On the maniacal seas of confused hysteria
Winds howl like a worse-for-wear-wolf:
Tidal wave-lengths of despair climb and
Crash in the stand-up-comedy, fall-down-
Tragedy routine that is the strung-out junkie:
Up it rises, down it falls –
Up the barbwire it rises
Down the snake pit it falls –
Climaxing all the way to inevitable wash-up
On the a-shored tombstone in a white, foamy
Poison emulsion bubbling at lip and mouth
Ships sway on the creaky rocking chair perched
Atop unmade waterbed; not in relaxation, in terror:
– Friendships, Flagships, Worships –
Scrawny bodies sinking slow, bony arms flailing fast
Shipwrecked!
The lighthouses have long since been turned into
Tourist attractions and the atlases don’t come in
Braille
On these stormy seas, even the Leader Ship has sold out –
Directions are free, they say
You only have to pay Shipping & Handling
It seems we’ve been shipped and handled by the leadership.
Lost and wet, cold and confused on the sea of life –
And not a bona fide leader in site
<i.…the entire assembly
All of them are holy
And within them is G-d
Why do you exalt yourselves
Over the congregation…
Why indeed?
There are leaders and there are leaders:
There are those who churn up stormy seas,
Push people in and charge an arm, leg and
Soul to get them out; men who call themselves
Prophets and they do not fib – indeed how
They profit –
Albeit at another’s heavy expense;
Exploiting scum who create destruction,
Calamity and pain and then beseech the masses
To repent lest they befall destruction, calamity
And pain; selfish slime who degrade humanity
In the holy name of upgrading themselves –
These aren’t leaders; these are misleaders, cowards
Who’d rather see you sink than get themselves wet.
Then there are those who don’t need fancy words or
Fancier titles to describe what they don’t do – pure
People who do what has to be done, who lead because
They cannot stand a child with sad eyes, who’d rather
Weep themselves than see a poor lady cry…
There are those who exalt themselves over the congregation
And there are those who exalt themselves with the congregation
And Korach took…
He took himself to one side,
He separated himself from the
People – is that a leader, a man
Of peace, of unity?
They fell on their faces and said:
“O G-d… shall one man sin and
You be angry with the entire assembly?”
You want to know the sign of a true leader?
One who will argue with G-d for the sake of
His people, one who will help another, bring
Peace to the world even when it’s uncomfortable.
A leader is not someone who wants to, but someone
Who has to, has to make things better, has to change
The world.
Once it’s about you, you aren’t leading;
You are following
Following your own agenda
There is only one Moshe, one Aharon,
But we all must wish to emulate them:
In every sea or scenario, we must
Wish to play a leading role
Today’s leading story may be a stormy current –
But do you wish to follow the current or lead the storm?
Mendel Jacobson is a writer, poet and journalist living in Brooklyn. His weekly poetry can be seen at jakeyology.blogspot.com
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.