As we enter a new year, the noise of public life grows louder, commentary layered over outrage, opinion edged with mockery, and the easy currency of bombast traded for attention. In moments like these, volume can easily be mistaken for vision.
But Jewish communal life cannot afford leadership defined by spectacle or paralyzed by fear. Our institutions, large and small, national and local, need leaders prepared to stand up and be counted.
Jewish leadership did not begin in comfort. It began with Moses, who resisted authority, doubted his capacity, and questioned why he was chosen.
Yet he stepped forward because the moment required it. His story reminds us that leadership is not about personal confidence; it is about responsibility. It is about placing principle above popularity and service above self-protection.
Humility, in Jewish tradition, is not the absence of strength; it is its foundation.
Our sages captured this ethic in a single line: “B’makom she’ein anashim, hishtadel lihyot ish”—“In a place where there are no people, strive to be a person.”
When courage is scarce, step into the breach. When the climate is harsh, speak with integrity. When others shrink back, rise.
Today’s Jewish leaders are facing pressures no recent generation has confronted. The challenge is not only the relentless churn of public commentary; it is the increasingly complex forces arrayed against decency and truth. The question for leaders is whether we can hold fast to our mission and values and lead in ways that are both bold and admirable.
We must not succumb to either the siren’s call of bombast nor to wish-casting away the real problems we must urgently confront.
This clarity is especially necessary as antisemitism intensifies. National monitoring groups report that antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and public hostility have reached record levels in recent years—a warning sign not only for Jewish safety but for the integrity of American civic life.
When minority communities feel increasingly vulnerable, it signals strain within the broader democratic fabric.
Addressing antisemitism is therefore not simply a security concern; it is a matter of civic responsibility. Leaders who respond firmly without fury and without cruelty reinforce the norms that allow all communities to flourish.
Global monitoring groups note similarly elevated threats abroad, underscoring that the pressures facing Jewish communities are part of a wider upheaval that tests both communal cohesion and civic norms.
The point is not to recite statistics but to recognize that communal leadership today requires moral clarity, public courage, and a steady commitment to our core values.
Jewish tradition offers tools for precisely this moment. Tzelem Elohim—the belief that every person carries inherent dignity—calls us to speak clearly without cruelty, firmly without fury, courageously without bravado. And machloket l’shem shamayim—argument for the sake of heaven—models principled disagreement that seeks understanding rather than victory.
- In a time when outrage is rewarded, this discipline is a form of leadership itself.
This translates into a set of core commitments:
Truth over convenience. Commit to facts—internally, externally, and publicly—even when
inconvenient. - Courage over quietism. Resist the instinct to retreat into silence when communities need
clarity. - Dignity over noise. Model restraint and precision rather than matching the fury of the
moment. - Principle over pressure. Let mission—not political winds or donor impulses—set the
course. - Accountability over applause. Measure impact by the people and values in our care, not
by headlines or trends.
This is where Jewish leadership and civic leadership intertwine. Jewish tradition insists that power
must serve people; healthy civic life demands the same. Jewish leadership teaches that
disagreement can be sacred when it is honest and aimed at understanding; democracy depends on
precisely that discipline.
Jewish ethics call us to see the divine image in every person; civic leadership requires recognizing the dignity and rights of every neighbor. The two callings reinforce one another.
Jewish communal leaders have a rare opportunity and responsibility. If we meet this moment with steadiness and moral clarity, we do more than serve our own institutions. We strengthen the civic culture that allows Jewish life to thrive. We uphold the norms that protect all vulnerable communities.
And we remind our nation that leadership grounded in dignity and courage can elevate not only a community, but the public square itself.
The times demand this. Our tradition demands this. And our communities are strongest when leaders are willing—calmly, faithfully, and bravely—to stand up and be counted.
