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hope and the vision he sketched will survivors, after staring eyeball to eye- 7. We are all summoned
take lifetimes to fulfill. ball with the angel of death in Aus- to the task
chwitz, would build and rebuild our
4. The highest form of flourishing homeland? History thus It is this idea that Rabbi Sacks called
leadership is teaching teaches that while it may seem illogical “probably the deepest Jewish truth
to believe in the power of a people – of all.” While exceedingly humble, he
Like most of the quotes I have shared, we can and must believe in our people. was acutely aware of the task to which
Rabbi Sacks could have been talking As Rabbi Sacks put it, “Faith is the he was summoned. He treated it with
about himself when he said, “The defeat of probability by possibility.” absolute sanctity and it was his guid-
great leaders are educators, teaching ing principle. His time was precious
people to understand the meaning With a deep appreciation of the his- and he always stayed on task.
of their time.” Every encounter with tory of the Jewish people, he believed
Rabbi Sacks was a lesson, every phrase in all of us more than we often believe After seeing so many well-known and
a teaching, every act a tutorial. He was in ourselves. less known leaders emerge in sharing
the ultimate ‘text-person.’ how he inspired them, it is clear he

My final meaningful encounter with 6. Leaders need a sense succeeded in elevating others to make
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
shoulder the responsibility of these
5. A leader must have Again, he fulfilled his own words: leadership lessons in our own lives in
faith in the people “Leadership involves a delicate balance everything we do.
between impatience and patience.
he or she leads Go too fast and people resist. Go too May the blessings of one of contem-

To paraphrase Rabbi Sacks, who slow and they become complacent. porary Judaism’s greatest leaders stay
would have thought that a group of Transformation takes time, often more strong in our memory and may his
slaves, escaping from the tyranny than a single generation.” Clearly, his memory be a blessing.
of Egypt in the barren desert over influence has transformed the Jewish
2,000 years ago, could share a mes- world profoundly, but we are yet to see
sage that would transform the world’s the true transformation he achieved, 1 https://rabbisacks.org/seven-princi-
moral landscape? More recently, who something the generations to come ples-of-jewish-leadership-written-for-the-ad-
am-science-foundation-leadership-pro-
would have thought that a handful of can only look forward to. gramme/.

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