JLI Winter Session: Beginning February 1st, 2010
Portraits in Leadership: Timeless Tales for Inspired Living
Click here to register for the class.
This class is dedicated in honor of the first Yartzeit of Mr. Jack [Yaakov] Schrager, OBM on 23 Kislev 5770 / December 10 2010
We are a generation obsessed with the subject of leadership, perhaps because it seems that there are no leaders anymore. In our information age, heroes inevitably turn out to have clay feet, and it is clear that power and greatness do not necessarily go hand in hand. It is easy to wonder whether there were ever true heroes. Perhaps we were all once simply more naïve. We react to our disappointment and disillusionment by defining leadership down, placing it within the grasp of anyone who is willing to reach for that gold ring while astride their wooden horse on the merry-go-round of life. Yet even in our jaded times, we have the power to be moved by the everyday heroes who never sought the limelight yet admirably rose to challenges that crossed their paths.
This course is a biographical description of six sages of the Mishnaic era. Each lesson examines the life story of a particular sage, in light of the personal characteristics that uniquely positioned him to respond to the challenges of his time. But this course also charts the successful efforts made by these sages, to lead our people through what is arguably the period of the most profound changes in our rich, colorful history.
In two short centuries, Jews saw the collapse of all the major institutions upon which they had once relied. Until that time, the Beit HaMikdash with its sacrificial rites was the primary outlet for Jewish ritual devotion, and the living and oral tradition was the primary source of Torah vibrancy and knowledge. Whereas the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash was swift and dramatic, the collapse of the oral tradition was a slow, painful process that extended over close to two-hundred years.
Through dedicated effort and patient nurturing, our sages successfully steered our people into the future, leaving these critical institutions behind, but salvaging the fundamental principles that characterized those institutions. This course traces the story of this successful orchestration, through the story of six pivotal leaders of note.
This course combines the drama of history, the inspiration of character, and the personal relevance of the stories of our tradition. In doing so, it helps us reflect on what is most central in our own lives, and the qualities we possess that can help us weather times of crisis and change.
Course Objectives
While it is difficult to fully appreciate the heroes of this course without understanding the historical backdrop, this course is first and foremost biographical. Through the prism of the vignettes and anecdotes recorded in the Talmud, we gain a sense of the timelessness of Jewish values. We can see what was important to the sages, from the stories they recorded. In the process of reading these lives as the sages of the Talmud preserved them, we have the opportunity to reflect on the attitudes and strategies that provide us with the resilience and strength to adapt to difficult times.
Some of the questions the course addresses are:
- Are leaders born or made? How do circumstance and personality interact in the lives of our Jewish heroes?
- How do leaders respond to change? Do shifting times require shifting values, or is there a way to adapt to new conditions while remaining faithful to eternal principles?
- In what ways can these stories help us nurture our own strengths and identify our own personal styles of leadership? How can they inspire us to take a more proactive role in living with character and dignity?
Click here to register for the class.
