\""Father, what have they done to you?" the walls cry, "Vote for the faithful of his house" they cried a week ago, "So-and-so is recruiting an unknown rabbi" they cried a month ago, "The great rabbi is considering meeting the righteous rabbi" they whispered two months ago, and so again and again the sheep find themselves comparing themselves to the shepherds, arguing over the faithful sheep in the flock, and beating each other until blood flows in stories of shepherds, zt"l and shlit"a, and they do not take to heart that little by little, for them, the shepherd is no longer a shepherd, and the flock is no longer a flock, and in a moment, they will turn themselves into wolves in sheep's clothing.<\/p>\r\n
But if that were the end of the matter, that would be enough. A flock is not the holiest of holies, and there is enough room in the pasture for small and diverse flocks. But the struggles of the sheep change not only groups, but perceptions.<\/p>\r\n
The teachings of shepherds become, in the eyes of the flock, a tool for service. Some use the teachings of a shepherd for their group, and others use it for their group, and still others use it to attack both of them, and the observer no longer distinguishes between teachings and duties, between zeal and self-interest, and between the name of God and the name of a throne.<\/p>\r\n
And the shepherds themselves, out of concern for the flock, are forced to intervene, knock on this sheep's door, convince another sheep, shout and scold this one, and beg the unknown, provided that the flock somehow stays on course, somehow faithful. And instead of charting a path, marking a direction, they are forced to cut between the hawks, and one pulls the shepherd here and that pulls him there, and the battered shepherd, who has not been trained for the quarrels and intrigues of sheep, gets his clothes torn, gets dirty with mud, and blood flows from his limbs.<\/p>\r\n
Haters and terrorists, the Rosh Yeshiva from Jerusalem and the Rosh Yeshiva from Bnei Brak, the followers of Ne'eman, the son of Maran, and the followers of his eleventh son, the followers of this Rebbe's son and the followers of his other son, and more and more conflicts and conflicts of conflicts, all on the same background, the same model, a spiritual leader who is involved from the very beginning, willingly or unwillingly, in small struggles that have no connection to spiritual teaching, to charting a path, to creating a vision. Pure politics.<\/p>\r\n
The time has come to separate the personalities from the idea, between a vision and its implementation, between choosing a path and carts and guarding the horses. A halakhic or moral decision on a serious issue is not like dealing with who will fill the position of deputy head of the council. Torah and spiritual greatness in its ability to illuminate the path at the crossroads of moral decision-making, this is what it has learned to do, this is what it has done all its life, for the general and the individual. To draw it into the details of personal conflicts, the grammar of honor and intrigue, and the intricacies of the political world, is an injustice to it, to its Torah, and its fate is already before our eyes.<\/p>\r\n
In the world, it is customary to distinguish between a political and a professional echelon. The political echelon is responsible for representing the public, setting goals and charting a course, and the professional echelon is responsible for execution, for preparing plans and policy alternatives, and for executing them according to the guidance of the political echelon. This is how a process should be structured in which the public elects a representative in order to implement a policy that is actually constructed by the professional echelon. The politician is committed to the public, the public is committed to its values, and the professional echelon is committed to its position and the law.<\/p>\r\n
The reality we have reached requires this separation of powers within us. To separate Torah morality and its subjects, from the election of the political echelon and its management. The professional will depend on the political and its success in implementing policy, the political will depend on the voters and its success in implementing their will, and the voters, in their desire for a public life in the light of Torah, at the fundamental decision-making junctures, will hear the principled guidance of Torah and demand that their representatives follow its light.<\/p>\r\n
As long as the politician does not change the principled teaching of the great men of Israel, the political implementation, the intrigues, the work plans, the various appointments and games of honor, and the decision between the professionals, will hang on the politician's neck, and the account for the success or failure of his decisions will be given to the public by him without any connection to the spiritual leadership and its decision.<\/p>\r\n
Professional questions will be directed to professionals, policy questions to policy experts, political questions to politicians, each in his field will be committed to his job and his voters. The sheep will learn to quarrel and get along among themselves, to pull each other's wool, to divide and unite, to shout and flatter, to move forward and find grass in the environment, without any touch or intervention from anyone who is not a sheep.<\/p>\r\n
And the shepherd? He will finally be able to fulfill his role, point out the right path, decide at the crossroads, and direct the flock to a place of safety when necessary.<\/p>\r\n
Then perhaps we can look proudly at our shepherds and call them "father.".<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What did they do to you, father? The walls cried out, but it turns out that the shepherd, all the sheep, including the 16th one, are trying to hold on \u2022 It's time to separate the personalities from the idea. A halachic or moral decision on a serious issue is not like dealing with who will fill the position of deputy mayor of the council.","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[5314,8076,8075,2157,2751,1639],"class_list":["post-124270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-138","tag-5314","tag-8076","tag-8075","tag-2157","tag-2751","tag-1639"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n