My portion of Emor talks a lot about leadership qualities
– especially those that were held by the priests – the Cohanim. The list here focuses on appearance but
most of Jewish tradition places the focus on other qualities too. That broader list would include not losing
your cool, keeping calm and taking responsibility. For me, two qualities of leadership are by
far the most important: decisiveness and
compassion. Both of these qualities have helped me especially in my chosen
position on the baseball diamond: catcher.
I love catching for a number of reasons. The catcher is at the center of all the
action; the ball always comes to me. I’m
in every play. I have to make instant
decisions about what pitch to call, about what base to cover, who fields the grounder or catches the pop up,
and also what base to throw to; I always have to have my eyes on the game and
my focus on the entire field.
As a catcher, I
also have to care about my teammates, to show them compassion. For example, when my pitcher throws a home run
ball it’s my job to go to the mound and
tell him, it’s ok, you’ll get it next time, and tell him that was a great pitch. Most of the time it’s a lousy pitch, but I
keep that to myself.
As a catcher, I have to be a coach on the field, giving
lots of advice even when people aren’t asking for it.
Aside from baseball, there are other aspects of life that
require the same leadership qualities of decisiveness and compassion. Which
brings me to my mitzvah project.
Last fall when Hurricane Sandy hit our region those
leadership qualities came into play. We
lost heat for a week, but even so, we realized that things were much worse for
people living on the coast. So we knew
we had to do something.
Rather than waiting for someone else to take action, we
decided to take matters into our own hands, by collecting items such as food,
clothes, cleaning supplies, and toiletries. We loading up a U-Haul and brought it down to
the Rockaways.
We didn’t just do it once. In all, I made three trips, and my mom made
two additional trips.
The experience was unforgettable. As we were driving there, for example, just
looking out the car window was devastating because of all the destruction that Sandy
brought to these innocent people, houses, and lives.
We drove from house to house to offer people these
supplies. People were so happy and
thankful about what we were providing them with. And they weren’t taking items
that they didn’t need. They were taking
the items that they really needed to help themselves.
We dropped off the rest of the supplies at a community
hall located in a church. When adults
walked in, I would ask if they had any kids, and if they did I would ask what they
might need for them. And then I would walk
around to the tables for clothes, shoes, diapers, toys, and food, etc. and
bring the items over to them.
I did this three times.
I hope I’ll never have to do it again.
But if there is a need, I’ll be there.
I’ve learned not to wait at times like those, because the need so great.
Compassion and decisiveness were necessary then, and they
were also qualities that were held by my Aunt Liz, of blessed memory. I’m proud
to be named for her.
As I become a Bar Mitzvah today, I hope that I’ll be able
to take these leadership qualities that are found in Jewish tradition, and
apply them to my life.
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