In the Torah portion of Beha’alotkha (Numbers 8-12), two elders are noted for their charisma. Eldad and Medad, who have remained in the camp of Israel, experience an overflow of divine inspiration and energy. They begin to prophecy. Joshua is very worried. However, Moshe seems unconcerned and actually wishes that more people would become prophets.

What worries Joshua? Why is Moshe seemingly nonchalant? I think they have two different views of leadership.

Moshe, who faced God directly, knows the joy and love of that experience. He also knows the burdens of leadership. He’d like others to share in that great experience of the divine energy and carry some of the responsibilities that flow from it. He knows that a leader must have ego and ability, character and charisma to move a community forward.

Joshua is more skeptical. He has been an assistant to Moshe and recognises the humility with which Moshe deals with people and problems. Joshua mistrusts charisma. Moshe may be an exception, but Joshua fears the concentration of power. Later, he will be part of an episode where charismatic scouts bring back a report that will set the people of Israel back for a generation. He sees the danger in giving too much power to people who claim to act in the name of God.

In the Canadian community, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought home its report this week. I was with some people who walked the five kilometres with leaders of the indigenous nations. They told me of how emotionally moving the recent days in Ottawa were. But the TRC points to two dangers. Even the well-intended efforts of churches and government—in the name of God and country—can go terribly astray. And sometimes there can be horrible acts of abuse which cannot ever be considered well-intended.

Our Jewish community will be called upon to join with other Canadians to help to redress this damage. Irwin Cotler told me that the notion of an indigenous people on their indigenous land, speaking their indigenous language was a powerful reminder, when he was Attorney-General, of the kinship between native Canadians and Jews yearning for our own historic land and traditions. Justice Linden, a member of our community, told me that something similar hit him when he listened to testimony during the Ontario Ipperwash commission of inquiry into the death of Dudley George.

Other events—each involving rabbis I know—reminded me of the dangers of charisma.

A rabbi was indicted for embezzlement of funds to pay someone who had blackmailed him. He had used discretionary fund monies to pay thousands of dollars to a man who claimed that he had evidence that Rabbi Starr had had an illicit relationship with an under-age minor. It turned out that while the rabbi had violated his marriage, there was no evidence of activity with someone underage. But the rabbi had borrowed funds from members of the congregation as well as used money given to the synagogue for his charitable direction. Although the rabbi had been in the process of repaying the discretionary fund, when all this became news last year, he was exposed. He had taken advantage of his immense popularity and charisma.

Last Sunday, the New York Times printed a story about a well-regarded and popular New York rabbi who used to invite high school, university and rabbinical students to play squash with him. After the game, they would shower off and he would invite the younger men to either the steam bath or sauna for conversation. These encounters were often helpful to the young men who had a level of intimacy with an older rabbi that allowed them to discuss matters of great personal significance.

There is no current evidence that Rabbi Rosenblatt, an esteemed colleague who was once selected as the NYBR Rabbi of the Year, did anything wrong. But certainly some of the young men felt uncomfortable, uneasy, uncertain. After all, the Talmud warns against entering a bath-house with one’s rabbi. The rabbi has since sent a letter to his congregation expressing deep regret that his actions—which he asserts were innocent—may have caused others harm. But he disregarded warnings from his congregational leaders and Yeshiva University. His confidence and charisma led to actions which, at best, caused confusion and crossed relational borders.

All this on top of the recent conviction of Rabbi Barry Freundel of Washington for invading the privacy of women by video-recording them nude in the shower and pool of a mikveh that he supervised. Here, too, charisma allowed malfeasance and a horrible violation of  personal privacy and religious sanctity.

These rabbis are exceptions, but it is good to keep in mind the words of a leading modern Orthodox intellectual who wisely reminded us to “mistrust charisma.” A friend wrote a short note to a number of colleagues this week:

This very wise, worldly, and pious intellectual’s pithy reminder reminded me that the charismatic rabbi persona has, in various historical incarnations, appeared as [1] a false prophet, [2] a dreamer of dreams, [3] a claimant that he alone is in possession of a Word of God from the very Beginning, [4] a hearer of oracular bat qols that no one else is able to hear, and now, more recently, [5] a possessor of adaat Torah [authentic Torah opinion] located in the rabbi’s intuition but not found in official books. The “god” that these rabbis share is located in their own mirrors; their monarchical model is Machiavelli [not Moshe], for whom the Law is not God's Torah, but the pleasure of the prince.

My friend reminds us that Rabbinic vocation is not about us rabbis; it is about God's recorded words and it is the rabbinic vocation to teach, by word and deed,these words, without self-serving additions or subtractions. He concludes, In order to keep Judaism safe for Jews, and Torah true to its teaching telos, let’s put unchecked charisma into a cage.

The most recent issue of the Orthodox Union publication, Jewish Action includes an article, “When Leaders Fail” by Rabbi Breitowitz about the excess of charisma, a personality trait often linked to narcissism. He writes: Both as communities and individuals, we need to avoid dependence on charismatic leadership and the personality cult. We are setting ourselves up for disappointment. The rabbi is setting himself up for the “pride that comes before the fall.”…the Sermons of [Rabbi Nissim of Gerona] (1320-1376) teach that Moshe Rabbeinu … had a serious speech impediment precisely for the reason that people should not elevate him to the status of a demigod and be moved and inspired by his hypnotic oratorical abilities.

Moshe our Rabbi understood that a leader requires a strong ego and ability to motivate and inspire, but his personal deep humility prevented its distortion. Joshua, not as exalted a human being, was suspicious of charisma. In our generation, we have witnessed the excesses of those who thought they knew best—whether regarding native Canadians or saunas with students. We would do well to mistrust charisma even while respecting leaders who understand the importance of modesty and boundaries. as well as independence of thought and action

Rabbi Cutler and I will be entering into further discussion with all our klei kodesh about these events and how we can protect ourselves from ourselves, ensuring the safety of our congregational community, while leading us toward a deeper commitment to Torah.