Ida Straus, Titanic, and Jewish Leadership
Where have all the Jewish leaders gone?
Isidor Straus was co-founder of the Macy's Department Store. Ida Straus was his wife. The Jewish couple was known for their devout love among each other, almost always together and writing daily to each other when apart.
On April 14, 1912, they were passengers on the Titanic, after a trip to pre-state Israel. As the ship began to sink, Ida alone was offered refuge in a lifeboat. She refused. “We have lived together for many years,” she said to her husband. “Where you go, I go.”
The two were then offered seats in another lifeboat, but with many women and children still on the crumbling Titanic, Isidor declined to take the seat. Once again, his wife refused as well. Passengers allegedly remarked that what they saw was a “most remarkable exhibition of love and devotion.” The couple was last seen sitting side-by-side on Titanic’s Boat Deck.
Ida and Isidor Straus’ selfless demonstration of unconditional love, devotion, sacrifice, camaraderie, and affection is everything that’s missing in the Jewish world. And more precisely, among today’s so-called Jewish leaders.
“The phrase ‘Jewish leadership’ is ambiguous,” the late, legendary Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks wrote. “It means leadership by Jews, but it also means leadership in a Jewish way, according to Judaic principles and values. The first is common, the second rare.”1
In an earlier era of Jewish history, “we knew who our leaders were,” wrote Jewish mega-donor Michael Steinhardt. “It was possible to identify people such as Louis Brandeis or Abba Hillel Silver as our visionaries — people who expressed our common aspirations, and who helped guide us into an uncertain future. These days, is it possible to identify even a single leader who commands such influence? One might point weakly to Federation executives, philanthropists, perhaps a rabbi or two. But nobody comes close to the stature of Jewish leaders in previous generations. In the end, the dearth of genuine Jewish leadership … is connected to a profound lack of vision.”2
Dr. Erica Brown, Vice Provost of Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University, said: “We are in desperate need of long-haul heroes today, visionaries who are prepared to make personal sacrifices for the sake of local and national reform. Long-haul heroes have what Dan and Chip Heath in their book ‘Switch’ call a destination postcard: a visualization of an alternate reality that requires imagination but, with enough grit, is possible.”3
According to Brown, Jewish leaders “talk — always — about how much money we’re raising, but not about the problems we’re solving. In the words of leadership expert John Kotter, we are overmanaged and under-led. We organize, staff, program, and plan when we first need to create a bolder and more inspiring vision, set directions, align people, motivate, and heighten impact.”
“We do not have leaders; we have fundraisers. We do not have visionaries; we have supervisors. Creativity, civility, sensitivity, and literacy take a back seat to ‘capacity,’” Brown wrote. “At a time of rapid change, however, we need soulful Jewish dreamers. Instead, it seems that our communal leadership aspirations have become too social, too parochial, and, frankly, too intellectually uninteresting to match Isaiah’s timeless mandate, ‘And nations shall walk by Your light, kings, by Your shining radiance’ (Isaiah 60:3).”
Rabbi Hershey Novack and Rabbi Dov Wagner asserted that “today’s young people and academics are often alienated from institutional leadership. They’re confident and they feel empowered to celebrate their individuality. We are regularly confronted with a conundrum: how to effectively lead a diverse group of individuals … while retaining a firm commitment to our own values.”4
To be sure, Steinhardt wrote, “we aren’t lacking for self-appointed leaders. Our problem is a lack of genuine Jewish leadership. We need leaders who are not in it for the accolades, but who are willing to put in the time and resources to effect visionary change. There’s a big difference between those who are only interested in having their egos stroked and those who see a problem and want to make a change.”
Robert Aronson, the former President of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, said that “while we use the term ‘Jewish Leader’ indiscriminately, there is a broadly-held view that … we have few if any real Jewish leaders who are making a genuine impact on Jewish life.”5
I like to put so-called Jewish leaders through the “Name That CEO” test: How many CEOs can you name at the top organizations and brands within the Jewish world?
To test this test, I phoned a friend who the Jewish world would consider “an engaged Jew,” and the conversation went precisely like this…
Me: Who is the CEO of Facebook?
Him: Zuckerberg.
Me: And of Tesla?
Him: Elon Musk.
Me: And how about Amazon?
Him: Bezos.
Me: Okay, now what about Birthright?
Him: I don’t know.
Me: Jewish National Fund?
Him: Dunno.
Me: Hillel?
Him: Okay, I get your point.
Why Jewish leadership?
Jewish leadership is essential to moving the Jewish world forward in captivating, exciting, scalable, and imaginative directions.
To gifting people a greater sense of belonging, meaning, purpose, hope, passion, and inner peace through the eclectic lens of Judaism.
To creating a pathway for the Jewish People to thrive, not just survive, in our increasingly fragmented, polarized, globalized, mobile, digital, and soon-to-be virtual world.
To offering our non-Jewish family, friends, and communities better access to, understanding of, and appreciation for Judaism — as well as to share in celebrating it with us.
And to ensuring the Jewish People continue to make significant, widespread contributions within our greater world.
So, what is true Jewish leadership?
Steinhardt said it involves creativity, ingenuity, and a willingness to challenge the status quo in the interest of progress towards a larger goal. “Ultimately, we should insist on accountability. How, for instance, can the leaders of the movements allow the creation of generation after generation of undereducated, uninvolved Jews? Aren’t we the People of the Book?”
Adam Bronfman, another notable Jewish donor, argued that leadership means “understanding the needs and concerns of the community,” as well as broadcasting a “meaningful message” and having the heart “to take a stand based on principle.”6
Brown wrote that great Jewish leaders “dream big, articulate aspirations, remove barriers, engage in expert problem-solving, and then do everything within their power to bring their vision to reality — no matter how long it takes. Leadership begins with a vision bound by hope and the daily discipline of thousands of incremental covenantal commitments.”
According to Daniel Libenson, the founder of Judaism Unbound, from his ELI Talk: “We need to completely rethink what it means to be a Jewish leader, not somebody who comes in and takes over Jewish institutions, even people who try to change them.” He said the future of Jewish leadership is “building prototypes and experiments … which can evolve and change and grow and ultimately be a new Jewish future that comes from the outside in.”
Aronson outlined four principles for Jewish leadership:
People lead by exhibiting moral and ethical values in their behavior and interactions with others.
Leaders have a passion for the entire Jewish People and Judaic knowledge, which drives their behavior and decision making.
Value the opinions of others and make sure they are part of the decision-making process.
True power means never using it; real leadership lies in empowering others to become involved.
Similarly, Rabbi Sacks offered another version of Jewish leadership principles:
Leadership begins with taking responsibility. “We are free. We are responsible. And together we can change the world.”
No one can lead alone. “We cannot live alone. We cannot lead alone. Leadership is teamsmanship.”
Leadership is about the future. It is vision-driven. “Before you can lead, you must have a vision of the future and be able to communicate it to others.”
Leaders learn. “Study makes the difference between the statesman and the politician, between the transformative leader and the manager.”
Leadership means believing in the people you lead. “Judaism prefers the leadership of influence to the leadership of power. The highest form of leadership is teaching. Power begets followers. Teaching creates leaders.”
Leadership involves a sense of timing and pace. “Go too fast and people resist and rebel. Go too slow and they become complacent. Transformation takes time, often more than a single generation.”
Leadership is stressful and emotionally demanding. “Leaders lead because there is work to do, there are people in need, there is injustice to be fought, there is wrong to be righted, there are problems to be solved and challenges ahead. They lead because they know that to stand idly by and expect others to do the work is the too-easy option. The responsible life is the best life there is, and is worth all the pain and frustration.”
Rabbi Joshua Elkin, the former Executive Director of the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, pointed out that the Hebrew word for leader — manhig — shares the same root as minhag, meaning custom or practice. “This shared root illuminates our understanding of leadership,” he wrote. “It is not about title, station or office, but about practice and behavior.”7
In his 2006 book, From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish Approach to Leadership, Hal Lewis focuses on character as a fundamental component of leadership. In addition to the crucial trait of competence, Lewis articulates a set of six behaviors, rooted in Jewish texts, that are fundamental components of character which effective leaders must cultivate and master. They are piety, tenacity, compassion, service to followers, humility, and consistency and fairness.
(Lewis’ reference to piety can be misleading, since it suggests overtly religious behavior. He defines it, however, as “the need to stand for something greater than yourself or your organization,” and he describes pious leaders as “committed to building a communal system in which human power is circumscribed and shared.”)
In his foundational work of Chabad Chasidic philosophy, the Tanya, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi posits that true ahavat yisrael (care and concern for a fellow) can best be achieved by relating to the internal qualities that each person shares — their pintele yid, or Jewish spark. When looking at other people through the prism of the physical — body or mind — it is impossible to perfectly care for the other as oneself. Our physical bodies are different and, in a sense, contradictory. “Only in terms of the soul — the neshama — is there a shared reality that unites every person, and which transcends differing mindsets and ideals,” according to Rabbi Novack and Rabbi Wagner.
From their own perspectives as university campus rabbis, two practical results emerged: first, to change the nature of the relationship between campus rabbi and student, creating a mutually beneficial interaction rather than a hierarchical one. And second, to allow for true concern of the student’s entire being — including personal and scholastic identities — rather than a limited focus solely on the student’s Jewish activity and engagement.
I would argue that these same approaches can — and should — be applied across the entire organized Jewish world: first, to change the nature of the relationship between leader and follower, organization and community member, creating a mutually beneficial interaction rather than a hierarchical one. And second, to allow for true concern of the community member’s entire being — including Jewish and non-Jewish identities — rather than a limited focus solely on the their Jewish activity and engagement.
“We believe it is crucial to recognize that we are all cut from the same fabric and what binds us together is more important and eternal than that which divides us,” Rabbi Novack and Rabbi Wagner said. “And, equally important, we don’t see our leadership as changing our students into something they are not. Rather, we view our role as both teaching, and yes, learning from our students, while providing them with tools — material, intellectual and spiritual — to develop into literate and participatory Jews. This allows for each person to experience their own journey: one guided by the faith and traditions of our heritage, yet colored by their individual natures. This mindset allows for the leadership balance we seek, a balance that so many of our young friends respond to: a clear moral and spiritual voice, coupled with an environment and attitude that is truly welcoming.”
According to Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Distinguished Professor of Jewish Theology at the American Jewish University, the issues in leadership aren’t often obvious ones, “but rather the ability to determine the best course when it is not clear. That is why a critical leadership trait that appears in the Torah and in all succeeding Jewish lists of leadership qualities is the ability to be discerning. One must know not only what is right and wrong in general; one must also be able to determine the right course — both practically and morally — when, as is often the case, there are competing values at stake.”8
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, wrote that “the role of leadership is to cultivate the leadership abilities of other members of the community.”9 To exemplify this notion, she tells the story of a Talmudic leader named Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, from the 2nd Century CE. When Rabbi Azariah replaced Rabban Gamliel as head of the beit midrash (study house), he suspended Rabban Gamliel’s rules which offered beit midrash access to only the most elite students.
As his first act of leadership, Rabbi Azariah removed the doorkeeper tasked with keeping out students who did not meet Rabban Gamliel’s scholarly standards. Between 400 and 700 benches were added to the beit midrash to accommodate the waves of new students who seized the opportunity to study. “Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah’s unexpected decision paid off,” Rabbi Jacobs wrote. “On the day that the beit midrash was opened to the masses, the Talmud says, the most difficult legal problems were solved.”
Echoing this story, Brown wrote: “It’s time for those leading the organized Jewish community, like our ancient king, to open Torah scrolls and study. There they will find an expansive vision of justice, knowledge, and spirituality that has always characterized Jewish leadership. The rest is management.”
And Rabbi Dorff said “no person should see him/herself as the repository of all wisdom; rather, leaders need to consult our tradition for the rich wisdom it brings to moral matters, as well as the other people involved in the welfare of the organization.”
“When Moses faced a question he could not answer, he could and did ask God directly; we cannot do that,” Rabbi Dorff recounted. “Unlike Moses, though, we are able to call upon a long tradition of smart, experienced, and well-meaning Jews who grappled with interpreting our sacred texts and the realities of the situations they confronted to determine how God would have had us respond to such problems in the past. We have each other to consult as well, for, as the Rabbis said, ‘If the Children of Israel are not prophets, they are the descendants of prophets.’ May our leadership be informed and enhanced by these morally sensitive sources.”
The end.
Sacks, Jonathan. “Seven Principles of Jewish Leadership.” The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust. June 14, 2021, https://www.rabbisacks.org/archive/seven-principles-of-jewish-leadership.
Steinhardt, Michael. “On Leadership, Vision and Ideas.” CONTACT. Autumn 2008, https://steinhardtfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/contact_autumn_2008.pdf.
Brown, Erica. “Visionary Leadership for a Jewish Future.” SAPIR. Winter 2022, https://sapirjournal.org/aspiration/2022/02/visionary-leadership-for-a-jewish-future/
Novack, Hershey and Wagner, Dov. “FOCUSING ON THE PINTELE YID.” CONTACT. Autumn 2008, https://steinhardtfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/contact_autumn_2008.pdf.
Aronson, Robert. “On Jewish Leadership.” CONTACT. Autumn 2008, https://steinhardtfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/contact_autumn_2008.pdf.
Bronfman, Adam. “Accidental Leadership.” CONTACT. Autumn 2008, https://steinhardtfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/contact_autumn_2008.pdf.
Elkin, Joshua. “Leadership Attributes That Matter.” CONTACT. Autumn 2008, https://steinhardtfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/contact_autumn_2008.pdf.
Dorff, Elliot. “Moral Character and Dilemmas in Leadership.” Autumn 2008, https://steinhardtfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/contact_autumn_2008.pdf.
Jacobs, Jill. “On Charisma and Jewish Leadership.” Autumn 2008, https://steinhardtfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/contact_autumn_2008.pdf.