What Israel taught me this week about what it truly means to lead.

Leadership is one of those words we use so easily that we forget what it costs.
Titles are cheap. Platforms are plentiful. Opinions are everywhere.

But responsibility — real responsibility — reveals itself only in the moments when someone has every reason to collapse and somehow chooses not to.

This past week in Israel, I encountered people who are not “leaders” in the formal sense, yet embodied the deepest form of Jewish leadership: the kind built not from authority, but from presence, truth-telling, and moral courage in the aftermath of unthinkable pain.

Their stories reshaped my understanding of what responsible Jewish leadership really requires.

Witnessing is not passive. It is not merely seeing.
Witnessing is a form of leadership because it is a form of responsibility.

Standing in front of someone whose world has been broken — and not looking away — is an act of moral solidarity. It says:

“Your pain is real.
You matter.
I am here.”

In Judaism, leadership has always been relational.
Moshe Rabbeinu led because he could not walk past suffering without stopping.
The prophets led because they insisted on naming truths the people wished to avoid.
The rabbis led because they preserved memory in times of rupture.

Leadership begins with the courage to stand in front of another human being and hold their truth.

This week, I saw that courage everywhere.

One of the quietest, strongest leaders I encountered was not a politician, nor a rabbi, nor an activist.
She was a woman from one of the kibbutzim which was........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)