Zvi Ron received semikhah from the Israeli Rabbanut and his Ph.D. in Jewish Theology from Spertus University. He is an educator living in Neveh Daniel, Israel, and the author of Sefer Katan ve-Gadol (Rossi Publications: 2006) about the large and small letters in Tanakh. He is the Editor of The Jewish Bible Quarterly. EZRA, THE FIRST RABBI ZVI RON LEADERSHIP IN THE BIBLE Leadership in the Bible is generally represented by one of two models, the king or the prophet. The king is a primarily a political leader who rules over the Israelites and leads them in battle against their enemies, or is responsible for the generals who do so. The leaders described in the Book of Judges, though not actual kings, fall into this category. They lead smaller groups of Israelites, but they essentially function as small-scale kings. One judge, Gid- eon, was asked by the people to be king (Judg. 8:22). Although he refused, we see from here that there was a natural progression from judge to king. The other kind of leader was the prophet, someone who communicated with God. His authority stemmed from these communications. The classic examples are Moses and Samuel. The religious leader presented in the Mishnah and Talmud is a rabbi, some- one whose function is to teach Torah and to derive the halakhah from the Torah. The authority of the rabbi comes not from political or military leader- ship or direct communication with God, but from his expertise in understand- ing the Torah. Although it is customary to refer to Moses as Moshe Rabbenu, "Moses our rabbi/teacher," he derives his authority from his position as a prophet rather than from his scholarship. He speaks to God and God speaks to him – this is the basis for his authority. His understanding of the Law is greater than that of others due to this prophetic communication. Note also that the term Moshe Rabbenu only appears in post-Mishnaic literature, once the rabbinic class was already established. Moses was then retroactively cast in this mold. In the Bible itself, it is Moses' prophecy that is emphasized (Num. 12:8). THE FIRST "RABBI" The first leader in the Bible who can be viewed as a "rabbi" is Ezra. Ezra was not a military leader; he did not help the Israelites against their enemies,