May 29, 2010 | 16 Sivan 5770 

Earlier this week I participated in a special Jewish Theological Seminary Convocation at which the JTS Rabbinical School Classes of 1982 (my class) and 1983 were recognized for their years of service. Most of us have remained in the pulpit throughout more than 25 years of our professional careers. Each of us was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Part of me scoffs at that title, hardly one I deserve. But another part of me is quite proud of having served the Jewish community as a pulpit rabbi for nearly 27 years. 

Moments like this one naturally lead to reflection. One of the images from my senior year at JTS occurred on February 13, 1982 when I offered my “Senior Sermon” in the Seminary Synagogue. It was more than a little daunting as I peered out at that front row of the Seminary “Gedolim,” luminaries, who struck fear in us. The parasha was Yitro, and I spoke about what we could learn from Moses’ encounter with his father in law, Yitro, when Yitro observed Moses trying to single-handedly administer the affairs of the community. In seeking to do so, he was wearing himself down and upsetting members of the community as they waited endlessly for Moses to handle their concerns.

Even by 1982, with very little congregational experience, I had gained a sense that congregations can create unhealthy environments in which professional leadership assumes too much responsibility and, in the process, harm both itself and its community (and, yes, sometimes it is the professional leadership, like Moses, that creates such an environment). I had already seen that empowerment of laity made a difference to them and to the congregation.

The text I used that day appears in today’s parasha.  In chapter 11 Moses bitterly complains to God about the burdens of leading the Israelites. In verse 15, he even expresses a death wish! God instructs Moses to gather seventy elders with whom God will share ruach hashem, and these men will be able to help Moses minister to the community’s needs. All proceeds as planned. However two men with this newfound spirit, Eldad and Medad, apparently misuse their newfound abilities and power. Joshua complains to Moses about the mens’ behavior:

My lord, Moses, restrain them! But Moses said to him, “Are you wrought up on my account?  Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord put His spirit upon them!” (Nu. 11:28 – 29)

Rather than feeling threatened by the sharing of power and responsibility or feeling mere relief at the burden that had been removed from his shoulders, Moses felt a genuine sense of excitement! Even Moses, Moshe Rabbeinu, who the Torah projects as having shared an absolutely unique relationship with God, viewed all of the people as potential “prophets!”

My point in my sermon was quite simple. I was speaking more to my classmates than to my Seminary teachers. As we prepared to leave the Seminary and enter pulpits, we best reflect on this episode in Parshat Beha’alotcha and consider new models for congregational life that would serve to empower more of our laity. Moreover we should embrace those models rather than bemoan our diminished power.

More than 28 years later that message seems to me to be every bit as relevant today as it was then. Pulpit rabbinic power today does not lie in perceived authority, i.e., in how strong I am perceived to be and that people act in accordance with my demands. Pulpit power lies in a rabbi’s ability to inspire, encourage and enable people to do things of which they are capable.

I take great pleasure in the successes of our staff members at Ahavath Achim. When they and their programs succeed, I kvell. But it is the successes of our congregants in congregational life that are even more significant. As they recognize their capabilities more fully and give greater expression within our congregation to their God-given abilities, we, as a congregational community seeking holiness in our lives, move ever closer to becoming the “Lord’s prophets.”

Shabbat Shalom.