In The New Beginning I A Thought
By Rabbi Mordechai Z. Hecht
ALL BEGNINGS ARE HARD
There is nothing like a new beginning.
There is an ancient adage which says, “all beginnings are hard”, but the other ancient adage that balances the first one is: “nothing good comes easy”.
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Each year, once again we begin to read the Torah from the first portion of Bereishis.
Although there isn’t much difficulty or challenge in this beginning, there is much meaning to be culled from this reality.
It is in this torah portion that we learn, once again, of the creation of the universe and much of what it has to offer - displaying the groundwork and initial stages of our corporeal existence.
In the beginning, in this new beginning G-d showed up. The master designer, and creator of the universe showed up for the first time in the physical manifestation of corporeality and finite existence. In this “new beginning” G-d virtually lead by example.
Don’t get me wrong now, it is not something you can learn from G-d, how to create a universe ex nehilo – but we can learn how to establish a new beginning – and how to be a first.
NEW BEGINNING
Let’s take a few moments to analyze this. At first, G-d had a general plan, as it is written in the first verse of the Torah “In the beginning G-d created heaven and earth”, the verse generalizes without getting into details. We too must have a general plan. We must create a goal and a mission – parameters- for our lives.
Without going verse by verse, but rather looking over all at the story of creation, we furthermore find how the Torah goes onto teach us about the creation of heaven and earth. As we continue to discover that there are things in life that are in our reach, and then there are things that are beyond our reach.
We further discover, that there are things that will have immediate return, and certain things that will take nurturing and much planning.
And only finally then is man created. Eventually, G-d commands man to “work and to guard” the land. G-d commands and encourages us to take control and lead by example with concern for the world around us.
From chaos to organization
G-d made a world from nothing to something. We too can make something from nothing, albeit in a different form of nothing and a different form of something. If we utilize our strengths and maximize our opportunities G-d has blessed us with we too can make a life for ourselves.
THE FIRST – FIRST!
In the beginning G-d also was the first. The first to creation. The first creator. The first to lead the way. The first “first”, quite frankly.
We all are a first in our own way as well. Man is created in the image of G-d, and man is meant to learn a lesson from everything in the Torah, and for that matter every aspect of our life experience.
When we set out in life with a goal and a mission, to accomplish something we are a leader by definition. A leader of our future. A first to get the present task at hand accomplished. Each and every one of us, every year every day, every opportunity – can be viewed as a first. However, to lead as a first - we must lead by example. Leadership requires it! Whether it’s morals, ethics or certain values. No leader can say truly, “do what I say and not what I do”. Although it is true that man has free choice, and that recipients, employees, children can in fact act differently from their leaders, teachers or parents, regardless of what they are exposed to, one is much more likely, statistically, psychologically and ultimately spiritually more likely to look for a paradigm and an example, an example to fall back on, to refer to, – a reason to do what they do.
WHO DO YOU ADMIRE
Take great business men, they want to be like one they grew up to admire or grew up hearing about, or the like. Great teachers too, they do the same. Great sportsmen all have an admiree or a secret admiree in their lives, it is the underpinnings of their motivation. Some may not even know that this is the case, but we know now that in fact we are a product in many ways, of our childhood and our continual environment which we are surrounded by and live with day in and day out.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE
As parents if we want our children to grow up a certain way then show them the way! Set down the parameters and lead from the front. A tremendous lesson we can learn perhaps from the IDF – Israel Defense Force, as the saying goes Acharai – after me – which is the common leaders line upon entering into battle in the IDF. Unlike in certain era’s and certain countries where the greater one is protected and is in the back, in the IDF the leader is up-front-and-center of the battle. We too must be leaders from the front - from the beginning - to be the first one – to show the way.
(Or, as my wife used to complain when we were dating that I was always walking ahead, I always seemed to be moving forward…too much that is…so don’t go too far ahead, and than perhaps if you like, as the saying of the famous children’s song goes, “Don’t walk in front of me I may not follow, don’t walk behind me, I may not lead, just walk beside and be friend and together we will walk in the ways of Hashem “.)
If we show our admirers and our loved one’s and our students and most importantly our children that we are in it together and we are leading by example - there is no greater partnership and effective way of leadership than this – with the greatest results possible – guaranteed.
WORK PLACE LEADERSHIP
I once worked in a management office – on a consulting basis - I had to manage 24 employees on a floor and train them into better work ethics. I had an option for a closed office or corner cubicle, I took the corner cubicle - to be "with them". My first new rule, as I began was cleanliness – my no. 1 rule: if we can clean up the office we can weed out "the garbage", all desks must be clean in general, and must be entirely cleaned off at the end of each day. Employees were given lockers and drawers for all their personal belongings as well as file cabinets for the office work files. Rule no. 2. was: cell phones were banned from the work place. The third rule was: Cigarette breaks and general breaks were to be scheduled accordingly, in advance.
It wasn’t easy at first, after 60 days – 3 people quit – they couldn’t handle the organization. The weeding out had begun. 12 struggled with doing it and were not happy, but the rest came to tell me how much they enjoyed the new work space environment and most importantly - that there was someone that actually cared about the work environment which ultimately effected their entire work ethic. When I left the "internship" I had enmies if you wish, but ofcourse, and some friends too. But it wasn’t about that, it was about "leading them" on the floor.
Which reminds of a summer camp in Los Angeles in the summer of 1999, on eo fmy favorive summers, ill spre the details, but when we got there, my 8 fellow staff members and were informed we only had 8 kids registered in camp, make a long story short - we manned the phone by two week sin of a 7 week summer we hade close to 50 kids registered. By Summer's end, staff that were old enough to be my father and grandfather told me - "you taught me something, give it your best shot, show leadership and you will succeed". I was more than glad that we were able to contribute to that community. The creadit goes to to the devoted team that lead.
Two or three years later when I came back to Los Angeles to visit the school at which we ran the summer camp, I had learned that they got a new principal who had turrned out to be a wonderful enhancement for the school - when he saw me he said, "we learned from you" that's why this school looks the way it is today. Obviously the staff and hard workers made it happen, all I dis was beleive in the community, beleived in the staff the children, and "lead by example" - in the only way I knew how.
FINAL THOUGHT
Can you be a king (as every Jew is in a way), or the son of a king without being a real leader. Can you be a president or a vice president and be immoral. Can you be a parent and be ambiguous? Can you really?!