The Lion and the Ox: Two Modes of Jewish Leadership

There are two pathways up the mountain of life: the path of focused strength, and the path of resilience. The former is the path of Yosef and the latter is the path of Yehuda and his descendant King David. Yosef was a tzadik; the paradigm of moral strength, he always managed to turn dust to gold. As a young slave, recently torn from his family, he does well enough to become head of household for an important court official. Handsome, uber successful, and lonesome at the age of seventeen, he had...

There are two pathways up the mountain of life: the path of focused strength, and the path of resilience. The former is the path of Yosef and the latter is the path of Yehuda and his descendant King David. Yosef was a tzadik; the paradigm of moral strength, he always managed to turn dust to gold. As a young slave, recently torn from his family, he does well enough to become head of household for an important court official. Handsome, uber successful, and lonesome at the age of seventeen, he had the inner strength and focus to resist the daily advances of his master’s wife. Yosef teaches us to set our moral compass early in life, and never waver. He knew where he wanted to go, and nothing could distract him. Yosef was a dreamer, he had ambitions, and he set out to conquer them. Calm and composed, he had an intuitive sense of who he was, and the faith to know that he would eventually arrive. Failure was simply not in Yosef’s lexicon. Yehuda and David, on the other hand, were all about resiliency. While Yosef taught us how to avoid failure, Yehuda and David taught us how to succeed despite and indeed because of failure. Yehuda was seduced by Tamar. Compounding the problem was the very difficult choice he faced: admit to it, or see an innocent woman killed. He admits to his lapse, and from this embarrassing union Mashiach is born. Resiliency isn't about recovery but about transformation. Yehuda uses a powerful formula of humility, faith and hope to bounce back from failure stronger than ever. Yosef and Yehuda, resilience and excellence, aren’t mutually exclusive. With Yosef as our guide, we discover our strengths and learn to focus our efforts where they matter most. But what happens when we fall - and if we travel the road to greatness, we will falter. It is inevitable. But - does that spell the end? Do we stop dreaming, stop trying? Yehuda and David teach us to dust ourselves off, get up, and get back to work. A project of Denverkollel.org I would love to hear from you! Rsh@denverkollel.org