From the very beginning of our story, the Bible insists on a strange qualification for leadership: shepherding.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all lived with flocks. Moses met G-d not in a palace but while tending sheep in Midian. David, Israel’s greatest king and the ancestor of the Messiah, was not discovered in a study hall or war room, but pulled in from the fields where he was looking for stray sheep.

It’s not a romantic detail. It’s a job description.

A shepherd’s entire role is the good of the flock.
Not the good of the shepherd.
Not the good of a faction of the flock.
The flock.

The shepherd stands between vulnerable, scattered animals and the wolves that stalk them. He stays awake at night listening for danger. He leads the flock to pasture and water, makes sure the weakest are not left behind, and lives attuned to the land, the weather, the limits of what creation can offer and sustain.

That is the biblical picture of leadership. And if we dare measure today’s leaders against that standard, we quickly discover a painful truth: modern Israel has many wolves and very few shepherds.

Why does the Torah lean so heavily on shepherds?

Because shepherding cultivates three qualities upon which all true leadership rests:

Only after Israel enters the Land do we see a shift from shepherding to agriculture, ownership, and property. Fields can be fenced. Wealth can be hoarded. Land can be divided, inherited, and fought over. The emphasis tilts from shared vulnerability and mutual responsibility toward status, control, and internal competition.

The Torah and later Prophets warn,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)