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an agent of hope and the vision he of survivors, after staring eyeball to 7. We are all summoned
sketched will take lifetimes to fulfill. eyeball with the angel of death in to the task
Auschwitz, would build and rebuild
4. The highest form of our flourishing homeland? History It is this idea that Rabbi Sacks called
leadership is teaching thus teaches that while it may seem “probably the deepest Jewish truth
illogical to believe in the power of
of all.” While exceedingly humble, he
Like most of the quotes I have shared, a people – we can and must believe was acutely aware of the task to which
Rabbi Sacks could have been talking in our people. As Rabbi Sacks put it, he was summoned. He treated it with
about himself when he said, “The “Faith is the defeat of probability by absolute sanctity and it was his guid-
great leaders are educators, teach- possibility.” ing principle. His time was precious
ing people to understand the mean- With a deep appreciation of the his- and he always stayed on task.
ing of their time.” Every encounter tory of the Jewish people, he believed
with Rabbi Sacks was a lesson, every in all of us more than we often believe After seeing so many well-known and
phrase a teaching, every act a tutorial. in ourselves. less known leaders emerge in sharing
He was the ultimate ‘text-person.’ how he inspired them, it is clear he
succeeded in elevating others to make
My final meaningful encounter with 6. Leaders need a sense this choice. He often said that “Good
Rabbi Sacks took place around a year of timing and pace leaders create followers, great leaders
ago for a few hours in his home. We create leaders.”
began in his study, surrounded by When Moshe asked G-d to choose
books, and then moved to his living his successor, he stated that such a
room, surrounded by more books. person should “go out before them 8. Every moment
And I thought to myself that the true and come in before them, lead them is an opportunity
library was in his mind and his capac- out and bring them in.” Rabbi Sacks for leadership
ity to catalog, categorize and curate highlighted the apparent repetition
the different ideas was part of his as bringing our attention to a funda- Rabbi Sacks argued that “We are all
genius. Now his own books adorn the mental truth about leadership. While called on to be leaders within our
digital and physical shelves of millions one should lead from the front, one sphere of influence, be it the family,
of libraries, homes and websites alike, should not go so far ahead that when the community, at work, among col-
continuing to teach us and provide one turns around, the people are too leagues, or in-play among teammates.”
educational companionship. far behind. In this sense, he is inviting all of us to
Again, he fulfilled his own words: shoulder the responsibility of these
5. A leader must have “Leadership involves a delicate leadership lessons in our own lives in
faith in the people balance between impatience and everything we do.
he or she leads patience. Go too fast and people
resist. Go too slow and they become May the blessings of one of contem-
To paraphrase Rabbi Sacks, who complacent. Transformation takes porary Judaism’s greatest leaders stay
would have thought that a group of time, often more than a single gener- strong in our memory and may his
slaves, escaping from the tyranny ation.” Clearly, his influence has trans- memory be a blessing.
of Egypt in the barren desert over formed the Jewish world profoundly,
2,000 years ago, could share a mes- but we are yet to see the true trans-
sage that would transform the world’s formation he achieved, something 1 https ://rabbisack s .org/se ven- prin-
moral landscape? More recently, who the generations to come can only look c iple s -of - j e w i s h-le aders hip- w r it-
ten-for-the-adam-science-foundation-lead-
would have thought that a handful forward to. ership-programme/.

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