Qualities of Leadership

(9) When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. (10) You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the LORD am your God. (11) You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another. (12) You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD. (13) You shall not defraud your fellow. You shall not commit robbery. The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning. (14) You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God: I am the LORD. (15) You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; judge your kinsman fairly. (16) Do not deal basely with your countrymen. Do not profit by the blood of your fellow: I am the LORD.

(10) Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.” (11) But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?”

(14) Guard your tongue from evil, your lips from deceitful speech. (15) Shun evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.

(11) For wisdom is better than rubies; No goods can equal her. (12) “I, Wisdom, live with Prudence; I attain knowledge and foresight.

(4) Lo, his spirit within him is puffed up, not upright, But the righteous man is rewarded with life For his fidelity. (5) How much less then shall the defiant go unpunished, The treacherous, arrogant man Who has made his maw as wide as Sheol, Who is as insatiable as Death, Who has harvested all the nations And gathered in all the peoples!

(10) They said three things. Rabbi Eliezer says: The honor of your friend should be as dear to you as your own, and do not be easy to anger, and repent one day before your death. And warm yourself by the fire of the Sages, but be cautious around their coals that you should not be burned, for their bite is the bite of a fox, and their sting is the sting of a scorpion, and their hiss is the hiss of a Seraph, and all of their words are like burning coals.

(13) Mordecai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. (14) On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.” (15) Then Esther sent back this answer to Mordecai: (16) “Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!”

(2) ... Our teachers have said: Once, while Moses our Teacher was tending [his father-in-law] Yitro’s sheep, one of the sheep ran away. Moses ran after it until it reached a small, shaded place. There, the lamb came across a pool and began to drink. As Moses approached the lamb, he said, “I did not know you ran away because you were thirsty. You are so exhausted!” He then put the lamb on his shoulders and carried him back. The Holy One said, “Since you tend the sheep of human beings with such overwhelming love - by your life, I swear you shall be the shepherd of My sheep, Israel.”

(29) Patience results in much understanding; Impatience gets folly as its portion.

(18) You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. (19) You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. (20) Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you.