This session is about leadership and the complex aspects of being a dynamic leader.
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SETTING THE STAGE
Macy’s, The Titanic And The Founding Of An Israeli Village
At the turn of the twentieth century, two of the wealthiest and most famous men in America were a pair of Jewish brothers named Nathan and Isidor Straus. Owners of R.H. Macy’s Department Store and founders of the A&S (Abraham & Straus) chain, the brothers were multimillionaires, renowned for their philanthropy and social activism.
In 1912, the brothers and their wives were touring Europe, when Nathan, the more ardent Zionist of the two, impulsively said one day, “Hey, why don’t we hop over to Palestine?”
Israel wasn’t the tourist hotspot then that it is today. Its population was ravaged by disease, famine, and poverty; but the two had a strong sense of solidarity with their less fortunate brethren, and they also wanted to see the health and welfare centers they had endowed with their millions.
However, after a week spent touring, Isidor Straus had had enough. “How many camels, hovels, and yeshivas can you see? It’s time to go,” Isidor decreed with edgy impatience in his voice.
But Nathan refused to heed his brother’s imperious command. It wasn’t that he was oblivious to the hardships around him; it was precisely because of them that he wanted to stay. As he absorbed firsthand the vastness of the challenges his fellow Jews were coping with, he felt the burden of responsibility. “We can’t leave now,” he protested. “Look how much work has to be done here. We have to help. We have the means to help. We can’t turn our backs on our people.”
“So we’ll send more money,” his brother snapped back. “I just want to get out of here.”
But Nathan felt that money simply wasn’t enough. He felt that the Jews who lived under such dire circumstances in Palestine needed the brothers’ very presence among them: their initiative, their leadership, and their ideas. Isidor disagreed.
The two argued back and forth, and finally Isidor said, “If you insist, stay here. Ida and I are going back to America... where we belong.”
The two separated. Isidor and his wife returned to Europe, while Nathan and his spouse stayed in Palestine, raveling the country and contributing huge sums of money to the establishment of education, health, and social welfare programs to benefit the needy. Nathan also financed the creation of a brand-new city on the shores of the Mediterranean. And since his name in Hebrew was Natan, and he was the city’s chief donor, the founders named it after him and called it... Natanya.
Meanwhile, back in Europe, Isidor Straus was preparing to sail home to America aboard an ocean liner for which he had also made reservations for his brother, Nathan, and his wife. “You must leave Palestine NOW!” he cabled his brother in an urgent telegram. “I have made reservations for you and if you don’t get here soon, you’ll miss the boat.”
But Nathan delayed. There was so much work to be done that he waited until the last possible moment to make the connection. By the time he reached London, it was April 12 and the liner had already left port in Southampton with Isidor and Ida Straus aboard.
Nathan felt disconsolate that he had, as his brother had warned, “missed the boat.” For this was no ordinary expedition, no common, everyday cruise that he had forfeited, but the much ballyhooed maiden voyage of the most famous ship of the century. This was the Titanic. Nathan Straus, grief-stricken and deeply mourning his brother and sister-in-law, could not shake off his sense that he had had a rendezvous with history. The knowledge that he had avoided death permeated his consciousness for the rest of his life, and until his death in l931, he pursued his philanthropic activities with an intensity that was unrivaled in his time.
Today, Natanya is a scenic resort city of 200,000 and headquarters to Israel’s thriving diamond trade - one of the most important industries in the country. And in almost every part of the city, there is some small reminder of Nathan Straus’s largesse, his humanity, and love for his people. His legacy lives on.
Questions to Consider
- What traits did Nathan Strauss have that led him to become such a major leader?
- What do Nathan Strauss’ reactions to the hardships in his live tell us about how a leader should react to tragedy?
THE BIRTH OF A LEADER
שמות פרק ב
א וַיֵּלֶךְ אִישׁ, מִבֵּית לֵוִי; וַיִּקַּח, אֶת-בַּת-לֵוִי.
ב וַתַּהַר הָאִשָּׁה, וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן; וַתֵּרֶא אֹתוֹ כִּי-טוֹב הוּא, וַתִּצְפְּנֵהוּ שְׁלֹשָׁה יְרָחִים.
ג וְלֹא-יָכְלָה עוֹד, הַצְּפִינוֹ, וַתִּקַּח-לוֹ תֵּבַת גֹּמֶא, וַתַּחְמְרָה בַחֵמָר וּבַזָּפֶת; וַתָּשֶׂם בָּהּ אֶת-הַיֶּלֶד, וַתָּשֶׂם בַּסּוּף עַל-שְׂפַת הַיְאֹר.
ד וַתֵּתַצַּב אֲחֹתוֹ, מֵרָחֹק, לְדֵעָה, מַה-יֵּעָשֶׂה לוֹ.
ה וַתֵּרֶד בַּת-פַּרְעֹה לִרְחֹץ עַל-הַיְאֹר, וְנַעֲרֹתֶיהָ הֹלְכֹת עַל-יַד הַיְאֹר; וַתֵּרֶא אֶת-הַתֵּבָה בְּתוֹךְ הַסּוּף, וַתִּשְׁלַח
אֶת-אֲמָתָהּ וַתִּקָּחֶהָ.
ו וַתִּפְתַּח וַתִּרְאֵהוּ אֶת-הַיֶּלֶד, וְהִנֵּה-נַעַר בֹּכֶה; וַתַּחְמֹל עָלָיו--וַתֹּאמֶר, מִיַּלְדֵי הָעִבְרִים זֶה.
ז וַתֹּאמֶר אֲחֹתוֹ, אֶל-בַּת-פַּרְעֹה, הַאֵלֵךְ וְקָרָאתִי לָךְ אִשָּׁה מֵינֶקֶת, מִן הָעִבְרִיֹּת; וְתֵינִק לָךְ, אֶת-הַיָּלֶד.
ח וַתֹּאמֶר-לָהּ בַּת-פַּרְעֹה, לֵכִי; וַתֵּלֶךְ, הָעַלְמָה,
וַתִּקְרָא, אֶת-אֵם הַיָּלֶד.
ט וַתֹּאמֶר לָהּ בַּת-פַּרְעֹה, הֵילִיכִי אֶת-הַיֶּלֶד הַזֶּה וְהֵינִקִהוּ לִי, וַאֲנִי, אֶתֵּן אֶת-שְׂכָרֵךְ; וַתִּקַּח הָאִשָּׁה הַיֶּלֶד, וַתְּנִיקֵהוּ.
י וַיִּגְדַּל הַיֶּלֶד, וַתְּבִאֵהוּ לְבַת-פַּרְעֹה, וַיְהִי-לָהּ, לְבֵן; וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ, מֹשֶׁה, וַתֹּאמֶר, כִּי מִן-הַמַּיִם מְשִׁיתִהוּ.
Shemos (Exodus) Chapter 2
1 A man of the house of Levi went and married the daughter of Levi.
2 The woman conceived and bore a son. She saw that he was [exceptionally] good, and she kept him hidden for three months.
3 When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus box and coated it with clay and tar. She placed the child in it, and placed it in the reeds near the bank of the river.
4 [The child’s] sister stood herself at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe by the river, while her maids walked along the river’s edge. She saw the box among the reeds and sent her maid and she fetched it.
6 She opened it and saw the child, and behold a boy was crying. She took pity on it, and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”
7 [The infant’s] sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call to you a nursing [mother] from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
8 “Go,” said Pharaoh’s daughter to her. The young girl went and called the child’s mother.
9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her [the child’s mother], “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your fee.” The woman took the child and nursed it.
10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moshe, for she said, “I drew him from the water.”
Questions to Consider
- Why don’t the verses more precisely identify who Moshe’s parents were?
- How can it be that the first Jewish leader was not raised in a Jewish home, but rather grew up in the house of Paroah? What does that teach us?
- In verse #6, the Torah says Basya knew that the child was a Jewish child. How did she know?
THE RISE OF A LEADER
שמות פרק ב
יא וַיְהִי בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם, וַיִּגְדַּל מֹשֶׁה וַיֵּצֵא אֶל-אֶחָיו, וַיַּרְא, בְּסִבְלֹתָם; וַיַּרְא אִישׁ מִצְרִי, מַכֶּה אִישׁ-עִבְרִי מֵאֶחָיו. יב וַיִּפֶן כֹּה וָכֹה, וַיַּרְא כִּי אֵין אִישׁ; וַיַּךְ, אֶת-הַמִּצְרִי, וַיִּטְמְנֵהוּ, בַּחוֹל. יג וַיֵּצֵא בַּיּוֹם הַשֵּׁנִי, וְהִנֵּה שְׁנֵי-אֲנָשִׁים עִבְרִים נִצִּים; וַיֹּאמֶר, לָרָשָׁע, לָמָּה תַכֶּה, רֵעֶךָ. יד וַיֹּאמֶר מִי שָׂמְךָ לְאִישׁ שַׂר וְשֹׁפֵט, עָלֵינוּ--הַלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר, כַּאֲשֶׁר הָרַגְתָּ אֶת-הַמִּצְרִי; וַיִּירָא מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמַר, אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָר. טו וַיִּשְׁמַע פַּרְעֹה אֶת-הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה, וַיְבַקֵּשׁ לַהֲרֹג אֶת-מֹשֶׁה; וַיִּבְרַח מֹשֶׁה מִפְּנֵי פַרְעֹה, וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֶרֶץ-מִדְיָן וַיֵּשֶׁב עַל-הַבְּאֵר.
Shemos (Exodus) Chapter 2
11 It was in those days when Moshe was grown that he [began] to go out to his brethren, and he saw their burdens [hard labor]. [One day] he saw an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew brethren.
12 He [Moshe] looked all around and [when] he saw that no man was there [watching], he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
13 He went out the next day, and behold two Hebrew men were quarreling. And he said to the wicked one, “Why are you beating your friend?”
14 He [the wicked one] said, “Who made you a man, officer and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moshe was frightened, and he said, “So the matter is known.”
15 Pharaoh heard about the matter, and he planned to kill Moshe. Moshe fled from Pharaoh, and resided in the land of Midian, and he sat [lived] near the well.
Questions to Consider
- What does this story tell us about the Jewish concept of “growing up”?
- When is it appropriate to intervene in other people’s affairs? Shouldn’t you mind your own business?
THE TRAITS OF A LEADER & HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PEOPLE
שמות יב:ג
וְהָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה, עָנָו מְאֹד--מִכֹּל, הָאָדָם, אֲשֶׁר, עַל-פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה.
Shemos (Exodus) 12:3
The man, Moshe [was] most humble, more so than any other person on the face of the earth.
ערכין יז.
פליגי בה רבי יהודה נשיאה ורבנן חד אמר דור לפי פרנס וחד אמר פרנס לפי דורו.
Talmud Archin 17a
Rabbi Yehuda Nasia and the Sages had an argument. One said, the generation is as good as their leader, the other said, the leader is as good as the generation.
Questions to Consider
- If a leader is the one who has to make the final decision, what role does humility have?
- What is the root of the dispute whether a leader is a product of his generation or the generation is a product of the people?
- How should a leader relate to those he is leading?