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WHAT IS the VALUE of JEWISH LEADERSHIP? Contact from the EDITOR

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WHAT IS the VALUE of JEWISH LEADERSHIP? Contact from the EDITOR CONTACT AUTUMN 2008/TISHREI 5769 VOLUME 11 NUMBER 1 THE JOURNAL OF THE STEINHARDT FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH LIFE WHAT IS THE VALUE OF JEWISH LEADERSHIP? contact FROM THE EDITOR AUTUMN 2008/TISHREI 5769 VOLUME 11 NUMBER 1 Eli Valley WHAT IS THE VALUE Editor OF JEWISH LEADERSHIP? Erica Coleman Copy Editor Janet Mann n the Jewish community, the concept of leadership often Administration conjures thoughts of professional development, management Yakov Wisniewski Design Director training, or the relationship between lay leaders and THE STEINHARDT FOUNDATION professionals. What is often lost is the larger question of FOR JEWISH LIFE I what constitutes genuine leadership, and what attributes the Jewish Michael H. Steinhardt Chairman community needs in its leaders. Robert P. Aronson President What exactly is leadership? Why do Jewish movements, both Rabbi David Gedzelman Executive Vice President historically and in contemporary times, often rely on charismatic individuals as agents of change? Are individual leaders necessary to Rabbi Irving Greenberg Founding President propel movements into motion, and if so, what qualities of Jonathan J. Greenberg z”l Founding Director leadership are both effective and consistent with Jewish values? CONTACT is produced and How much is leadership defined solely by management skills, and distributed by The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, 6 East 39th Street, to what degree does it rely on the ability to articulate and embody a 10th floor, New York, NY 10016. All issues of Contact are available for download vision that will inspire the community? Finally, does leadership at www.steinhardtfoundation.org/journal.html come with negative aspects that are sometimes overlooked in the Individual subscriptions are free of charge and are provided as a service to the community. community’s search for guiding lights? What can we do to safeguard To subscribe, please send your name and mailing address to [email protected]. against the kinds of abuse that are frequently linked to leadership Phone: (212) 279-2288 Fax: (212) 279-1155 abilities? Email: [email protected] Website: www.steinhardtfoundation.org For media inquiries about The Steinhardt This issue of CONTACT explores leadership from a wide variety of Foundation for Jewish Life, please contact Richard Dukas at [email protected]. angles. Throughout, the goal is to identify the attributes that might Copyright © 2008 by help the community steer a course of cultural and communal The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. renaissance. From definitions of good and bad leadership to The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life is analyses of how the community might recruit leaders from less dedicated to strengthening and transform ing Ameri can Jewish Life to ensure a flourishing, represented groups, the articles here present a compelling portrait of sustainable community in a fully integrated free society. We seek to revitalize Jewish the needs, challenges and potentials of Jewish leadership today. identity through educa tional and cultural initiatives that are designed to reach out to all Jews, with an emphasis on those who are on the margins of Jewish life, as well as to advocate for and support Hebrew and Jewish literacy among the general population. Eli Valley 2 CONTACT Only by investing significantly in Jewish life today will we On Leadership, be able to nurture the leaders Vision and Ideas of tomorrow. by MICHAEL H. STEINHARDT n an earlier era of American Jewish those who are only interested in having that might galvanize our community and life, we knew who our leaders were. It their egos stroked and those who see a bring about a new wave of Jewish leader- I was possible to identify people such as problem and want to make a change. ship? There is no easy answer — the lack Louis Brandeis or Abba Hillel Silver as our What is true leadership? It involves of leadership has only exacerbated the visionaries — people who expressed our creativity, ingenuity and a willingness to problem of our lack of ideas. For now, our common aspirations, and who helped challenge the status quo in the interest of best hope is to continue finding new ways guide us into an uncertain future. progress towards a larger goal. For our of strengthening Jewish identity and edu- These days, is it possible to identify purposes, we can identify the larger goal as cating the next generation on the joys of even a single leader who commands such an end to the decline in Jewish interest, lit- Jewish living. We must reexamine our syn- influence? eracy and commitment, and the beginning agogues, which in the non-Orthodox One might point weakly to Federation of a renaissance in American Jewish life. world are mostly empty both physically executives, philanthropists, perhaps a rabbi Birthright Israel is a good example. and spiritually. We must also revisit Jewish or two. But nobody comes close to the When it was established, community lead- education in the non-Orthodox world in stature of Jewish leaders in previous gener- ers in America and Israel were skeptical at America. It’s mostly a shonda, and, even ations. best. They refused to accept a radically dif- with a few promising experiments, so little I wonder why this might be. Partly it’s ferent way of inculcating identity. They felt has impacted it. due to the increasingly fractious nature of that trips to Israel were not a priority for Ultimately, we should insist on the Jewish community. Partly it’s a natural community investment, and that the impact accountability. How, for instance, can the reflection of Jewish assimilation and the of the trips would be negligible. Today, you leaders of the movements allow the cre- diminishing ties many Jews feel to commu- would be hard-pressed to find a negative ation of generation after generation of nity. It’s also a signifier of our success: assessment of the program. Birthright Israel undereducated, uninvolved Jews? Aren’t After the barriers to mainstream American worked because it involved unpopular risk- we the People of the Book? The commu- culture were knocked down, we no longer taking in the service of the concrete goal of nity should demand an ombudsman to shared an overarching domestic agenda to shoring up Jewish identity and connecting monitor the activities of those who run all rally around. As a result, our need for uni- young adults to Israel. Without the vision Jewish organizations. In my view, the fying leaders declined commensurately. of its early leaders and their willingness to record of achievement in the Jewish insti- And yet, one might argue that in an age buck the pessimists and nay-sayers, Birth- tutional world is appalling. But perhaps of attenuating connections and rampant right Israel would never have emerged from that is too strong an assessment, because assimilation, we need visionary leadership the pipe-dream phase. indeed there is no record — neither finan- more than ever. The difference is that for But leadership is not just a matter of cially nor, more important, substantively. today’s community, which lacks a clearly steadfast will. It is also a matter of vision. Self-congratulatory advertisements in Jew- defined agenda, leadership is more difficult In the end, the dearth of genuine Jewish ish or friendly secular publications do not to identify and to nourish. It is at once leadership in America is connected to a count. We need to be assured that our con- more complicated and more nuanced than profound lack of vision. When we look stituents are truly represented in our insti- in past periods of American Jewish life. back at the eras of Louis Brandeis or Abba tutions. I believe too often they are not. To be sure, we aren’t lacking for self- Hillel Silver, it’s hard to miss the central Until we transform our organizations into appointed leaders. This is an era in which facet of their leadership: Zionism. Both vehicles of rigorous education and celebra- countless people claim to speak for the men were connected to an enterprise that tion, we will continue to flail about in our American Jewish community and for the represented a historic opportunity and that efforts to effect real, tangible change in the Jewish people in general. It seems that touched on the greatest aspirations of the community. every month, we hear of a new leadership Jewish people of their time. These days, it’s All of this requires leadership. One conference run by leaders, attended by difficult to identify a vision that is as com- hopes that new leaders will emerge — leaders and funded by leaders. Our prob- pelling as Zionism was in its early days. people whose boldness of vision is lem is a lack of genuine Jewish leadership. This is understandable, as the effort to matched by the ingenuity of their ideas. We need leaders who are not in it for the establish a Jewish state has been accom- Only by investing significantly in Jewish accolades, but who are willing to put in plished. And yet, without a revolutionary life today will we be able to nurture the the time and resources to effect visionary new idea that captures the spirit and imag- leaders of tomorrow. This alone is reason change. There’s a big difference between ination of the Jewish people, leadership for a rededication to Jewish philanthropy: will continue to be nothing more than an we must do all we can to create the condi- Michael H. Steinhardt is Chairman of the Steinhardt empty ceremonial position. tions for the emergence of new ideas, new Foundation for Jewish Life. Where, then, are the great new ideas leaders and a revivified future. ■ AUTUMN 2008 3 often hear complaints that there are Nazi past, concern arose regarding from working with my neighbors.
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