Menachem Bluming Muses: Who Is the Right Leader?

I was interviewed this week for a parshah blog and figured that I would share with you.

“So Rabbi Mendel Bluming, our question for you this week is why Moses was chosen to be the new Jewish leader.

After all, he was not among the Jewish people who were enslaved in Egypt and for most of the first 80 years of his life he didn’t even live in Egypt after he fled Pharaoh, so why was he chosen to be the leader?

Menachem M Bluming thought for a moment and then shared.

‘Have you ever made a suggestion to another which you knew was very helpful but they summarily dismissed?’ Bluming asked.

‘Have you ever chosen to not share a much-needed piece of advice because you are too familiar with the others in the group and figured that they would either laugh it off or mock it or just dismiss it?’ Bluming continued.

‘Because Moses was an outsider no one was able to turn to him and say, ‘I remember lighting firecrackers with you on July 4 and almost being arrested! Moses do you remember when we were kicked out of school together because of those paper airplanes in class?!’

‘Sometimes an outsider is the best leader because the lack of familiarity allows us to make room for what they are saying’, Menachem Mendel Bluming pondered.

‘So I guess the question is if we can turn to our children or family and say: I am someone brand-new I am not the same father whom you knew I am not the same mother who I was last week let’s start again with fresh ideas and perspectives.’

‘That is why, Bluming shared, many people look forward to going to a new school out of town because they are unknown and can be the person whom they always dreamed of being. The person whom they knew that they were inside but were too afraid to be dismissed by their friends if they suddenly changed. Going to a new place gives brand-new opportunities to be the person whom you always wanted to be.’

‘Moses was embraced specifically because no one knew him well, they were not familiar enough with him to dismisshim and instead they listened to him (somewhat at least) and followed him into the desert, by G-d’s word. Bluming concluded ’

Wishing you a Shabbat shalom!
Menachem Mendel Bluming


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