Blues Ain't Nothing but a Good Soul Feeling Bad

Once several members of a Hasidic congregation had become helplessly lost in a dense forest. They were delighted when unexpectedly they came upon their rabbi who was also wandering through the woods. They implored, "Master, we are lost! Please show us the way out of the forest."

The rabbi replied, "I do not know the way out either, but I do know which paths lead nowhere. I will show you the ways that won't work, and then perhaps together we can discover the ones that do."

- Sheldon Kopp
in Blues Ain't Nothing but a Good Soul Feeling Bad

What does this excerpt tell me about myself? Sometimes I'm the congregation, sometimes I'm the rabbi.

Look at the congregation first. What I immediately notice about them is their reliance on the rabbi, which reminds me that I can sometimes be too trusting... almost to a fault. The congregation in this story expected their rabbi to provide them with a way out of their predicament, even though he was in the same situation! I am like that congregation -- even though I'm smart enough to help myself solve a problem, sometimes I defer to a "wiser" person to tell me how to get out of that jam. What do I learn from that? That someone else will always bail me out when times get rough or when decisions become difficult? Surely not. But perhaps I should respect my elders more and not expect that they have all the answers.

Which brings us to the rabbi. What must he have felt? In this situation, he was expected to lead his congregation out of the forest. The rabbi was a leader in this story, but it's important to note that he did not know the answer to his congregation's problem. He could only help them work through finding a way out of the forest after he had shared his experience with them. When I think back on the times when I've been in a position of leadership, I realize how petrifying it was when answers weren't clear... especially when others were counting on me to have an answer. But I read this story and I realize that maybe good leadership is more about possessing a keen understanding of the problem than it is about having all the answers. And a good leader becomes a great one when he shares what he knows and simply points his followers in the right direction... toward a solution.

Community: it's the point where the rabbi and the congregation meet. And only through respect for one another, a sharing of knowledge, and the recognition of their quest for a common goal do the rabbi and his followers make progress towards a solution to their problem.