A Lesson in Leadership

Rabbi Maury Grebenau

Right before Yaakov sends the brothers on their fateful journey down to Egypt to get
food, he utters two strange words. ‘Lamah Titrau’, he asks the brothers (Bereishis 42:1). The
first word is clearly ‘why’, but what of the second. Many Rishonim understand that the root of
the word is related to ‘roeh’ - to see. Rashi (in his first explanation) and the Rashbam translate it
as ‘why be seen.’ According to them Yaakov is instructing the brothers not to make themselves
conspicuous by deviating from what everyone else is doing. The widespread famine is forcing
everyone to Egypt in order to acquire food. Why should we make ourselves conspicuous by
appearing to have more supplies than anyone else? We too must descend to Egypt in order to buy
food.

The Seforno, while understanding the root of the word in the same way, has a novel
understanding of Yaakov’s missive. He translates the words as ‘why look at each other’ and
explains that Yaakov is encouraging the brothers to use initiative. In his words, ‘Why do you look
at one another, and each one of you is waiting for the other to go and seek out.’ The Seforno
compares the situation to the Gemara’s statement (Eruvin 3a) that a pot owned in partnership is
never cold, nor hot. The Gemara is pithily expressing a situation of many individuals involved
but without anyone taking clear responsibility. Everyone who has a part ownership in this
cooking pot figures that they themselves don’t need to stir the coals since another one of the
partners will no doubt take the lead. The result is a lukewarm pot which never really gets to the
desired level of heat and is only stoked when absolutely necessary. Each of the partners waits
until the situation is dire before doing their part and then blends back into the anonymity of the
partnership.

Yaakov saw a group mentality in the brothers which expressed itself a few times in the
past with unfortunate consequences. Here again, Yaakov sees that none of the brothers stands up
to suggest the next step. They each hoped that someone else would take the lead in order to get
them where they needed to go. Yaakov tells them what to do but first he chastises them for not
taking the initiative themselves. As the brothers become the leaders of their generation a major
change is taking place. The last three generations each featured one person at the helm of the
fledgling Jewish nation, which was essentially one family. Avrohom, Yitzchak and Yaakov had
each clearly led alone. Now the family was growing and would slowly become a nation. Instead
of just one leader there would be many tribes, each with their own leader. The Jewish people
were going from having one CEO to having a much broader power structure. Each tribe would
need to make a separate contribution and take initiative. As the Mishna (Pirkei Avos 2:6) tells us,
‘in a place where there are no men, strive to be a man.’ When no one else stands up to the task
we need to take it upon ourselves. Yaakov told the brothers that when they see something that
needs to be done, the first place they look should not be around to others but rather to
themselves. In our shuls, schools and broader communities we need to keep this lesson in the
forefront of our minds. When we see issues which need to be addressed we can’t assume that
someone else will take care of it. If we want vibrant institutions, instead of lukewarm ventures,
we need to get involved.