Friday, April 25, 2014
Nechemia's Character Traits
Based on our learning so far, choose a character trait of Nechemia and choose a Biblical or post-Biblical Jewish personality/leader of your choice who you think also exemplifies this particular trait. Explain how both Nechemia and the person you have chosen share the trait. Please come up with your own match and do not use characters that have already been used by previous posts.
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In many of the things I have read about Nechemia so far, I have found that he sympathizes a lot for the Jews in Israel. When they sin and intermarry, he mourns to tries to get them to realize what they are doing so they can change it. When thinking about this, I found that I think Avraham Avinu has the same trait. He liked to sympathize for the people around him. For example when he went to S'dom to help the sinning people, he saw how bad they were and sympathized. They bother cared so much about the people they were trying to help. One other thing that I see similar in the two of them is they are trying to start something new. Avraham was the first Jew as we know today. He started a movement led by Hashem that we are still living by today. Nechemia was trying to start the people over in Israel with a new, and fresh start.
ReplyDeleteNechemiah is humble, and he does not hold himself above everyone else in his prayer or his rebuke. He acts as if he, personally, has done something wrong. When he creates his prayer for Hashem, he acknowledges that /everyone/ sins, himself included, but he also points out how we need to repent, grow, and change.
ReplyDeleteThis is similar to Moshe Rabbeinu in his dealings with the Jewish people and in his incerceptions before G-d on their behalf. It is said about Moshe that he was the humblest person ever to live. He did not take on graces or think himself above everyone else. He grouped himself in with the people he was leading. Though he knew how to lead, he still made it very clear that he was not separate from them. This is one of the marks of a good leader, and in this, Nechemiah and Moshe Rabbeinu were very similar.
Nechemiah is a leader that does not think of himself as better then the people around him. Whatever they do, is as if he has done it himself. He is not a harsh leader in the sense of only yelling at his people. He is kind, sympathetic and non judgmental. He leads by example.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds of Mordicha from the Purim story. He was a leader of the Jews and watched them do the wrong things. He never got mad or threatened them. He himself put on sack clothing and fasted when he thought the Jews will be hurt because of their sins. He showed the Jews how to act and that is why they did so. He was kind and sympathetic to them and always looking out for their best interest.
Nechamie and Mordicha both didn't place themselves above their people but felt with them and showed them kindly how to act.
As we discussed in Perakim 2-4, Nechemia had unwavering morale and passion for the Jewish cause. Earlier, in Perek 1 and the first half of perek 2, we learned about how he dangerously went to the king and asked for permission to return to Israel to help rebuild the country and the people. This showed his true desire to help the Jewish people, despite being far away from the trouble. On Yom Hashoah, it's impossible for me not to draw parallels between this action and Mordechai Anielewicz, one of the leaders and martyrs of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. For those who don't know his background, Mordechai Anielewicz was a Polish teenager when the war broke out. When the Germans invaded Poland, he, his family, and his girlfriend were all able to flee to Vilna, Lithuania. They were all relatively safe at the time, but he (as a leader of his youth movement) went to the leadership board in Vilna and asked them to send him back to Warsaw so that he could help other Jews. Throughout his three years in the ghetto, Anielewicz led the resistance movement against the Nazis, all the while keeping the morale of the fighters high, even when they knew they were going to die. Although the problem of the Nechemiah's time was not a lost cause, Nechemiah stepped in and took the lead with as much passion as if this would be the last thing he did. For their undying passion (literally) and their unwavering morale, both Nechemiah and Mordechai Anielewicz were great leaders.
ReplyDeleteNechemia is very passionate and emotional when it comes to his job with Bnei Yisrael. We can tell that he deeply cares about the Jews and their well being when he cries, fasts, and prays when he founds out the status of the Jews and Jerusalem. I think he shares this trait with Ezra. Ezra also was very emotional and passionate towards the Jews - we see this when he has a very similar reaction when hearing about the Jews intermarrying.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find most impressive about Nechemia is his ability to take the initiative, especially when he did not have to. He was off in exile and from the way he is able to speak to the King, it seems like he had a pretty good position in exile. He must have been pretty high up in the ranks especially because the King agreed to everything Nechemia asked for. He could have just stayed in exile and lived comfortably but instead, when he hears about what is happening to the Jews in Israel, he mourns and asks the King to allow him to go to Israel.
ReplyDeleteThere are many Jewish leaders who have this trait--that they feel the need to take that first step to help even when they are not obligated to--but since Pesach just ended, I'm going to choose Nachshon Aminadav. When the Jews were fleeing from the Egyptians, they were stopped by the Red Sea. Even before Moshe did anything, Nachshon stepped up to the plate and jumped into the Sea. He took the initiative and he definitely did not have to. Neither Nechemia nor Nachshon are such well known leaders, but they do both have this very admirable trait.
I like how Nechemia knows the importance of delegation. He recognizes that he has a big mission ahead of him, and he can't accomplish everything on his own. He doesn't just randomly assign people to do work because he doesn't want to do it, though. He carefully assesses the situation and then gives people specific jobs so that the job will get done.
ReplyDeleteIn a sense, Rav Kook also knew how to delegate. Rav Kook worked closely with all sorts of Zionist Jews to work for the zionist cause. Even though Rav Kook was a religious zionist, he worked with secular zionists as well because they were ultimately working for the same goal. I say this is delegating because he knew that he couldn't accomplish the whole Zionism goal on his own. There were certain things that he, as a religious leader,could accomplish, and other things that other citizens and leaders could do.
Nechemia was very selfless and humble. Everything that he did was for his people and to fix all the problems. He was very smart and could solve many problems in a successful way. Nechemia had a position with the king. He was high up. He left everything in the kingdom so he could go and help the people solve their problems.
ReplyDeleteRut, as we learned in Megillot class, was also very selfless. All that she did was for Naomi. She also was good at solving problems. She wanted to only do the right thing that would be able to help Naomi. She had the option to go back to her home and just continue on with her life, but she stayed with Naomi to help her because she knew that Naomi needed it.
Nechemia was a strong leader who kept the Jews alive spiritually, but simultaneously led them through physical battle. This reminds me of Judah Maccabee. He led the Jews during a time they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs and practices. He led the Jewish people through physical battle just as Nechemia did when the enemies tried to stop the building of the temple. Judah Maccabee took the Jewish people into battle to fight for their right to learn Torah, keep Kosher, practice the Sabbath, etc. Nechemia helped them fight for their right to build a temple to prate rituals and worship G-d. During a time of crisis, both leaders were able to stand up, prepare their men, and lead them into battle. Both leaders earners the respect of the Jewish people and helped them fight for their right to exist freely and practice as they wanted.
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