Lessons in Leadership

Overview

In this companion volume to his celebrated series Covenant & Conversation, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks mines the weekly Torah portions for insights into the nature of power, authority, and leadership. Based on the understanding that no man is born a leader, the book explores the principles, and perils, of becoming one. Profound, eloquent, and deeply inspiring, Lessons in Leadership reveals the biblical secrets of influence, as relevant now as they were three thousand years ago.

This is the first series of C&C essays that focuses on one clear theme running through the Torah, and it inspired Rabbi Sacks to write four further volumes on the themes of Ethics, Faith, Spirituality, and the Life-Changing Ideas to be discovered within the parshiyot.

Index

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A

• Aaron 67, 135, 136–7, 139
  • close to the people 306
  • on Cushite women 270
  • and the Golden Calf 107–9, 111
  • and priesthood 131–2, 191
  • and water from the rock 211
• Abel 4, 9
• Abrabanel (Abarbanel) 243, 264
• Abraham
  • buys burial plot for Sarah 23–4
  • challenges God 6, 22, 160
  • on children 284
  • and collective responsibility 22
  • commanded to leave his home 13–14, 19
  • and Eliezer 130
  • exercises responsibility 20–1
  • freed from pressure to conform 16
  • influence without power 15
  • marries after Sarah’s death 26
  • seeks wife for Isaac 221
• Absalom 42, 82
• accusations, false 57
• Acton, Lord 124
• Adam
  • and blame 305
  • failed to take personal responsibility 3–4, 11, 20
  • and God 6
• Aeschylus 190
• Agnon, S. Y. 249
• aguna cases 253
• Ahitophel 42
• Alkalai, Yehuda 172
• Altamira cave paintings 83
• Amadeus (Shaffer) 57
• Amalekites 79, 80, 83, 271
• Amazon.com 172
• ambassadors, of the Jewish people 166, 167
• America
  • and art of association 96
  • and covenant 279, 280
• Amida 143
• Amos 165
• Amram 62
• amygdala hijack 112
• ancient Egyptians 281–2
• Ancient Greece, visual culture 252
• Asch, Solomon 15, 16, 161
• Auden, W. H. 151
• Auschwitz, sixtieth anniversary of the liberation 255
• authoritarian leadership 308
• authority
  • charismatic 65
  • differentiated from leadership 64
• Avihu 137, 138, 139

B

• Babel, Tower of 19
• Bachya, Rabbenu 124, 243, 264
• Bakshi-Doron, Rabbi Eliyahu 64
• Balaam 217–19, 220
• Balak 218
• Bava Metzia 158
• Beatles 57
• Beck, Aaron T. 296
• Becker, Ernest 282
• Beebe, William 161
• Being and Nothingness (Sartre) 178
• Ben Azzai 154–5
• Ben-Gurion, David
  • historian 77
  • on leadership 243–4
  • and reading 266, 307
• Benjamin 52
• Ben Nannas 155
• Bennis, Warren 16
• Ben Pazzi 155
• Ben Zoma 155, 170
• Berdyaev, Nicolai 249–50
• bereavement 213
• Berlin, Isaiah 126
• Bezos, Jeff 172
• Bilhah 42
• Binyan Av 64
• Bitya 63–4
• blame 4, 294, 305
• The Book of the Dead 282
• boundary maintenance 101
• bowling alone 186
• Brin, Sergei 172
• Brooks, David 310
• Buffett, Warren 172–3
• builders 112, 114
• Burning Bush 142, 255
• Burns, James MacGregor 154, 273
• the bystander effect 5

C

• Cain
  • denies moral responsibility 4, 11, 20, 305
  • warned by God 9
• Caleb 200
• Canetti, Elias 112
• causes 260
• celebration, of achievement 115, 117, 118–19
• census 125, 183–4, 186
• Chamberlain, Neville 54, 260
• change 148–9
• charismatic authority 65
• children
  • and education 74, 75
  • and immortality through 284
  • promised by God 25, 26
• Churchill, Winston 37, 54, 57, 68
  • on freedom 275
  • historian 77
  • statue 279
  • and success and failure 301
  • suffered from depression 33
  • wrote almost fifty books 266, 307
• civil disobedience 63
• Clinton, Bill 37, 54
• collective responsibility 11, 20, 22, 180, 280
• Collins, Jim 69, 156
• communication 27–30
• complaints 94, 212
• concubines 42
• confidants 214
• confidence 43–4, 45, 200–1
• Confidence (Kanter) 200–1
• conflict 38, 125, 130–2
• conflict resolution 227–31
• conformism 161
• conformity 13, 15–16
• consensus 288, 289, 290–1
• consultation 288, 290
• Coolidge, Calvin 70
• counselling 254
• counterpoint 103
• counting 169–70, 183–4, 186
• covenant
  • American 178, 179, 279, 280
  • established moral limits of power 86
  • and immortality 283–4, 285, 286
  • Moses commanded by God to propose 87
  • and politics 177–8
  • and responsibility 179
• covenantal narrative 279
• Cover, Robert 91–2
• creation, in Exodus as well as Genesis 116
• creative minority 171, 237
• crises 33, 94, 129–32, 153, 215, 237, 244
• Cuban Missile Crisis 29
• critical followership 158, 159–60, 161
• criticism 103, 138, 144, 160, 161
  • can hurt 214
  • constructive 29
  • love in 236
• The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (Le Bon) 112, 185
• crowd behaviour 184–6
• Crowds and Power (Canetti) 112
• Crusades 176
• Cuba
  • Bay of Pigs Invasion 160–1
• Cuban Missile Crisis 29–30
• curses 175, 176–7, 259, 261, 283
  • and Balaam 217, 218, 219
  • Jacob to Reuben 42
• Cushite women 142, 270
• cyberbullying 141, 144–5

D

• Daniel Deronda (Eliot) 172
• David, King
  • and Absalom 82–3
  • chooses Solomon 221
  • and counting 184
  • and Nathan 54, 160
  • ordered a census 125
  • wrote Psalms 266
• death 281–4
• delegation, and leadership 50, 86, 213, 303
• Democracy in America (Tocqueville) 96
• The Denial of Death (Becker) 282
• De Pree, Max 261
• depression 33
• Deuteronomy
  • 1:10 248
  • 4:6 236
  • 4:32–33 247
  • 4:32–34 164
  • 6:4 155, 248
  • 6:5 248
  • 6–17 264
  • 7:1 248
  • 7:6 248
  • 7:7 248
  • 7:12 251
  • 7:17–18 248
  • 8:17 95
  • 9:5 258
  • 9:19–20 108
  • 9:24 301
  • 10:17–18 223
  • 10:22 248
  • 11:13 251
  • 11:26–28 257
  • 17:9 102
  • 17:14 264, 303
  • 17:18–20 207
  • 17:19 265, 307
  • 17:19–20 264
  • 17:20 243
  • 23:8 269
  • 24:9 142
  • 26:5–8 277
  • 28:68 177
  • 29:13–14 283
  • 30:1–4 235
  • 30:4 177
  • 30:12–13 285
  • 30:15, 19 258, 283
  • 31:7 287
  • 31:12 284
  • 31:19 284
  • 31:23 287
  • 31:27 301
  • 32:1–6 293–4
  • 32:15 124
  • 33:10 102
  • 34:5 190
  • 34:6 282
  • 34:7 26, 54, 70, 299
  • 34:10 154, 217–18
• Deutscher, Guy 265–6
• dignity 155, 185, 190, 237, 243
  • equal 192, 207, 258
  • and free speech 145
  • and listening 254
  • and Rabban Gamliel 308
  • and racism 269
  • and vision 306
  • and what we do for God 97
• disciples 44, 45, 148, 160, 285, 308
• discipline 155, 156
• Disraeli, Benjamin 266, 307
• Divine Providence 56, 58
• Donne, John 22
• dreams 43, 47–50, 51, 156, 276, 306
• Dreyfus, Alfred 57
• Dweck, Carol 149–50

E

• Ecclesiastes 272, 282
• Edison, Thomas 90
• Edom 271
• education, and survival of Judaism 74–6, 196
• Egyptians
  • built pyramids 74
  • and death 281–2
  • Moses says should not hate 270–1
• Eisenhower, Dwight D. 290
• Elazar b. Arakh, R. 45, 148, 150
• Elazar HaKappar, R. 192
• Eldad 193, 195
• Eliezer 130
• Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, R. 45, 148, 150
• Elijah 221
• Eliot, George 172
• Elisha 221
• Elizabeth II, Queen 255
• emotional intelligence 81–2
• emuna 219
• England, based on hierarchy and tradition 279–80
• envy 57, 190–1, 192
• Esau 27–8, 271, 272
  • Jacob gives him back the blessing 38
  • Jacob wanted to be 35–6
• Eve 3–4, 6, 11, 20, 305
• evil, and God 6
• evil speech 141–5
• Exodus
  • 1:8 270
  • 1:17 62
  • 2:10 61
  • 2:12 4
  • 2:14 309
  • 2:23–25 91
  • 3:4 138
  • 4 255
  • 4:1 142, 308
  • 4:10 186–7
  • 4:30–31 67
  • 5:21 67
  • 5:22 6, 160, 219
  • 5:22–23 68
  • 6:12 68
  • 11:3 223
  • 12:26–27 74
  • 13:8 74
  • 13:14 74
  • 14:11–12 94
  • 14:13 79
  • 17:1–7 212
  • 17:9 79
  • 17:11–12 80
  • 18:17 50, 86, 305
  • 18:18 213
  • 18:19–22 86–7
  • 19:4–6 87
  • 19:6 88, 90, 309
  • 21:2–3 90
  • 22:21 91
  • 22:21–22 91
  • 23:12 91
  • 25:8 206
  • 29:39 155
  • 30:11–12 184
  • 32:1 111
  • 32:1–4 107
  • 32:22–24 107
  • 32:25 111–12
  • 32:32 219, 236
  • 39:32, 43 115
  • 40:38 206
• explanation, and causes 260
• Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Mackay) 112, 184–5
• Ezekiel
  • 2:3–5 10–11
  • 33:1–6 76
  • 36:19 165
• Ezra 171

F

• failure 68–70, 71, 108, 301, 310
  • and risk 150
  • two kinds 105
• false accusations 57
• fate 296
• favouritism 41, 44, 45
• First Temple 9–10, 233
• Fisher, Roger 229–30
• focused praise 147–8
• followers 309
• followership 158, 159–60, 161
• forgiveness, birth of 56
• fortuna 105
• Frankl, Viktor 253, 260, 296
• freedom 6, 73, 75–6, 90, 275
• free speech 145
• Freud, Sigmund
  • and listening cure 253
  • Moses and Monotheism 252
  • on Thanatos 282
• friendship 214
• Frost, Robert 17

G

• Gad 227–32
• Game Theory 272
• Gamliel, Rabban 208, 304, 308
• Gandhi, Mahatma 33, 68, 250, 275
• Gardner, Howard 275
• Gates, Bill 172
• Genesis
  • 1:26 289–90
  • 2:1–3 116
  • 2:7 29, 143
  • 2:18 86, 296, 305
  • 3:9–12 3
  • 4:6–7 9
  • 4:8–10 4
  • 5:1 154–5
  • 6:6 8
  • 6:9 7, 8, 22
  • 6:13 21–2
  • 6:22 22
  • 7:1 8
  • 7:5 22
  • 7:9 22
  • 9:20–23 7–8
  • 11:4 19
  • 11:7 251
  • 12:1 13, 19
  • 12:2 25
  • 13:6 25
  • 13:8–9 20
  • 13:17 25
  • 14:18 87, 303
  • 15:2 284
  • 15:5 25
  • 17:1 22
  • 17:5 25
  • 18:17–21 21
  • 18:19 14
  • 18:23–25 21
  • 18:25 6, 160
  • 23:4 23
  • 23:6 23–4
  • 24:1 24
  • 24:2 24
  • 24:12 130
  • 24:63 27
  • 24:65 27
  • 25:23 27, 271
  • 25:28 36
  • 27:3–4 28
  • 27:29 38
  • 27:33 28
  • 27:35 28, 36
  • 28:12–17 31–2
  • 29:32–33 43–4
  • 29:35 53
  • 30:1 284
  • 30:14 41
  • 32:7 36
  • 32:29–31 32
  • 32:31 35
  • 33:5 38
  • 33:8 38
  • 33:11 38
  • 35:19–22 42
  • 37:2 142
  • 37:21–22 43
  • 37:26–27 53
  • 38:1 51
  • 38:26 53
  • 41:32 47
  • 41:45 303
  • 42:37 52
  • 44:33 53
  • 44:33–34 52
  • 45:3–8 56
  • 47:9 28, 34
  • 49:3 41
  • 49:4 42
  • 49:29–32 24
  • 50:19–21 55–6
• genocide, in Rwanda 272
• Genovese syndrome 5
• Gergen, David 37
• get 253
• Getting to Yes (Fisher and Ury) 230
• Gideon 306–7
• Girard, René 36, 38
• Gladstone, William 265–6, 307
• God
  • and Aaron 107
  • challenged by Abraham 6, 22
  • chooses active, critical followers 160
  • and command 288–9, 291
  • and the covenant 87
  • create a space for 202–3
  • and Ezekiel 10–11, 76
  • and freedom 75–6
  • giving the Israelites strength 80–1
  • individuals matter to 185–6
  • is in life 285
  • and listening 252–3
  • and Moses 68, 142, 219
  • name 163–4
  • and power 195–6
  • promises children and land 25
  • responsibility given to us by 95, 294
  • says not good for man to be alone 305
  • and Sodom 21–2
  • tells Abraham to leave his home 13–14
  • trying to hide from 3
  • warned Cain 9
  • what we do for transforms us 97, 297
  • and words 143
• Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 190–1
• Golden Calf 94, 107–8, 111, 112, 153, 219
• Golding, William 57
• Goleman, Daniel 81–2
• Good to Great (Collins) 156
• gossip 143, 144
• Great by Choice (Collins) 156
• greatness 139, 166, 167, 301
• The Great Partnership (Sacks) 260
• Greece 252
• groupthink 161
• The Guide for the Perplexed 222, 225
• guilt morality 29, 296–7
• Gyges’ ring 145

H

• Habakkuk 160
• HaKohen of Dvinsk, Rabbi Meir Simcha 125
• Hale, John 57
• Hamlet (Shakespeare) 56
• Hand, Judge Learned 75
• Hardy, Barbara 276
• Harvard Negotiation Project 229–30
• Hasmonean kings 100, 103, 171, 234
• hate 270–3
• Heifetz, Ronald 214, 310
• Hellenistic era 102
• Heller, Joseph 56
• herd behaviour 184
• Herzl, Theodor 49–50
• ĥesed 180
• Hess, Moses 172
• Hillel 151, 186
• ĥillul Hashem (Chillul) 163, 165
• Himmelfarb, Milton 166
• Hirsch, Zvi 172
• historical time 101
• history, and memory 278
• Hitler, Adolf 273
• Hittites 23–4
• Hobbes, Thomas 14, 196
• ĥokhma (chochmah) 85, 266–7, 303
• “holiness code” 157–8
• Holmes, Sherlock 281
• home 97
• The Home We Build Together (Sacks) 279
• hope 201–2, 235–7, 297
• Hosea 35, 36
• hubris 19
• humility 208, 264, 304, 310
• Hutner, Rabbi Yitzhak 69–70

I

• Ibn Ezra 243, 264
• Ibn Khaldun 171
• idealism 300, 301, 302
• identity 37–9, 130, 131
• idols 14
• immortality 283–4, 285, 286, 302
• impatience 309
• impetuosity 138
• Impressionists 68
• individualism 186
• individuality 186
• individuals
• importance of to God 185–6
• leaders must respect 187
• influence 15, 194, 195, 196, 197, 244
• Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War (Trotter) 112
• Internet 144–5, 273
• interpretation, and search for meaning 260
• intertextuality 116
• Iran 14
• Isaac
  • Abraham seeks a wife for 24–5, 221
  • and Rebecca 27–8
• Isaiah 138, 234–7, 271, 306
  • 11:9 15
  • 40:26 83
  • 43:10 164
  • 49:3 144, 165
  • 57:19 52
• ish 222–3
• Israel, helping Kosovo Albanian refugee children 179–80
• Israelites
  • and the Amalekites 79–81
  • complaints 94
  • and the Sanctuary 117
• Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma 272

J

• Jackson, General Sir Michael 179
• Jacob
  • and Benjamin 52
  • and cave of Makhpela (Machpelah) 24
  • and dreams 306
  • and Esau 35–6, 271, 272
  • the great survivor 33, 34
  • and Leah 44
  • and Rebecca 27
  • and Reuben 41, 42
  • spiritual encounters 31–2
  • struggles with identity 37–8
• Jefferson, Thomas 279
• Jeremiah 36, 138, 160, 171, 306
  • 12:1 6
  • and the Three Weeks 234–7
• Jeroboam 125, 126
• Jews’ College 254
• Joab 82–3
• Joan of Arc 57
• Job 7, 160, 282
• Jobs, Steve 57, 90
• Joel 306
• Johnson, Lyndon Baines 178
• Jonah 138, 306
• Joseph
  • and Divine Providence 58
  • and dreams 47–9, 50, 306
  • and Judah 51–3
  • and lashon hara 142–3
  • and Potiphar’s wife 130–1
  • reconciled with his brothers 55–6
  • and Reuben 43
• Josephus 234
• Joshua 79, 193–5, 207, 225, 307
  • 1:8 265
  • 2:9–11 200
  • 22:1–4 231
  • and Reubenites and Gadites 229
  • takes over from Moses 287, 292
• joy 259, 310
• Jubilee 169–70
• Judah 51–3, 54
  • tribes 52, 126
• Judaism
  • God’s call to responsibility 6, 22
  • marked preference for society rather than state 95–6
  • religion of protest 6
• Judges 206, 306–7

K

• Kaddish 249–50
• Kanter, Rosabeth Moss 200–1
• Karadzic, Radovan 272
• kavod 190
• kehilla 111
• Kennedy, John F. 37, 54, 138, 160–1
  • and Khrushchev 29, 30
• Kennedy, Robert F. 76
• Khrushchev, Nikita 29, 30
• kiddush Hashem 163, 164–5, 166
• kindness, acts of 180
• King Jr, Martin Luther 37, 208, 272, 275–6, 305
  • covenantal narrative 279
  • “I have a dream” speech 50
  • suffered from depression 33
• kings 100, 103, 171, 207–8, 234, 307
  • political leaders 306
  • power of 195, 243, 264–5
  • and wisdom 266–7
    • see also David, King; Saul, King
• Korah 194, 195, 205–6, 209
• Korea, North 14
• Korean Air 160
• Kosovo Albanian refugees 179–80
• Kotzker Rebbe 50

L

• Lamm, Rabbi Norman 114, 166
• land, promised by God 25, 26
• Landes, David 201
• lashon hara 141–5
• lashon hatov 147–8, 151
• law, and the Torah 92
• Leadership (Burns) 154, 273
• Leadership on the Line (Heifetz and Linsky) 310
• Leading Minds (Gardner) 275
• Leah 41, 42, 43–4, 53
• learning
  • keeps you young 301–2
  • and leadership 265–6, 267, 307–8
• Le Bon, Gustave 112, 185
• leprosy 142
• Levi, tribe of 102, 191
• Leviticus
  • 9:7 136
  • 19:17–18 157
  • 19:18 155
  • 22:32 163
  • 23:15–16 169
  • 25:8–10 169–70
  • 26:36–37 175
  • 26:44–45 177
• Lewis, Bernard 51
• Lewis, C. S. 208
• life, choosing 286
• Lincoln, Abraham 33, 37, 68, 234, 260, 279
  • on freedom 73
  • and success and failure 301
• Linsky, Marty 214, 310
• listening 253–5
• listening cure 253
• long-term thinking 170–1, 172
• looking up 83, 84, 203
• Lord of the Flies (Golding) 57
• Lot 20, 130
• love
  • and counting 183–4, 186
  • keyword of Deuteronomy 259
  • through criticism 236
• loyalty 219, 220

M

• Maccabees 171
• Machiavelli, Niccolò 105
• MacIntyre, Alasdair 276
• Mackay, Charles 112, 184–5
• Macmillan, Harold 33
• Maimonides, Moses see Rambam
• Makhpela, cave of 24
• Malachi 102, 271, 307
• malice 58, LL.260, LL.279
• Mandela, Nelson 68, 73
• mandrakes 41
• Maslow, Abraham 292
• Mattityahu 103
• McNamara, Robert 29
• Mead, Margaret 250
• meanings 260–1
• Medad 193, 195
• Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk, Rabbi 125
• Melchizedek 87, 303
• memory
  • definition 278
  • and Passover 74
• menora 207, 304
• mensch 223
• Milgram, Stanley 161
• Milosevic, Slobodan 272
• Milton, John 265
• mimetic desire 36
• Mindset (Dweck) 150
• miners’ union 224
• Miriam 62, 212–13, 214–15, 219
  • on Cushite women 142, 270
  • led the women 306
• mirroring 81
• Mishkan 93, 97, 112, 135
  • see also Tabernacle
• Mishna Avot 44–5, 150, 151, 186
• monarchy 86, 99–100, 243, 264
  • see also kings
• Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat 99, 263
• moral failure 108
• morality of guilt 296–7
• moral responsibility 4, 11, 20, 21, 22
• Moses 4–5, 54, 61, 67–8, 94, 225, 247–9
  • and Aaron 108, 131–2, 136
  • and the Amalekites 80–1, 83
  • appoints seventy elders 193–4
  • blessed the Israelites 117, 118–19
  • blesses the tribe of Levi 102
  • burial place unknown 282–3
  • and the burning bush 255
  • calls the Torah a song 129
  • on choosing life 286
  • and consensus 288, 289, 290–1
  • and the covenant 87
  • death 70
  • defining reality 257–9, 261
  • describing a nation in flight from its enemies 175–7
  • and Deuteronomy 307
  • on duty of parents to educate their children 74, 75–6
  • energy unabated when he died 299–300
  • and envy 191
  • and failure 69
  • farewell words 293–5
  • and God 6, 160, 164, 284–5
  • and the Golden Calf 107, 111, 112, 153–4
  • great and humble 223
  • hands over to Joshua 194–5, 287, 292
  • on hate 270–1, 272, 273
  • his leadership criticised 309
  • on his successor 308
  • hitting the rock 211–12
  • on hope 297
  • and ideals 301
  • is loyal 219
  • on life and death 283
  • and listening 254
  • and long-term thinking 170–1
  • and Miriam 142, 212–13, 214–15
  • on need to look up 83, 84
  • never gave up the fight 302
  • not a man of words 186–7
  • and reluctance 138
  • and Reuben and Gad 227–31
  • and servant leadership 207–9
  • a servant of God 190, 304
  • stayed young 26
  • and succession 221–2
  • and the Tabernacle 94
  • takes responsibility 305–6
  • as teacher 196, 241–2, 245
  • and team building 114
  • telling stories 276–7, 280
  • thought further ahead than anyone else 77
  • and the Three Weeks 234–7
  • warns not to forget 278
• Moses and Monotheism (Freud) 252
• motivation, by celebration 119
• Mourner’s Kaddish 249–50
• multiple intelligences 275
• Munk, Rabbi Elie 125
• murder, of Abel by Cain 4

N

• Nadav 137–8, 139
• name, God’s 163
• narrative 91, 92, 279
• nasi 124
• Nathan 54, 159–60
• nationalism 14
• Nazirite 191
• Nehemiah 171
• Neĥemiah (Nechemiah), R. 127
• Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin) 27
• Noah (Noach)
  • failed the test of collective responsibility 11–12, 20
  • and God 21–2, 25
  • a righteous man 7–9, 11, 305
• nomos 91, 92
• North Korea 14
• Nowak, Martin 272
• nuclear weapons 14
• Numbers
  • 2:3 190
  • 2:13 213
  • 6:22 219
  • 10:12 211
  • 11:15 193
  • 11:29 193–4, 195
  • 12:1 142, 213
  • 12:3 207, 223
  • 12:7 219
  • 12:13 219
  • 13:27–33 199
  • 14:19 219
  • 15:14–15 200
  • 16:3 205
  • 16:28–30 194
  • 20:1 212
  • 20:2 212
  • 20:10–11 211
  • 20:24 108
  • 22:6 217, 218
  • 27:16–17 221–2, 223
  • 27:16-17 308
  • 27:18 222
  • 27:18–20 194
  • 32:5 227–8
  • 32:6–7 228
  • 32:14–15 228
• number seven 116

O

• Obama, Barack 178
• Omer 169, 170
• optimism, definition 201, 235
• Other, is God 6

P

• pace 308
• Page, Larry 172
• parents, duty of to educate their children 74
• passion 300
• Passover, and handing on of memory 74
• patience 309
• Pearl, Judea 272
• penitents 52–3
• person-centred therapy 254
• Pharaoh
  • dreams 48
  • and Joseph 47
  • and Moses 67–8
• Pilgrim Fathers 178
• Pinhas 229
• Plato 4
• Polish Jews 176
• “Political Judgement” (Berlin) 126
• politics
  • and conflict 125
  • and covenant 177–8
  • and judgement 126–7
• popularity 37
• Potiphar’s wife 130–1
• Potiphera 303
• power
  • allows us to rule over others without their consent 14
  • belongs to God 195–7
  • and leadership 243
  • moral limits of 63, 86
  • separation of 99, 264
  • zero-sum game 194
• praise 44–5, 147–8, 149–51
• priests 87, 88, 100–2, 103
  • and Aaron 131–2, 191
  • and power 264
  • religious leadership 306
• Prisoner’s Dilemma 272
• Pristina 179, 180
• prophets 100–2, 103, 195, 264, 306
• protest
  • duty to 10, 12
  • Judaism religion of 6, 22
• Proverbs
  • 6:1 127
  • 29:18 76, 306
  • 29:23 190
• providence 56, 58
• Psalms
  • 23 309
  • 92 302
  • 121:1 83
  • 145:9 164
  • 147:19–20 86
  • and David 266
• Puah 62, 63
• Putnam, Robert 186
• pyramids 74, 206, 207, 281, 304

Q

• Qumran sect 103

R

• Rabin, Yitzhak 224
• Rachel 42, 284
• racism 269–70
• Rahab 200
• Rambam 11, 65, 157, 176, 185, 225
  • on command to write a sefer Torah 284
  • on criticism 144
  • on friendship 214
  • on kiddush Hashem 166
  • on kings 207–8, 264
  • on the Second Temple 234
  • on teachers 243
• Rashi 50, 65, 176, 222
  • on counting 183
  • on Moses handing over to Joshua 287–8
• reading 266, 307
• reality 257, 261
• Rebecca 27, 28, 271
• recovery 33
• Red Heifer 283
• Rees-Mogg, William 155–6
• Rehoboam 125–6, 233–4, 308
• The Reigning Error (Rees-Mogg) 155–6
• religious leadership 100, 137, 171–2, 190, 306
• reluctance, to lead 138
• repentance 53, 54
• repetition, significant 178
• Republic (Plato) 4
• resistance training 310
• responsibility 5, 178–9, 295, 297
  • collective 22, 180, 280
  • failure of 3–4, 11, 20, 305
  • given to us by God 6, 25–6, 95, 294
• Reuben 41–4, 52, 227–32
• righteousness 7, 8, 9–10
• risk 33–4, 150
• The Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) 68
• “Robbers Cave” experiment 113–14
• Rogers, Carl 254
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. 279
• Roosevelt, Theodore 33–4
• Rowling, J. K. 57
• Rustin, Lena 148, 149
• Rwanda 272

S

• sacred ontology 101
• Saint-Exupery, Antoine de 242
• Salanter, Rabbi Yisrael 106
• Salem witch trials 57
• Samuel
  • I 105–6
  • II 42, 82–3, 160
• Sanctuary 116–17, 135
  • see also Tabernacle
• Sarah 23–4
• Sarna, Nahum 48
• Sartre, Jean-Paul 178
• Saul, King 54, 105–6
• Sautuola, Marcelino de 83
• Schlesinger Jr, Arthur 161
• Schneerson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel 202
• Scruton, Roger 279–80
• Second Temple 234
• Seleucids 171
• self-limitation 25
• self-restraint 95
• semikha (Semichah) 195
• servant leadership 207, 304–5
• Servant Leadership (Greenleaf) 304
• setbacks 57–8, 68
• seven (number) 116
• Sforno, Rabbi Ovadiah 124
• Shaffer, Peter 57
• Shakespeare, William 166, 167
• shalshelet 130, 131, 132
• shame morality 29
• shegaga 123–4
• Shelley, Percy Bysshe 244
• Sherif, Muzafer 113
• Shifra 62, 63
• Shimon b. Netanel 148
• Shimon b. Yoĥai, R. (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai) 271, 272, 309
• Shneur Zalman of Ladi, Rabbi 6
• sibling rivalry 4
• significant repetition 178
• silence 147
• sin 3, 6, 54, 305
• Sinek, Simon 242
• sin offerings 123–4, 128
• slavery 90–1, 260
• Smith, Hannah 141, 145
• social media 145
• society 95–6, 97
• Sodom 21, 22
• Sofer, Rabbi Moses 124
• Solomon, King 125, 221, 233, 254, 266–7
• Soloveitchik, Rabbi Joseph 54, 243
• Song of Songs 270
• Spanish Jews 176
• spies sent to Canaan 143, 199–200, 202–3, 228
• The Spirit of Laws (Montesquieu) 263
• stammering 148, 149
• Stanford experiment 16
• the state 95, 96
• Steinsaltz, Rabbi Adin 87
• stories 275–80
• strangers 91
• Stravinsky, Igor 68
• strength, source of 215
• strikes 224
• success 202, 203, 300–1, 310
• Sunstein, Cass 161
• Surowiecki, James 161
• survival 69, 74, 156, 172, 196, 249
  • of Judaism 76, 156, 164, 234
  • and leadership 33
  • and Moses 154
  • of tribe of Judah 52

T

• Taamei HaMikra 129–30
• Tabernacle 93, 94, 95, 112, 115
  • and number seven 116–17
• Tamar 53
• Tarfon, R. 309
• teachers 158–9, 196, 242–3, 244–5, 307
• team building 114
• teamsmanship 305
• Temples
  • First 9–10, 233
  • Second 234
• Thanatos 282
• Thatcher, Margaret 37, 224
• Thompson Jr, Llewellyn 29–30
• Thoreau, Henry David 63
• Three Weeks 233, 234
• Through the Language Glass (Deutscher) 266
• Thucydides 14
• time 100–1, 169–70, 308, 309
• Tit-for-Tat 272
• Tocqueville, Alexis de 96, 97
• Tractate Avot 147–8
• transactional leaders 273
• transformational leaders 273, 300
• translatability, fallacy of 251–2
• Trotter, Wilfred 112
• Turkle, Sherry 186
• Tutsis 272
• Twelfth Night (Shakespeare) 166
• tzaraat 142, 145
• Tzippora 63tzitzit 203

U

• UNICEF 180
• United States 178, 179
  • see also America
• unpopularity 37 Ury, William 229–30

V

• Van Gogh, Vincent 68
• vidui bikkurim 277–8
• vision 89–90, 92, 301, 306–7

W

• water 211–12
• The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (Landes) 201
• Weber, Max 65, 154
• Weizmann, Chaim 88, 309
• “Who Is Fit to Lead the Jewish People?” (Soloveitchik) 243
• Wiesel, Elie 49–50
• wisdom 266–7, 303
• The Wisdom of Crowds (Surowiecki) 161
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig 84

Y

• Yehoshua, R. 308
• Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim 277
• Yitro 50, 85, 213, 305
  • on delegation 86–7, 303
• Yoĥanan b. Zakkai, R. (Rabbi Yochanan) 128, 171, 223
  • and his students 44–5, 147–8, 150
• Yokheved (Yocheved) 62
• Yom Kippur 154, 156

Z

• Zechariah 249
• Zedekiah 125
• zero-sum game 194, 195, 230
• Zhou Enlai 170
• ziggurats 206, 207, 304
• Zimbardo, Philip 16, 161
• Zuckerberg, Mark 172