Watchdog and Great Job Wednesday!

From Julia Neuberger, Senior Rabbi at the west London Synagogue

I remember being furious when school prefects told me to do things without explaining why. “Because I said so!” It’s infuriating to deal with that attitude. Yet the story of a man called Korach, which we read in synagogue last weekend, tells us what happens if we don’t obey.

Moses, the great leader of the Jewish people, was extremely autocratic, and Korach and his henchmen led a rebellion against him. Moses couldn’t cope with his authority being challenged. Ultimately we are told, God intervened and threatened to annihilate all the Israelites, because they’d supported Korach and his rebels.

Moses begged God not to punish everyone. But then he told the Israelites that they could judge for themselves whether or not he was really God’s servant. If Korach and his henchmen were to die of natural causes then he wasn’t God’s servant - but if God caused the earth to swallow them up, then these men had spurned God.

Just as Moses finished speaking, the earth opened and swallowed up Korach and his rebels and the Israelites fled in terror. Moses’ authority was proven. “Because I said so” had won.

However most of us, these days, think our prefects, our parents and our leaders should explain themselves. Moses had to deal with many rebellions from the Israelites in the wilderness, but his frustration and anger eventually came to be seen as serious character flaws.

I would not accept a leader’s “because I said so!” as an argument any more than the Israelites did. And I’d find a leader’s fury at being challenged hard to take. But perhaps the message is that we ought to learn to calm the situation down, still asking the hard questions, whilst being sympathetic to a frazzled Moses, or any other leader, at the same time.

This story of Moses and Korach challenges me to learn to manage difficult situations, and fragile egos, sensitively. I wish I could have helped Moses have greater patience with his troublesome flock. I’d like to learn to help present day leaders, parents, or prefects keep calm and carry on. No-one needs to lose their temper. But sometimes being challenged continually can be infuriating. I’d like this story to remind me to control my own frustrations, as well as to help others stay calm in trying times. As long as they don’t say “Because I said so….”