In this week’s Parsha, Ki Tavo, we encounter a pasuk which will be read on Rosh Hashanah. It says that if we follow Hashem’s commandments, He will grant us to be like a head and not a tail (ונתנך ה׳ לראש ולא לזנב). What does that mean that Hashem is going to make us a nation that is like a head? The head is the part of the body that holds the brain. Our brains have the capability to control the rest of our body, our movement, thoughts and vision, among many other things. The brain is the control center and it leads, while the tail follows the thoughts of the brain. Moshe is telling us before we enter the land that as the Jewish nation we were meant to be the leaders. We are not meant to follow others but, rather, be followed. We are a nation that shows the other nations what is right and wrong. Today, there is so much conformity to following other nations and people around us—but don’t fall into that trap. We, the chosen people, are educators, leaders, inventors, innovators and creators. We need to lead, not follow those around us.

By Shira Sedek