Dear Friends,
You’ve really got your hands full!
Such is usually a statement asserting that someone is overburdened with too much work or too many concerns. Of course, unless one is a grocer with one’s hands literally filled with okra or peppers, or one is a physical therapist manipulating a patient’s arm, one must understand the above phrase metaphorically, and not literally. For most of us, such is the case.
But, not for Aaron. He was Moses’ elder brother, and in this week’s Torah portion, he is installed as the first High Priest of the people of Israel. He would supervise or conduct the regular priestly offerings, as dictated by the Torah. And, he very much had his hands full.
Our portion includes an interesting phrase regarding the induction ceremony of Aaron and his sons to consecrate them in their new position. Moses was instructed by God: “Put these (garments) on your brother Aaron and his sons as well; anoint them, and fill their hands, and consecrate them to serve Me as priests.” [Exodus 28:40]
Essentially, the induction ceremony, besides placing clothing and anointing oil upon them, was to fill their hands with both the stuff of their tasks, and the duty of their tasks.
Today, it is identical for our leadership. Whatever one’s role – be it in civic government or Temple leadership or 4th grade class rep, the real induction is not the laying-on of hands, but the filling-up of hands. The burden of leadership - in any domain - is the will to assume responsibility for whatever comes, even the unexpected. It may be economic malaise, or a pandemic, or getting food for the class gerbil. But, whatever it is, it fills the hands of the leader.
When I was in rabbinic school 37 years ago, I was privileged to serve as a rabbinic intern in one of America’s largest synagogues, a mega-institution in Los Angeles. One day, I encountered the senior rabbi shuffling some papers at the copying machine. I commented that here he was, doing his own copying! Smiling, he told me that he remembered years earlier when the synagogue first opened its doors, he and the school director spent all night on the floor with screwdrivers assembling furniture so students would have desks the next morning. Decades later, that school had over 2000 students, lots of staff, and rabbis that did their own copying.
Leadership means having our hands full - of whatever it takes. Let’s appreciate the effort and the will of those who so readily open their hands and take on the tasks.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
You’ve really got your hands full!
Such is usually a statement asserting that someone is overburdened with too much work or too many concerns. Of course, unless one is a grocer with one’s hands literally filled with okra or peppers, or one is a physical therapist manipulating a patient’s arm, one must understand the above phrase metaphorically, and not literally. For most of us, such is the case.
But, not for Aaron. He was Moses’ elder brother, and in this week’s Torah portion, he is installed as the first High Priest of the people of Israel. He would supervise or conduct the regular priestly offerings, as dictated by the Torah. And, he very much had his hands full.
Our portion includes an interesting phrase regarding the induction ceremony of Aaron and his sons to consecrate them in their new position. Moses was instructed by God: “Put these (garments) on your brother Aaron and his sons as well; anoint them, and fill their hands, and consecrate them to serve Me as priests.” [Exodus 28:40]
Essentially, the induction ceremony, besides placing clothing and anointing oil upon them, was to fill their hands with both the stuff of their tasks, and the duty of their tasks.
Today, it is identical for our leadership. Whatever one’s role – be it in civic government or Temple leadership or 4th grade class rep, the real induction is not the laying-on of hands, but the filling-up of hands. The burden of leadership - in any domain - is the will to assume responsibility for whatever comes, even the unexpected. It may be economic malaise, or a pandemic, or getting food for the class gerbil. But, whatever it is, it fills the hands of the leader.
When I was in rabbinic school 37 years ago, I was privileged to serve as a rabbinic intern in one of America’s largest synagogues, a mega-institution in Los Angeles. One day, I encountered the senior rabbi shuffling some papers at the copying machine. I commented that here he was, doing his own copying! Smiling, he told me that he remembered years earlier when the synagogue first opened its doors, he and the school director spent all night on the floor with screwdrivers assembling furniture so students would have desks the next morning. Decades later, that school had over 2000 students, lots of staff, and rabbis that did their own copying.
Leadership means having our hands full - of whatever it takes. Let’s appreciate the effort and the will of those who so readily open their hands and take on the tasks.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
