Arguments for the Sake of Heaven

At last year's graduation ceremony, I quoted one of the children of Rabbi Ariav Yust, a fellow in Cohort 19 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. When asked what the Mandel Leadership Institute is, his answer was: "That's where dad argues a lot."

The Institute is indeed a place of many arguments. The type of argument that takes place here is what the sages called "an argument for the sake of heaven" – arguments whose goal is not to defeat the other, but rather to attempt to reach the truth together. According to the Mishnah in Avot (Chapter 5, Mishnah 17), the antithesis of an argument for the sake of heaven is the argument of Korach and his followers, as described in this week's Torah portion. According to this interpretation, all that mattered to Korach were the questions: Who has more power? Why is Moses the boss and not me?

The Mishnah uses Korach as a symbol, but there is a little Korach in each of us. Everyone has an ego, and in the real world there is no dispute that is entirely free of personal motives. But just as each of us has a little Korach inside of us, there is also within us a little Moses - a leader with values, driven by vision, who does not demand honor, but rather, “in a place where there is no man,” tries to be a man.

If someone were to ask me to explain what the Mandel Leadership Institute is while standing on one foot, I would say that it is a home for leaders for the sake of heaven. At the Institute, we do not try to change human nature. We are trying to build a home for educational leaders where arguments for the sake of heaven are the norm and not the exception.

There are those who would accuse us of being disconnected from reality, of living in a bubble: "It might be like that at Mandel, but in the real world it's different."

There's definitely room to ask ourselves anew each day whether we are sufficiently involved in society and whether we can do more. However, I never apologize for the bubble that we have created here. This bubble is a real social need and more precious than gold. The rules of the game here – listening and criticism; lateral thinking and long-term planning; a discourse that connects theory and practice; a meeting between different sectors and world views; and even more basic practices, such as always arriving on time and being prepared in advance – are indeed rare in the professional worlds from which you come and to which you will return.

But the world inside the Institute is no less real than the outside world. On the contrary: the fact that here, at the Institute, we can live like this, proves that this is a viable alternative.

In 1897 John Dewey wrote in "My Pedagogic Creed": "I believe that education ... is a process of living and not a preparation for future living."

We believe the same thing. The studies at the Mandel Leadership Institute are not a preparation for future living, but rather, they are themselves a way of life. Yes, it is harder outside. But here at the Institute one can see how things can be different. What the fellows do at the Institute, day after day, week by week, are things that can continue to be done – although in different proportions and in different ways – in the "real world" outside.

To succeed in this difficult task, every Mandel graduate must – paradoxically – leave the Institute and go it alone. As Wittgenstein's wrote in Philosophical Investigations: "He must, so to speak, throw away the ladder after he has climbed up on it."

In order to bring your educational visions to life you will have to build yourselves your own bubbles – each of you in your own professional setting – a bubble within which to live, think and act differently.

I don’t need to wish you success because I know that you will succeed. So, instead, my wish for you is that the path to success will be pleasant, surprising and inspiring.

Excerpts from remarks by Dr. Eli Gottlieb at the Mandel Leadership Institute end-of-year celebrations, June 19, 2012