The Talmud narrates how Joseph, the son of our forefather Jacob, was consumed as a youth with his own good looks and appeared arrogant and conceited. Yet he too rose to great heights as viceroy of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.
Rabbi Shimon Ben Lakish is described in the Talmud as having been a thief before he embraced Judaism to become a great Torah personality. Yiftach the judge is described in unflattering terms by our commentators, but he wound up a leader of our people. And the list goes on and on.
Perhaps this is what is so inspirational about our Torah: King David, the grandchild of Ruth, whose ancestor Lot had an incestuous relationship with his daughter to beget the nation of Moab, grew to be the king of Israel. Though David committed a hideous crime with Bat Sheva – he was a fallible human being – he recognized his sin and moved on. Just as Akiva the shepherd, who came from such a lowly background, grew to become the great Rabbi Akiva. And just as Joseph, the seemingly arrogant youth, could become a dynamic leader.
The Talmud in Tractate Yuma states that any leader who does not have “skeletons “in his closet is not fit to be a leader.
One does not lose respect for Jewish leaders who quoted the views of science and medicine in their own day and are now seen to have been in error. Their expertise was never in the sciences but in Jewish law. Our leaders are not infallible.
Not too many years ago, rabbis issued a ban on cigarettes after research revealed that smoking can cause cancer and otherwise harm one’s health. Does this rabbinical enactment call into question the validity of those sages who in past decades permitted smoking in the various study halls? Should we continue to allow our students to smoke in study halls out of respect for the decisions of our sages of yesteryear? Do we cast aside all the findings of modern medicine and proclaim that our sages were right?
There is one caveat to my view. I believe strongly that our children, especially at very impressionable ages, should have their leaders portrayed as heroes. Perhaps this is the intent of our rabbis in rationalizing King David’s behavior. Children need heroes. And our leaders were great tzaddikim – righteous people. But as our children mature, the reality of the humanity of our leaders must be presented, along with an appreciation for the challenges they faced and how they managed to overcome them and become great leaders of our people.
Living as Jews requires us to be honest and truthful – while maintaining a profound respect and admiration for our leaders and our glorious past.