Lessons in Leadership
By: Rabbi Jordan Silvestri, Head of School
We are in for a treat! This week’s parsha, Parshat Vayakhel, is usually the first of two parshiot that is read as a double parsha. As a result, the haftorah, the portion of Prophets or Writings that is read in connection with the weekly Torah portion for this week is not always read. When we have this unique opportunity it begs us to review and explore the portion inside.
This week’s haftorah portion comes from Melachim Bet (Kings II). At this moment, the Jewish people are split into two kingdoms - the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Yehuda. As is the style of the book of Kings, each king is described in reference to how they held themselves and the people of their kingdom accountable to Hashem’s directions.
וַיַּ֨עַשׂ יְהוֹאָ֧שׁ הַיָּשָׁ֛ר בְּעֵינֵ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה כׇּל־יָמָ֑יו אֲשֶׁ֣ר הוֹרָ֔הוּ יְהוֹיָדָ֖ע הַכֹּהֵֽן׃ רַ֥ק הַבָּמ֖וֹת לֹא־סָ֑רוּ ע֥וֹד הָעָ֛ם מְזַבְּחִ֥ים וּֽמְקַטְּרִ֖ים בַּבָּמֽוֹת׃
Yehoyash did that which was righteous in the eyes of Hashem all of his days as the Kohen Yehoyadah instructed him. Except he did not remove the external altars that the people continued to bring sacrifices and incense on. Kings II 12:3-4
During this period of Jewish history, there was widespread assimilation not only of people leaving the Jewish faith. Jewish practice was heavily influenced by secular and pagan religion practice. The act of bringing sacrifices outside of the Temple was prohibited and Yehoyash continued to allow the people of his kingdom to practice this outlawed act.
Leaders of all kinds are inherently flawed. So he was not a perfect leader. He was not able to completely move the Jewish religious needle fully forward. Why should his introduction in this book focus on what he did not accomplish in the face of what he did? I believe the rest of the haftorah helps to bring light to our question.
Yehoyash sees the disarray that the upkeep of the Temple has become. He decides that a change is needed in order to provide the much needed funds for the capital campaign. He decides that all monetary donations that were given to the Kohanim were, in turn, to be directed to making the repairs to the infrastructure and upkeep. Would you be surprised that upon Yehoyash’s review that nothing was completed let alone started?
The Kohnaim were furious by the request. They colluded and decided that not only would they not engage in this backwards fundraising, they simply would not accept any funds of any kind so as not to be forced to spend it for Yehoyash’s design. As such, Yehoyadah the Kohen Gadol, devised a plan that a collection box would be placed by the altar and that an external overseer of the funds would ensure that all money entered these boxes, was collected on a schedule and was directly allocated to pay the contractors to repair the Temple.
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of spending a few days on the next journey of my DSLTI Head of School Leadership training. It is beyond uplifting and empowering to get together with other heads of school to discuss their challenges and triumphs, the dilemmas that keep them up and exploring the manner in which they navigate through. As I reflected on the retreat and read this section of the book of Kings, I was flabbergasted. What was Yehoyash thinking? Did he think his religious leadership, the one that either refused to abolish the practice of external altars or was not open to exploring it, was going to take such a huge pay cut sitting down? Where was Yehoyadah in coaching, leading and guiding his direct reports with a clear, direct and candid approach around this difficult conversation?
Our retreat focused on having difficult conversations and the dynamics that are at play for the speaker and the listener. Difficult conversations are not something that can be navigated well without intentionality, practice and dedication to a process. How many times have we been scared to have a direct conversation in fear of hurting someone’s feelings, overcome by fear that maybe we got it wrong or have had major trauma as a result of the difficult conversations where you were the recipient? The outcomes are usually not what we had hoped for and, in and of themselves, create new challenges that elicit additional difficult conversations to navigate further complicating the initial issue at hand.
Yehoyash is the epitome of that scared, caught up in his own head, leader that was not willing to lean into the difficult conversation. He personally was a devout religious Jew yet was not able or willing to effectively engage his kingdom and religious leaders to take on the same devotion. He didn’t engage with those religious leaders in a hope to bring them into a discussion around the issue of the Temple’s upkeep, staying reflective of the impact these decisions would have on those leaders while considering how to empower Yehoyadah to lead the way himself. Those fierce conversations overcame him and he simply was not able to put into place a strong leadership approach.
And what was the result? All of the money that was donated and all the precious gold and silver that now ladened the Temple and his personal treasury was utilized to appease the warring nation of Ashur as protection money. Soon after, he was assassinated. Not the end he was hoping for.
As I was traveling home from my retreat, I wondered how many fierce, difficult and direct conversations I avoided in my life, over my career and how those relationships, those moments would have turned out differently. We often opt for the easy in face of the hard as our minds are laser focused on the now versus the future. What if we opted to lean into the difficult, faced the challenges of the fierce and built our tendency for the direct so that, even if a bit more involved, the now creates the space for a more productive future?
It could have saved Yehoyash’s life. Perhaps, in turn, it could save ours as well.