Jewish Leadership

Daniel H. Gordis
Director
The Mandel Jerusalem Fellows
Isael

In this lecture, Rabbi Daniel Gordis from the Mandel Foundation discusses the subject of Jewish leadership. His work focuses on leadership training, specifically at the level of Jewish executive educators. The core of leadership is vision. Great leaders have great ideas and know how to translate their ideas into the larger community.

Gordis shares with the audience a few of his secrets of success in transforming a vision into reality. A Jewish leader at the executive level must have a vision of how his/her religious community should look like and what kind of future leaders it wants to produce. High school principles must have a vision of what they want the pupil to become and how s/he will get there. For instance, should the curriculum focus on Zionism, Mitzvot or the Hebrew language? Should it concentrate on Talmud study or Jewish thought and ethics?

Whatever answer may be does not matter, what is important to Gordis, however, is that those in leadership positions should go through the process of asking themselves these questions; they should know why they’re committed to what they’re committed to.