Leap of Faith: You don’t have to be Jewish to lead Jewishly
As JCoSS school gets a new head teacher we ask whether it matters what denomination they are
A story is told of a rabbi and a soap-maker who were walking down the road. The soap maker asked the rabbi what purpose religion had, given that after so many years of teaching and learning there was still so much misery and sadness in the world. The rabbi didn’t reply, but as she continued walking with the soap-maker she pointed to a child on the street. “See this child?” she said. “All the soap in the world for so many years, and yet this child is so dirty.”
The soap-maker responded to the rabbi: “Don’t be silly, soap is only good if it is used.”
“So too is Judaism,” the rabbi replied.
I love this story because it helps to articulate something essential about being Jewish, spelt out in the Torah when God says: “Kedoshim tihyu” (you SHALL be holy), a phrase that situates us permanently in a future oriented state. Judaism is a verb, not a noun. It’s not a state of being, it’s a way of being.
When I think of Jewish leadership, I think not of a leader as a vessel, Jewish or not, but rather of their actions. JCoSS, our community’s first cross-communal school, has been led by a headteacher who is not a Jew, but whose leadership has been wholly Jewish, committed to learning, values, and the diversity of tradition.
Being a communal leader is a huge privilege and a huge responsibility. Sometimes a leader without personal Jewish baggage is able to better meet the diverse needs of a Jewish community because it creates an imperative to listen, and to not assume to understand. Equally, a Jewish leader’s lived experience and personal insight gives them huge advantages too, and they can be a role model for how to live out Jewish teachings and values in their lives. How someone manages the unique challenges of serving a community is arguably a reflection of their personal leadership style, not their faith.
As a new headteacher prepares to take on the role, our question should not be whether it is important that those in leadership are Jewish, but whether they lead Jewishly.
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