In this week’s parashah, Parashas Shemini, the Torah teaches us many invaluable lessons on leadership. As the parashah relates, joyous celebration turns to tragedy, as Aharon’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu, are killed instantly by supernatural means. What mistake caused these priests—two of the holiest leaders of the nation—to die?
One explanation is that they died because they refused to get advice from anyone—not their father, Aharon, not their uncle, Moshe, not even from each other. They felt that they knew all they needed to know, and therefore didn’t need nor want anyone’s advice. Accordingly, they felt entitled to bring a “strange fire” even though they had not been commanded to do so, and this entitlement resulted in devastating consequences.
As we think about who we want to lead our unique community after the coming election, it is vital that we pick someone who will not only surround themselves with advisors who are knowledgeable about the issues facing our Village, but who will also be willing to listen to advice when it is given. As I detailed briefly in my last piece, too often our leaders have stubbornly and obstinately refused to listen to the concerns and advice of their constituents, the residents of the Village of Lawrence, and have superciliously brushed everyone else off because they know better. It’s their way or the highway and nobody is going to tell them what to do.
When I was appointed as Chairman Commissioner of the Nassau County Bridge Authority, I was faced with a bevy of issues that I had never before encountered. Rather than simply guessing and just following my own ideas, I immediately recognized the importance of seeking the sage advice of others, and how vital everyone’s contributions were for the betterment of the Authority and for the betterment of our community. One of the first issues that was brought to my attention was the archaic nightmare that was the Atlantic Beach Bridge. Under my leadership, after much consultation and discussion with lay persona and experts alike, it took us 362 days from the initial vote until the ribbon-cutting to implement the new EZ-Pass system on the bridge—a system that has eased congestion and made the commute more efficient for us all. As the Honorable Bruce Blakeman complimented and pointed out in his speech at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Authority “didn’t just hire a professional, they hired the professional.” I knew that my decisions were at some point going to impact nearly every single resident of Nassau County, and so it was important to me to hire not just somebody competent, but to hire the best of the best, a veteran of the MTA Bridges and Tunnels. Ultimately, while one day I would no longer be the Chairman of the Authority, my decisions while on the Authority would still impact every single person in our community for decades to come, and therefore I had to think not just in the short-term, but for the long-term best interests of the community as well.
Thus, from my personal experience as Chairman Commissioner of the Authority, I know that whomever it is that we are going to elect as our next Mayor, we need someone who will be willing to listen and who will have our long-term best interests at heart. The community must be an essential part of our new leader’s vision, and that means soliciting and accepting the advice of others, including every single member of our Village, all of whom have something to contribute. We have seen how quickly and disastrously selfish, short-term thinking by our leadership can detrimentally impact our neighborhood. From the issues that I have previously raised, it is clear that those at the top have not had our Village’s best interests at heart, and they have compounded their errors by refusing to listen to the advice and concerns raised by the residents of Lawrence. In this upcoming election, we cannot make the mistake of more of the same. It is time for the Village of Lawrence to forge a new path with new leaders, who will serve along with trustees Aaroni Parnes and Tammy Roz, with humility and selflessness, instead of the arrogance and selfishness to which we have been subjected to for a number of years.
And this leads into the second leadership lesson that we can learn from this week’s parashah. Aharon, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), the one who would atone for the people over and over again, who stopped the plague after Korach’s revolt and saved tens of thousands of Jewish lives, unfortunately could do nothing to save his own two sons. Unlike in the secular world, where we see that due to their position and privilege the elite get away with things that we could never dream of, in the Jewish world leaders face harsher consequences than the general public, not lighter. Tanach is filled with numerous stories of our leaders who were punished severely for the slightest of transgressions.
The same must be true of our next leadership. It is long past due for our leaders to be held accountable for their actions. No more can we let the Village Administration operate in shadows and in back-room deals, spending our hard-earned money and making dubious decisions that impact us all with little to no explanation or oversight, and then doubling-down when questions about their activities are raised. That might be the way of the outside world, but it is not the way of ours. To this day, the Administration has failed and refused to address the serious questions and issues that have recently been raised. Unfortunately, at the current time, we get no transparency or forthrightness from our leaders, only obfuscation and deflection. This cannot be allowed to continue. Our leaders must be held to a higher standard, not lower. We cannot elect the same old people who will carry on in their same old ways. We must elect leaders who remember that the Village of Lawrence is the Village; it is We the People whose interests must be the one and only consideration guiding every decision of the Board of Trustees, not those of the Mayor and his Amazing Friends.
In this upcoming election we must send a message that is loud and clear: there are consequences for our leaders’ actions. We cannot reward the negligence and malfeasance of the past. The arrogance, disregard, and selfishness cannot and must not be allowed to continue. It is clear that change is necessary, and with that change, we will turn our Village’s current tragic situation into joyous celebration.
