“When the Prince shall sin, and do one of the Commandments of HaShem your G-d which shall not be done, in error, and be guilty; if the sin that he committed becomes known to him, he shall bring his offering…” [4:22-23]

Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, quotes a Medrash: the word for “when,” “asher,” is used to hint to the language of “ashrei,” “happy.” “Happy is the generation whose Prince is careful to bring atonement for his errors; all the more so shall he regret his deliberate transgressions.” And Rashi continues: “it becomes known to him: when he transgressed he thought that the behavior was permitted, and later it became known to him that it was forbidden.”

My wife’s grandfather, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Herzberg zt”l, notes that from Rashi’s second comment it appears to make no difference whether the King realized his error on his own, or others informed him that he sinned. The important point is that the King has the necessary fortitude to admit his error, as Yehudah did with Tamar (Genesis 38). Not everyone is so meritorious, and not every generation merits a leader capable of such admission — and it is for this reason, says Rav Herzberg, that “when” hints towards “ashrei,” “happy.”

Other commentators (Rashbam, Sforno, etc.) say that “or it became known” means by way of others. And one can wonder why this makes a difference: whether he realizes on his own, or is informed by others, in any event he did the same transgression and will bring the same offering.

But Rav Herzberg found commentators on Rashi who explain the cause for happiness as follows: “happy is the generation whose leader pays attention to their words.” This happiness praises the entire generation — they are not sycophants who flatter their leaders, but people who fear Heaven rather than man. When they dare to inform the leader of the errors he has made, and he listens, this explains why it is a happy, privileged generation.

It is is not easy to criticize, nor to accept criticism. It is a challenge to develop an attitude that welcomes correction. And it is so temptiing, when one wants to curry favor with a person, to ignore his or her faults even when it is appropriate to speak out.

There is a frightenening Medrash which tells the following story. A rich man hosted a party, to which he invited friends, communal leaders, and leading rabbis. But when he discovered that an old enemy of his had inadvertently received an invitation and had actually appeared, he became incensed and publicly evicted the person, despite the guest’s every attempt to make peace. And the rabbis were silent. The evicted guest blamed the rabbis for failing to act in his defense, for failing to criticize the wealthy host. In his efforts to exact vengeance for their inaction, he set in motion a chain of events that led to the destruction of the Second Temple.

I recently heard a more positive story along similar lines. A new rabbi in a community was invited to a party hosted by a wealthy communal leader. When he arrived, however, he found that — without going into the details — there was something inappropriate about the situation. It was not a dramatic impropriety, either, but rather something requiring thoughtful judgment; the Rabbi commented afterwards that had he not been fortunate to marry the wife that he did, the result could have been very different. But he looked at his wife, she looked at him, and they bid their hosts farewell.

The hostess in particular was incensed, to put it mildly. Rabbi and wife had offended a very influential family, risking the young Rabbi’s career — at least in that community.

The short version of the story is that within several years, the husband started to learn about Judaism more seriously, the wife followed suit (while still hating the Rabbi), and eventually they became far more appreciative of the Jewish values they had previously ignored.

At some point after that, the wife revisited the previous incident in conversation with the Rabbi. “You know,” she said, “it is very fortunate that you walked out on our party that evening. Had you not, having learned what I have today, I would have no respect for you now.”

It is difficult for leaders to accept criticism, and difficult to criticize leaders. Happy are those, and happy is the generation, where all are able to overcome those challenges.