The Only One We Can Rely On

There are leaders and there is a leader.

When Moses and his brother Aaron first went to see Pharoah, they were accompanied by 70 Jewish dignitaries. By the time they got to Pharoah, only Moses and Aaron were left. The elders, out of fear, dropped away one by one until none of them remained.

Then there was the time during the Ten Commandments event. It happened that the Jewish elders took this sacred phenomenon light-heartedly. Later they were punished for their nonchalance.

Remember the 12 leaders of the Jewish tribes that went to spy out The Holy Land? Ten of them were killed for lack of faith and unwillingness to enter Israel.

Then there's the story of Korach and the 250 sages who were heads of Sanhedriot and leaders of Jews. They too died a horrible death for doubting and opposing Moses.

How about the story of the leader of the tribe of Shimon, Zimri, who antagonized Moses and fell prey to Bilaam's wicked plot for Jews to sin. He too suffered a miserable death, at the hands of the righteous Pinchas.

The lesson we simpletons must learn from this is that so-called leaders of the Jews - are one thing. But the "head of all the Jews" (in Hebrew the acronym spells "Rebbe"), the Moses of the generation - why he's a whole other realm of sanctity and leadership. He's the only one we can rely on wholeheartedly.