Course Rationale

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.

Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who spent a lifetime honing his flying skills and his preparedness for emergency, successfully landed a plane in the Hudson River and saved the lives of everyone on board. “We were just doing our job,” he said, when the president called to congratulate him.

Malden Mills owner Aaron Feuerstein continued to keep his workers on payroll even after a fire destroyed the mill in 1996. Seven years later, he was forced to file for bankruptcy. Yet he has no regrets about his decision. “It would have been unconscionable to put 3,000 workers on the street,” he said. “It was the right thing to do.”

While leaders emerge from the shadows in times of crisis, the preparation for leadership is the single-minded dedication to being a person of character. This ethical focus prepares them to take on hard tasks without hesitation when the need arises.

The sages of the Talmud are case studies in leadership. Driven by the moral vision set out by the Torah, they sacrificed for their values from an early age. And when the difficult times came, leadership was a natural and automatic response, for they had spent their whole lives in preparation for those critical turning points.

This course is a biographical description of six sages of the Mishnaic era. Though 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, this course also charts the successful efforts made by the sages to lead our people through what is arguably the period of most profound change 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 and its sacrificial rite was the primary outlet for Jewish ritual devotion, and the 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 notable stories of six pivotal leaders. The 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.