Parishas Pynchus teaches us one of the great principles of leadership.

Here's the context. Moses by now knew he was not going to be privileged to take the people across the Jordan into the promised land.

He also knew what happened when he wasn't there. The people made a golden calf.

Even when he was there, they still rebelled in the days of Kharach and others.

And therefore, the possibility of schism, once he died without a designated successor, was immense.

And therefore, he made a prayer to God.

May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone

over the community to go out before them, to come in before them, one who will lead them out

and bring them in. Let the Lord's people not be, Katzun, I share Ena Hemmero, like sheep without a shepherd.

And God duly chose Joshua and Moses induct to him. However, I want to point at one detail

in what Moses says. Can you see? He seems to be saying the same thing twice. He says,

appoint a leader to go out before them, to come in before them, one who will lead them out

and bring them in. Is that not saying the same thing twice?

What is the answer?

This is one of those Torah problems that you only really learn the answer to in real life.

One of the arts of leadership, and it is an art, not a science, is a sense of timing, of knowing what is possible when.

And sometimes you just can't do something now that you can at some other times.

So here you are in 1981, there was a threat of the coal miners strike. Margaret Thatcher knew that the country

had very limited supplies of coal, and she couldn't survive a prolonged strike.

So she gave in very quickly. Immediately afterwards, and very, very quietly, she ordered coal stocks to be built up

until there were huge supplies. The next time there was a minor strike in 1984, she knew she had

enough coal reserves to resist the miners, and after many weeks of strike action, they conceded defeat.

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