To discover what kind of religious leadership helps to build strong Jewish communities, Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard, director of organizational development at the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, recently interviewed five successful Jewish religious leaders from various denominations. He isolated five key insights for anyone wishing to exercise leadership in a religious community.

1. Religious leaders honor personal integrity. They teach that one can negotiate the tensions that inevitably exist within a truly diverse community without compromising oneself and or asking others to compromise themselves. Good religious leaders model the preservation of one's integrity without requiring that one be judgmental of others who make different choices.

2. Religious leaders are not afraid of imprecision. Communities as diverse as our own cannot be led by leaders who insist on uniformity, unanimity, or the logical coherence of all communal positions and policies. Capable leaders will cultivate their capacity to tolerate ambiguity.

3. Religious leaders are willing to take unpopular stands. They accept that they will sometimes feel out of sync &151 with the communities they lead. Their commitment to the community is long-term, and this helps them avoid the temptation to be overly concerned with short-term popularity.

4. Religious leaders are committed to serious scripture study and scholarship, for both themselves and their communities. Leaders are learners and help communities educate themselves. They build community by offering people a vision of religious possibilities and then work with them to help them become the Jews they want to be.

5. Religious leaders lead through vital personal relationships. They know and care about the people in their community and share in their trials, tragedies, and triumphs. By being down in the trenches with them -- talking with them, arguing with them, celebrating and suffering with them -- religious leaders are there for them as well. Strong communities depend on strong connections between members and between members and leaders. Religious leaders embrace these connections and are embraced by their communities in turn.

Rabbi Blanchard wants to know your thoughts and reactions. Email him at tblanchard@clal.org.

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