From Shemot to Today: Leadership, Justice, and Compassion
Parasha Shemot introduces us to Moses, not yet the great leader of Israel but a man who is beginning to find his way. In It Takes Two to Torah, Rabbi Dov Linzer highlights that Moses’ actions “illustrate a moral progression” or an evolving sense of justice: first, he protects his own people against an external oppressor (an Egyptian); then, he intervenes in a conflict between two of his own; and finally, he steps in to help a group of Midianite women with whom he has no connection. His sense of justice grows beyond the tribal, beyond the personal, to something universal.
We live in a time when moral clarity is often muddied by ideology, and therefore Moses' trajectory is worth reflecting on. He begins with righteous anger but matures into a leader whose actions are guided not just by whom he fights for, but how he fights. His leadership is not just about standing up to oppression; it’s about caring for people, period.
Dov Linzer also brings in a powerful midrash: Moses sees a lamb run off from the flock. Instead of being frustrated at its escape, he follows it and finds that it was seeking water. Understanding its exhaustion, he picks it up and carries it back to the flock. This, the midrash teaches, is why Moses was fit to lead—because he did not just fight for a cause, but he saw and cared for individuals.
This distinction feels profoundly relevant today, especially in conversations about Israel and Palestine. It is easy to be passionate about a cause—about justice for our people, about our right to self-determination, about defending ourselves from those who seek to destroy us. And these fights are necessary. But true leadership also means holding space for human compassion, for seeing the individual even amid conflict.
As a Zionist and someone who loves Israel, I will always stand for its survival, for the right of Jewish people to live safely and sovereignly in our homeland. But that does not mean I cannot also recognize the suffering of Palestinian civilians, grieve for the innocent, and wish for them better leaders, better lives, and a future where peace is possible. Compassion does not dilute conviction. In fact, it makes it stronger.
Moses’ story reminds us that true leadership—whether in the Torah or today—is not just about standing against our enemies. It is about carrying the lamb, about remembering that justice must be paired with humanity. It is about knowing when to fight and when to carry. And if we can hold both at once, we just might find a way forward.
