This week’s Haftorah is read from Shmuel. Shmuel Hanavi rebuked Am-Yisroel for wanting to be like the other nations and have a king of flesh and blood. In the midst of his rebuke of Am-Yisroel, Shmuel Hanavi asks Klal-Yisroel a rhetorical question: “did I take anything from anyone of you?” Klal-Yisroel answers in total unison that Shmuel Hanavi had never taken anything from anyone. This proclamation of Shmuel that he never took anything from Am-Yisroel mirrors closely Moshe Rabeinu’s proclamation to the same effect in our Sedra. What particular significance is there to such a proclamation that two of Klal-Yisroel’s greatest leaders used it in a time of rebellion? Furthermore, why did merely not stealing make them great?

Uprisings against existing governments have occurred throughout history. Just the past few years have provided abundant illustrations. Every time a rebellion is launched there needs to be some sort of ‘trigger’. The overthrow of leaders is hardly, if ever, accomplished without an excuse or justification as to how ‘the people’ are being abused and wronged by the current ruler. It is usually much harder to throw off someone on the grounds that he is just is not a great leader rather than because he abuses the rights of people. Furthermore, if someone somehow assumes leadership without having been formally and officially invested with a specific title or rank, impeaching or removing him becomes more complicated since he doesn’t hold a position to be removed from.

Moshe Rabeinu and Shmuel Hanavi certainly never stole. As such it would stand to reason that their disclaimers were coming to express that they never received any form of salary from Am-Yisroel for their “post” as “supreme leader”. Every leader, be he President, Prime Minister or Monarch, is entitled to receiving financial and other compensation from the community. Moshe Rabeinu and Shmuel Hanavi didn’t.

Perhaps this is what both Moshe Rabeinu and Shmuel wished to express. They were exclaiming that while Am-Yisroel perceived them as Supreme Leaders, they could not be removed from any position because they didn’t hold any. They became leaders because they ended up leading Am-Yisroel.

Being great isn’t defined by a position one gets. It is rather something one becomes.

A very warm Good Shabbos, Rabbi Y. Dov Krakowski