he's got that position.
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  So and so he's taking over. So and so has 1000 people on
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  them. All those things are actually
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  should we translate this way. So and so he now has to deal
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  with that headache. He now has to deal with a bigger
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  headache. He has 1000 headaches.
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  That should be the perspective and that should do a couple of
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  things. For the person who does not have
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  that position, he should feel perfectly fine because you're
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  talking and coveting something. There's only a problem in the
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  long run. And if the one who does have the
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  position, he should be very careful and careful means he
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  should be on top of his game to make sure as Kahal is remaining
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  on track, that his people are the right people.
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  And that if they're not, he doesn't, you know, at all.
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  You bring everyone in. He doesn't give them an extra
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  sense of love when they're making problems.
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  He maybe this is himself a drop hoping that they go away.
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  I need more even tell them to go away.
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  This is the responsibility. The point being this whole
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  perspective. Can he actually tell them to go
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  away? At times he has to, at times he
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  understood absolutely his whole perspective of authority
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  positions. I think about this all the time.
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  You know, we always talk about who's running this and who's
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  running that and who's running the other thing.
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  These are just different roles of the community being run.
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  But the emphasis should not be on the leader.
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  The emphasis should rather be on the community because the
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  overall idea is the community has a lot of people.
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  Therefore, another shepherd, another shepherd, the focus
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  should not be on how, what kind of leader, the focus should
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  rather be on what kind of flock. That's the ultimate goal.
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  And that is really the the job of that leader.
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  It's way easier said than done, but it shouldn't be our focus on
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  our reality because authority carries these many issues.
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  And one of them is this. It's his responsibility.
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  It's his burden. The Cavod, Eno Ella Hamarita,
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  Adam Al Datto, Valdat, Kono, Mishako Hovato.
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  And honour in these areas specifically is nonsense.
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  And he just takes the person off his game.
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  You've said many times a person who's focused on the position
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  and the honour and the authority, he's completely
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  missing the boat. Your authority is so that
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  they're disciplined. Your position is so that they're
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  LED. Your honor is their honor.
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  In other words, you have nothing.
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  They have everything. And that should be the
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  perspective of how a role in the role of leadership really is,
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  right? When someone gives a big speech
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  and he feels very good about the speech, what he really should
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  feel very good about is 1000 people are influenced.
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  So the focus is not you, it's about their influence, right?
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  And he should never be focused on the honor that he's getting.
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  So we'll stop with this. There's labor.
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  This is the thing.