Parashat Pinchas

This is #Snapchatorah for where Hillel Fuld takes the Torah portion, learns some lessons and apply them to entrepreneurship and startups.

The Torah is a smart book, this week’s Torah portion is no different, there are at least four different lessons we can learn, but I am going to choose one of them. Some of the other lessons the ones I am not going to address, include Pinchas. Who stood up to injustice and the Torah potion is actually named after him, as well as sisters who did not have a brother but asked for inheritance, and set a precedent.

Leadership. What makes a good leader?

What I do want to talk about, is that G-d told Moses to find a replacement leader for him at the end of his life. And Moses the commentary says asked to give his sons that title, but G-d said no give it to Joshua. Both the actual text in the old testament, the bible, as well as the commentary talk about why Joshua. What were the traits that G-d saw in Joshua that he chose him and no one else?

A leader that will go, and come with the nation

When G-d elaborates on the decision to choose Joshua he doesn’t not talk about Joshua’s charisma or his wealth, what he talks about is his ability to lead by example.

A leader doesn’t only act him or herself like a leader but brings others up

And the commentary explains, that Moses wanted his sons. “My sons study Torah as well”, but G-d said “yes they study Torah, but they do not facilitate Torah learning for other people.” That’s a leader. I once heard someone say “When I speak to a manager, I feel like they are important, but when I speak a leader, I feel like I am important.” So Joshua was chosen not because his righteousness or his strength or his wealth or anything else. But because of his ability to lead at the front lines.

If you think as a founder or a CEO of a Startup you can start around and give instructions to other people and not get your hands dirty. You are in for a very big surprise. My CEO writes code. Some might say and have said, that’s not the job of a CEO, I disagree the best kind of leadership is one where he or she shows that they lead by example.

Yes, a founder/CEO of a Startup needs many ability’s; strategic abilities, marketing abilities, fundraising abilities. But first and foremost they need to roll up their sleeves and lead.

So like I said there are many lessons in this week’s portion standing up to injustice, equality, but the most important one is understanding of the foundation of good leadership. As I mentioned this week potion is called Pinchas, I would highly recommend you read what Pinchas did as a Zealot and why he did what he did. And that also has to deal with leadership. What Pinchas did and was rewarded for, was highly politically incorrect. But it is an interesting topic to learn how leaders lead by example.

And the other topic, same story. These daughters, these sisters had no brothers and asked for inheritance, something that wasn’t done, wasn’t accepted. But Moses went to G-d and got approval, Leadership.

Went against the norm, and acted like a true leader

The bottom line is forget political correctness, and forget what is done, forget norms. Do what’s right for the team, do what’s right for the company. Roll your sleeves up. And get to work

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Hillel is a Co-Founder at ZCastApp, mentor at Google, Microsoft, and many other accelerators across Israel. Add Hillel on Snapchat and Twitter