Who Gets to Lead? Power, Politics, and Leadership in Jewish Tradition

How did Jews choose leaders before there were elections? What made Moses, kings, prophets, rabbis and communal officials legitimate? Does authority come from God, heredity, scholarship, moral character, popular consent, or simply from possessing power?

Over 13 weeks, the class will examine competing Jewish models of leadership and place them in conversation with modern democracy. The goal is not to identify which biblical character corresponds to which contemporary politician. It is to develop a more sophisticated Jewish vocabulary for evaluating leadership, institutions, elections, dissent, accountability and our own responsibilities as citizens.