Student Workbook for Leadership
Introduction If a person wants to learn about leadership, why is the Torah the proper place to look? Our rabbis have taught us that if the answer to the problem you are facing is not apparent you just need to Where did the Chazon Ish gain his medical knowledge? Resilience What is one of the most reliable indicators and predictors of true leadership? A person who acquires wealth at a young age. A person who has the ability to find meaning in negative events and to learn from even the most trying circumstances. A person who in their youth was a leader of a sports team. When a great person is challenged or faced with suffering, how can he use these challenges to his advantage?
How did Abaye s suffering make him more sensitive? 4 How do challenges bring a person to a higher level of humility? 5 Why is it that when a person pushes himself to focus on his Torah learning, even through his suffering, that he sees tremendous levels of scholarship? 6 What do we learn from the fact that,משבר the Hebrew word for crisis, means a birthing stool? In the past every birth was a crisis. In every crisis, new abilities can be born. In every crisis, new crises can be born. 7 What is the difference between a successful person and someone who is not successful? Everyone has difficulties. A successful person realizes that every problem, difficulty, or setback contains a valuable lesson that can help them be even more successful in the future. Successful people do not have any difficulties in life and can breeze through. Everyone has difficulties. A successful person tackles their problems or setbacks with more strength and energy and therefore is successful.
8 Every person has challenges and difficulties. Name two great Jewish leaders and the difficulties that they overcame. 9 Write about one challenge or setback that you had and how you grew from it. Genuineness Explain the connection between knowing the name of the person who cleans the school and greatness: What is the reason that Hashem does not bestow greatness on someone until He tests him with a small matter? 4
When Hashem tested Moshe Rabbeinu, how did Moshe prove his level of dedication? 4 Why is the way you act and what you do in private, the real test of who you are? 5 Only after a person has shown his ability to overcome annoyances with the utmost self-control can he be in charge of others. be in control of his anger. be successful financially. 6 What is the reason that the more fear of Heaven a person has, the more impact his words have? 7 What is the Torah s secret to success in public speaking? 8 What is the reason behind this success? 5
Humility Why does a humble person make a better leader? How does a leader s ego get in the way when they are not acting with humility? What does the word לבבו in his heart teach us about the way a Jewish king has to feel his humility? 4 Name three obstacles that would make it difficult for a king to be humble. 5 We learn from Moshe Rabbeinu that true humility is when a person recognizes his 6
6 What is a person with artistic genius really doing when he denies his creative flair and says his work is inferior? 7 How should the artistic genius view his talent? Commitment to Personal Growth What is the comfort zone? Why is it the great enemy of human achievement? What did researchers find out about leaders and the comfort zone? Leaders consciously avoid the comfort zone by continually setting higher goals. Once leaders reach a level of achievement, they become comfortable and stay in that zone. Leaders are people who have natural talents and they have no need to set goals or to worry about stagnating. 7
4 How do the secular books present breaking the comfort zone and reaching great heights of achievement? It is a nice thing, if you want to do it. A person who does not grow will slip backwards. A person would be a total failure in life if he did not do it. 5 How does Jewish wisdom present breaking the comfort zone and reaching great heights of achievement? It is a nice thing, if you want to do it. A person who does not grow will slip backwards. A person would be a total failure in life if he did not do it. 6 Why will a person who is not growing and improving on some level, every day, feel dissatisfied? 7 Explain what Rav Yisrael Salanter would recommend to break out of one s comfort zone: 8 How did Rav Matisyahu Salomon get the sensitivity and insight to consider the feelings of the Epsteins? 8
9 What is the reason that just desiring to be good and reach high levels of achievement is not good enough to make it happen? 0 What should a person do during the thirty minutes they set aside for themselves? Why is it that there are many values that we do not put into practice even though we know them to be true intellectually? Judaism s View on the World While the rest of the world speaks of Judaism speaks about. The world speaks about and Judaism speaks about. Entitlements Duties Obligations Rights How does the Torah view the relationship of responsibility between The rich man and the poor man. The doctor and the patient. 9
According to the Torah, what is the correct way to view our relationship with the world? What can I contribute to society? What issues can I fix in the world? What problems can I solve? What can society contribute to me? What am I entitled to? The world is so big and its problems are so great, what can I possibly do to help? 4 Why did Hashem create a world that has poverty and natural disasters? 5 What is the highest level of existence and how do we reach it? 6 Hashem could have done everything for us, providing man with all his needs. Why didn t He? 7 What is our mission as Jews in this world? 0
8 Why does taking responsibility make a person feel good and better equipped to handle life s challenges? 9 What do the vast majority of Americans chose as the single most important feature that they seek in a job? Sources How are we supposed to fulfill the mitzvah of ו ה ל כ ת ב ד ר כ י ו, to emulate Hashem s ways? What is the proper understanding of נברא העולם,בשבילי the world was created for me? What is the purpose of the stories in Chumash? They are nice stories like fairy tales from an ancient story book. They are a description of how a Jew should act. They are the history of our people, but we can t take them literally.
4 How should we view the people in the Torah? People we should try to emulate, saying to ourselves, "When will my actions reach that of my forefathers? They are nice characters, but they have nothing to do with me. Their stories are exaggerated, so there is nothing I can learn from them. 5 Why did Avraham put himself out and risk his life for Hashem and His truth? 6 How did Yehuda merit the honor of king for himself and his descendants? 7 Name three circumstances where Yehuda exhibited this trait: 8 What message should we absorb from our forefathers?
The Modern World The number of Nobel prizes Jews have won is just one small indicator that Jews have a passion for... When Rav Noach Weinberg realized that no one else would fight assimilation, he said our rabbis say מ ק ום ש א י ן א נ ש י ם, ה ש ת ד ל ל ה י ות א י ש,ב in place where there is not a man, strive to be a man. What did he mean by this? Hershel Weber the founder of Hatzalah didn t have any of the credentials or qualifications to begin such a large organization, but what did he have? Money Passion Medical expertise 4 Give two examples of where a person who genuinely accepted responsibility upon himself was helped out in supernatural ways: 5 Why is a bridegroom or chasan s sins wiped out or forgiven when he gets married?
6 What need do you see that you are going to take responsibility for? Conclusion Why did the man feel the 5 years he was in jail were the best years of his life? What is the thrill in your life that you are longing for? 4
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