In the list of offerings that are the content of our Parshah, are three that can be called communal. These are the sin offerings brought by the High Priest, the Prince and the nation as a whole. It is interesting to note the different introductions the Torah gives to each offering. When talking about the offerings of the High Priest and the nation as a whole the Torah uses the introductory word if. ‘If  the Anointed Priest sins’ or ‘if the whole community of Israel sins’. When, however, the Torah speaks of the sin offering of the Prince it uses a different expression: ‘when the Prince sins’. The Rabbis see in this a play on  words: the word for ‘when’ and ‘happy’ being similar. ‘Happy is the nation whose Prince admits his mistakes’, they state. Yet the literal meaning of the words in themselves open up interesting possibilities. The High Priest may err, the nation may sin, but the Prince will definitely make mistakes. It appears that while clergy and the general public have only a possibility of error, political leaders are guaranteed to fail. This, however, should not surprise us. Religious leaders are in general only required to deal with a limited range of issues. Public opinion normally gets things right, and if they don’t, they can normally blame the politicians. Political leaders, on the other hand, not only have to deal with a wide and complex range of issue and problems, but have to try and satisfy often contradictory needs and ambitions. That is a hard job for anyone. We should not therefore be surprised that the Torah regards political error as inevitable. The question is how do we deal with it? One way, mentioned above, is to have politicians that are not afraid to admit their mistakes. Errors confessed can be corrected, and lessons learned. But in order for this to happen we have to take on board the main message of these verses. By providing a sin offering tailored for politicians, the Torah is accepting the legitimacy of political error. It is making space for leaders to try and fail, and try again. Our society, however, does the opposite. The media, especially, gives no quarter to those who make the smallest error. If we want open and honest politicians, we need to reward honesty with forgiveness and understanding. In the present atmosphere we do the opposite: encouraging politicians to never admit they are wrong unless forced to, while crucifying those that do. We can hardly complain of the result. We need to heed the advice of the Torah and give room for error.

Parshat Vayikra