The Leader as Servant
Family Edition

The Summary

● This summary is adapted from the essay written by Rabbi Sacks in 2012, available here.

At the heart of the story of Korach is a question of equality. Korach states that “the whole community is holy” and then challenges why they would need men like Moshe and Aharon, the Kohen Gadol, as their leaders. That, surely, is a Jewish idea. After all, God did say Bnei Yisrael would be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Korach doesn’t really mean what he says. He pretends to be against the idea of leaders, but in fact he wants to become the leader. However, if we drill down into Korach’s argument, he does have a point: If we’re all holy and close to God, why should there be special priests or a leader like Moshe? Or why not be like the time of the Shoftim, when leaders just stepped up during a crisis and then went back to normal life? Why give so much power to Moshe and Aharon? If everyone is already holy, why do we need a special class of leaders?

But here’s what Korach got wrong. He thought leadership meant status - being above others, like a boss or ruler. He saw leaders as “the alpha male, the top dog”, the ones people bow to and obey. But in the Torah, leadership isn’t about being better or more powerful. A leader is there to serve.

Moshe is called “a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” Aaron and the kohanim bless the people, but it’s God who actually gives the blessing: “So they will put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” In other words, leaders in Judaism are just channels for God’s will. They don’t use their own power - they serve.

This idea is so important that when Moshe and Aharon spoke harshly to the people and said, “Must we bring you water out of this rock?”, they were punished. Why? Because it sounded like they were taking credit instead of giving it to God.

Even a king in Judaism must stay humble. He has to carry a Torah scroll and read it every day, “so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God... and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites.” Leadership is about responsibility, not about being above others.

In Judaism, the leader doesn’t have to be the best actor or player. Their role is to ensure everyone is working together, like a conductor in an orchestra. The Torah honours Moshe by calling him “eved Hashem” - “the servant of God” 18 times in Tanach. The only other person given this title is Joshua, twice. In Judaism, a leader is a servant and to lead is to serve. Anything else is not leadership as Judaism understands it.

 And since “To Me the Israelites are servants”, we are all called to serve God. Moshe was just the one who did it to the highest level. As Rabbi Johanan said, “Where you find humility, there you find greatness.”

Sadly, we often forget that many ideas others now use - like servant leadership - started in Judaism. A true Jewish leader isn’t focused on being liked. As it says: “If a scholar is loved... it is not because he is gifted but because he fails to rebuke them in matters of heaven.”

And real leaders aren’t eager for the job. They often refuse at first. But as Rabban Gamliel told two leading scholars: “Do you imagine I am offering you rulership? I am offering you avdut, the chance to serve”.

That was Korach’s mistake. He thought leaders were those who set themselves above the congregation. He was right to say that has no place in Judaism. We are all called on to be God’s servants. Leadership is not about status but function. Without leadership, the Jewish people is just a people, an ethnic group, not a holy nation. And without reminders that we are a holy nation, who then will we become, and why?

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There is a Midrashic story that Korach dressed his co-conspirators in cloaks made entirely of blue wool. They gathered before Moshe and asked him, “Does a cloak made entirely of blue wool require blue fringes [tzitzit], or is it exempt?” He replied, “It requires fringes.” They laughed at him, delighted to have caught him out. “We know that a cloak of another colour is exempt if it has just one string of blue wool, so how come these cloaks, entirely of blue wool, still need fringes? not exempt itself?”

What makes this commentary brilliant is that it does two things. First it establishes a connection between the episode of Korach and the law of tzitzit at the end of last week’s Parsha. That is the superficial point. The deep one is that it deftly shows how Korach challenged the basis of Moshe and Aharon’s leaderships. Bnei Yisrael are “all holy” he said. They are like a robe, where every thread is royal blue. They should not need an additional fringe to make it bluer still, just as a holy people does not need holy people like Aharon to make them holy. The idea of a leadership hierarchy in “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” is a contradiction in terms.

What Korach did not understand is that a leader in Torah is not a ruler, but a servant of God and a guide for the people. Korach’s rebellion seems to champion equality, arguing that all of Israel is holy and thus no one should stand above the rest. But his flaw lies in misunderstanding leadership as a quest for status rather than service. True leadership in Judaism is not about power or hierarchy; it’s about humility, responsibility, and function. Moshe and Aharon did not elevate themselves - they served as vessels for God's will.

A leader in Torah is not a ruler, but a servant of God and a guide for the people. Just as a robe of blue still needs tzitzit to become holy, a nation of holy individuals still needs leaders to help unify and elevate them. Without leadership grounded in humility and divine mission, even a holy people can lose direction and become just another crowd, no longer a kingdom of priests or a holy nation.

• Can you think of instances of leadership today that take the Korach approach? How about the Moshe approach?

It was 1962, and President John F. Kennedy was visiting the NASA Space Center. He was guided through the massive building filled with people working on something big: America was keen to be the first country to make history by sending the first human beings in a rocket ship to the moon.

As the President walked down a long hallway, he noticed a man with grey hair and kind eyes, holding a broom and meticulously sweeping the floor. The President interrupted his tour and turned to the man. Smiling, he walked over to him, as he had to so many of the scientists and astronauts and other employees he had met that day, “Hi. I’m Jack Kennedy. What do you do for NASA, sir?”

The man looked up, smiled, and said, “Well Mr. President, I’m helping put a man on the moon.”

He wasn’t wearing a suit and tie. He wasn’t building a rocket. But he believed that his work - keeping the place clean and running smoothly - was a key part of something great. That’s leadership, too. You don’t need a title or a stage. You just need to care deeply and serve faithfully.

Korach wanted attention. But Moshe, like the custodian, knew better: team players and true leaders serve the mission, not themselves.

Seven years later, in 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Florida, and the mission was a success. Only two men actually walked on the moon, but it took hundreds of men and women to send them there safely. And each one played a key role in the mission.

Was it NASA that made the man feel part of the team in this case? Was it the President? Was it his own self-belief?

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I Samuel 11:14 – 12:22

This week’s Haftara describes the confirmation of Saul as king, and the prophet Samuel’s farewell speech to the people of Israel.

After Saul’s victory over the Ammonites, Samuel gathers the people at Gilgal to renew the monarchy and publicly affirm Saul’s leadership. Samuel then addresses the nation, declaring that he has served them faithfully and asking if anyone has a complaint against him - none do. He recounts Israel’s history, emphasising how God repeatedly delivered them despite their unfaithfulness. Samuel reminds them that asking for a king was a rejection of God’s rule, yet God has granted their request.

As a visible, audible sign, he calls down thunder and rain during harvest season, causing fear among the people. Despite this, Samuel reassures them: if they and their king remain faithful to God, He will continue to be with them. Samuel promises to keep praying for them and teaching them God’s ways.

• Why do you think miraculous weather conditions play a role in so many stories in Tanach?

This week’s Parsha tells us about the only rebellion that took place in the forty years that the Jewish people wandered in the wilderness. That of Korach and his co-conspirators, against Aharon as Kohen Gadol and against Moshe’s leadership. The accompanying Haftara recounts the rebellion of the people against the prophet Samuel and their demand for a king. This king would replace Shmuel (Samuel) as the leader.

Fascinatingly, both Moshe and Shmuel state that they are not interested in being leaders. Moshe states that “I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them (Bamidbar 16:15). Shmuel, in very similar language says, “Whose ox have I taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Or whom have I oppressed?” (I Shmuel 12:3).

In neither rebellion is the integrity of the leader openly questioned; however, Moshe and Shmuel both understood the underlying complaint. In the Parsha, Moshe turns to Hashem to confirm his integrity. In the Haftara, Shmuel turns to the people.

In both the Parsha and Haftara, God is asked to perform a miracle to confirm the authority of the leaders. In the Parsha, the earth opens up and swallows Korach and his agitators. In the Haftara, Hashem brings the thunderstorm.

How is the outcome of the protest different in the Haftara? Why?

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Influenced by the nations around them, the people demand a kind of Israel to rule over them. The prophet, Samuel, resists at first, insisting that God is the only King needed, but then God tells him to fulfil the people’s request, and guides him to choosing the right man for the job.

King Saul, the first king of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, is introduced in I Samuel as a tall, handsome man from the tribe of Benjamin. He is chosen by Samuel under God’s guidance to unite the tribes and lead Israel, particularly in battle against its enemies like the Ammonites and Philistines. Initially humble and successful, Saul gains popularity after military victories, such as defeating the Ammonites and leading Israel in battle.

However, Saul’s reign is marked by increasing disobedience to God. He offers sacrifices without Samuel, spares King Agag and the Amalek livestock against Divine command, and gradually loses God’s favour. As a result, God chooses David to replace him, and his descendants are denied the royal lineage. In later years King Saul becomes jealous and paranoid, especially of David, and spends much of his later reign pursuing him. Saul’s life ends tragically in battle against the Philistines, where he is wounded and takes his own life. His story reflects the tension between human authority and Divine will.

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