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May 30, 2000

Hasidic Models of Leadership (2000)

Chasidim & Mitnagdim Principles of Leadership
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Communal Leadership - Its Problems and Prospects (2000)

The theme of leadership has long intrigued me both because of its innate character and because I personally wrestle with its problems – often more than I care to. I have spoken and written about it in different forums several times, and I am certain that the subject is far from exhausted. I therefore offer these ruminations in honor of my distinguished colleague and dear friend, Rabbi J.J. Schacter, as he prepares to bid us farewell this coming month in order to accept a challenging leadership position in Boston.I make no pretense to presenting a scientific study of the subject. I leave that to the professionals who have begun to treat leadership as a separate sub-specialty and have written large tomes about it. My remarks are subjective, and they issue from my own experience and mostly from what I think I have found in the traditional sources of Judaism. Hence, let me begin by stressing that I am talking about Jewish leadership, especially but not exclusively rabbinic leadership, and that my point of departure is the wisdom of the Jewish tradition. I therefore preface my remarks by one necessary comment on the distinguishing character of authentic Jewish leadership. Let me illustrate this from the life of Moses.Moses is bogged down in his work as a judge as the people come to him, in his desert tent, to adjudicate their conflicts and answer their questions. Yitro, his pagan father-in-law, warns him, נבל תבל גם אתה ג□ העם הזה אשר עמך כי כבד ממך הדבר לא תוכל עשהו לבדך. "You will wear yourself and your people out; the task is too great, the burden too heavy for you to bear all by yourself." He tells Moses how to organize the judiciary effectively and systematically—appoint others, a hierarchy of judges, and you attend to the most difficult cases, a one-man supreme court. Moses accepts and implements the advice. Yet later (in בהעלותך), Moses complains to God--in almost the identical language that Yitro used—that it's not working: לא אוכל אנכי לבדי !לשאת את כל העם הזה …
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Five Guiding Principles For Rabbis

First, you who are this day being invested in the rabbinate dare not be discouraged! The Sefer Chasidim of R. Yehuda Ha-Hasid teaches us that one who composes chiddushei Torah (Torah writings) and does not publish them is guilty of being mo’el behekdesh, of illicit use of sacred property, because our intellectual achievements in Torah are the gift of the Almighty and we dare not keep them to ourselves and deny them to our fellow Jews. And if this is true of Torah novellae, which another talmid chakham may well be able to disprove, how much more so is it true of creating Torah personalities, of making Jews who will live and support Torah! You have no moral right to be frightened, no right to abandon your fellow Jews, no right to hoard Torah for yourselves and deny it to others – even though you are reluctant and they are unreceptive! Some of you who are blessed with the gift of leadership may soon rise to be the agents of great, perhaps dramatic, improvements in the relationship between Torah and Israel. But each of you can, if you will it, make at least a dent here and a change there, so that together you will have achieved mighty contributions, together with other musmakhim of our Yeshiva and other yeshivot and benei Torah from all over the country. The second “negative commandment” is: do not allow yourselves to be sucked into any of the fashionable extremisms that are tearing our people apart. They are tempting, even seductive. Supporting them can make us feel good emotionally without burdening our intellects. Extremism threatens to rip off the thin membrane of civilization that covers the inner volcano of violence. Violence from the mouth of a gun is a cancer that grows from the verbal violence from the mouth of a careless speaker or the pen of an irresponsible writer. And the oncogene – the cancer's seed – is extremism in dehumanizing your adversary. There is a special obligation that lies upon all who have influence over the public – especially younger peopl…
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Rabbi Lamm explores concepts of leadership in Jewish thought.
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