A HUMBLED LEADERSHIP

Moshe Kempinski

True leadership of the people of Israel must always be a humble leadership. That was true of Moshe as the left Egypt and was true of King David after his difficult and event filled rise to leadership. G-d did not take the Israelites on a shorter route into the land of Israel because it “was too close”. Not that it was too close to Egypt because they in fact went even closer. It was too close to their destination. The journey was to be long and arduous so that the destination would be arrived at with the correct spirit and understanding.


The announcement regarding the projected results of the elections hit Israel like a dull thud. Those in the “land of Israel movements” had been working long and hard and were hoping for a clear and decisive victory. The media and the left, on the other hand, were hoping for a miracle that would ensure the continuation of what was. When the results were announced my son and I were sitting with the activists of the National Union party in the hotel hall. The three large television screens presented their polls with colorful graphics exactly at 10:00 p.m. and showed the column of the Kadima party rising dramatically and towering over the column of the Likud. The resulting frivolity and joyful dancing filled the television screens .The activists in the room watched quietly feeling great disappointment.


All the leaders of the National Union got up to speak to encourage and strengthen the activists .One after the other they were trying to lift the spirits of those who were still sitting in a quiet stupor. Yet it took great effort to escape the hypnotic messages and subtext being offered by the media. At a certain point a young woman walked to the podium and went right up to the microphone. She spoke forcefully and clearly.


." What is going on here? Why do you all look stunned and sad? For a month we have been using our slogan “not to be afraid at all". Now is the time to live out our slogan. We are beginning our journey and we will not be afraid at all".


As she shyly walked off the stage people began to smile. After the smiles the true assessment of what had actually transpired began to seep past the subtext and confusion presented by the three television stations.


Even if Kadima did receive one more seat than the Likud (and that may change after the soldier’s votes come in) it was far from being the dominant party. It barely received 25% of the mandated seats in the Knesset. Israeli law does not give the leadership of the country to the largest party but rather to the party that can create the largest coalition.


It soon began to seep into our consciousness that we were not witnessing a disappointment but rather a great victory.” The Land of Israel “faithful now make up at least 65 seats of the Knesset mandates. Yet all that evening, Tzippy Livni tried to dance sing and smile and project herself as the victor . In actual fact the only place where she was victorious was in decimating and weakening all her natural allies of the left. The Meretz party dwindled to 3 to 4 seats. Labour was whittled down to 13 seats. Livni did not succeed in drawing out one mandate from the other side of the political spectrum, she simply drained her own side.



The people of Israel chose the land of Israel. The people of Israel chose strength and courage when facing murderous enemies .The people of Israel chose to face a world that has become less and less friendly with a clear vision .The world would say that the solution to the diminishing friendliness would be for Israel to be more flexible. They demand that Israel must continue to compromise on Israel's security issues and must bend over backwards even more than it has until now. Israel it seems has bent over as back as it can without completely breaking. The people of Israel have decided to stand straight and upright.


The only difficulty is that the leadership of Israel has not yet absorbed the passion and understanding that has permeated the people.Binyamin Netanyahu is an intelligent man with a good core understanding of the direction this people need to follow. The difficulty is that as in the past, Netanyahu's greatest enemy is his own ego. Netanyahu becomes so filled with Netanyahu that it obscures his judgment and blinds his vision. Feeding or threatening that ego becomes the tool used by our enemies to break or compromise Netanyahu's resolve.


That is the reason these election results may turn out to be even more positive than it may seem today .Had Netanyahu won a resounding success, it would have fed his own weakness, his own ego. Instead, Netanyahu is being forced to listen to the passion of the majority of the people of Israel. The numbers will do much to humble Binyamin Netanyahu and a humbler Netanyahu is a better candidate to lead the people of Israel.