Keywords
Ethics
Spirituality
Maimonides
Rabbi Dessler
Harmonized Alignment
philosophical analysis
How to Cite
Number of views: 44
Number of downloads: 41
Abstract
This article offers a comparative analysis of leadership paradigms articulated by Maimonides and Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, emphasizing their enduring relevance to contemporary ethical and organizational leadership. Maimonides’ Dual Allegiance model integrates intellectual rigor, ethical autonomy, and social responsibility into a rational, duty-bound framework. In contrast, Rabbi Dessler’s Giving Paradigm, as presented in Strive for Truth, centers on relational ethics, moral intentionality, and the transformative power of altruistic giving. Despite their differing emphases – cognitive clarity versus emotional insight – both approaches converge in promoting a multidimensional, ethically grounded vision of leadership. This study introduces Harmonized Alignment, a synthesis that balances intellect, empathy, and moral action, grounded in classical Jewish thought. The model offers practical guidance for leaders navigating ethical dilemmas and striving to foster sustainable, value-driven organizational cultures in complex modern environments.
References
Abdillah M. R., Wu W., & Anita R. 2020. “Can Altruistic Leadership Prevent Knowledge-hiding Behaviour? Testing Dual Mediation Mechanisms,” Knowledge Management Research & Practice 20(3):352–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/14778238.2020.1776171
Abenoza S. & Lozano J. M. 2024. Socratic Dialogue: Voicing Values. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003354673
Ayoko O. B. 2022. “Leadership, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility,” Journal of Management & Organization 28(1)1–8. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2022.13
Ben Yair Y., Ronel N., & Enright R. 2025. “Theological-Sensitive Therapy: The Eight Keys to Forgiveness Based on Jewish Scriptures,” Spirituality in Clinical Practice 12(3):287–301. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000371
Brown M. E. & Treviño L. K. 2006. “Ethical Leadership: A Review and Future Directions,” The Leadership Quarterly 17(6):595–616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.004
Burger R. 2022. “Virtue and Self-restraint: Maimonides’ Dialogue with Aristotle in Eight Chapters,” in D. Bloom, L. Bloom, & M. Byrd (Eds.), Knowing and Being in Ancient Philosophy (pp. 135–153). London – New York – Shanghai: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98904-0_10
Carmeli A., Tishler A., & Edmondson A. C. 2012. “CEO Relational Leadership and Strategic Decision Quality in Top Management Teams: The Role of Team Trust and Learning from Failure,” Strategic Organization 10(1):31–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127011434797
Claussen G. D. 2019. “‘I Will Be with Them’: God at the Burning Bush as an Ideal of Compassion for All Creatures,” in D. Birnbaum & M. S. Cohen (Eds.), Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh (pp. 241–264). New York: New Paradigm Matrix Publishing.
Colley J. & Spyridonidis D. 2022. “Responsible Leadership and Sustainability,” in Unprecedented Leadership: Learning to Lead in Turbulent Times (pp. 139–159). Springer International. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93486-6_7
Dartey-Baah K., Quartey S. H., & Wilberforce M. T. 2024. “Organizational Ethics and Workplace Incivility: The Mediating Effects of Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles,” Leadership & Organization Development Journal 45(5):792–810. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-07-2023-0363
Dessler E. E. 2004–2017. Strive for Truth! Michtav Me’Eliyahu, Vols. 1–2. Trans. and edited by A. Carmell. Nanuet, NY: Feldheim Publishers. (Original work published in Hebrew as Michtav Me’Eliyahu).
Ekman I. 2022. “Practicing the Ethics of Person-centered Care: Balancing Ethical Conviction and Moral Obligations,” Nursing Philosophy 23(3):e12382. https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12382
Eytan S. & Ronel N. 2023. “Spiritual Victimology: Basic Principles,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 69(6-7):762–778. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X231170111
Farayola O. A. & Olorunfemi O. L. 2024. “Ethical Decision-making in IT Governance: A Review of Models and Frameworks,” International Journal of Science and Research Archive 11(2):130–138.
Frank D. H. 1993. “The Duty to Philosophize: Socrates and Maimonides,” Judaism 42(3):289–297.
Greene A. 2024. “Maimonides on the Psychology of Leadership in the Mishneh Torah,” in M. Torbidoni (Ed.), Maimonides Review of Philosophy and Religion (pp. 11–22). Leiden: Brill.
Greenleaf R. K. 1977. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.
Haring J. W. 2024. “Animism, Eco-immanence, and Divine Transcendence: Toward an Integrated Religious Framework for Environmental Ethics,” Journal of Religious Ethics 52(3):410–438. https://doi.org/10.1111/jore.12482
Harvey W. Z. 2024. “Maimonides on God as Intellect,” in Religious and Intellectual Diversity in the Islamicate World and Beyond Volume I: Essays in Honor of Sarah Stroumsa (pp. 323–340). https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004682450_018
Hoch L. 2024. “Philosophical Foundations of Leadership: Maimonides, Spinoza, and Greenleaf through the Popperian Lens,” Dialogue and Universalism (3):45–70. https://doi.org/10.5840/du202434341
Hoch L. 2025. “Intercultural Dialogues in Medieval Philosophy: Maimonides on Balancing Individual and Societal Responsibilities,” Dialogue and Universalism 35(1):59–88. https://doi.org/10.5840/du20253516
Kellner M. 2015. “Maimonides’ ‘True Religion’: For Jews or All Humanity?” in Menachem Kellner: Jewish Universalism (pp. 77–106). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004298286_005
Khorana S. 2022. “Jacinda Ardern and the Politics of Leadership Empathy: Towards Emotional Communities of Transformation,” in Mediated Emotions of Migration (pp. 32–44). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529218251.ch002
König A., Graf-Vlachy L., Bundy J., & Little L. M. 2020. “A Blessing and a Curse: How CEOs’ Trait Empathy Affects Their Management of Organizational Crises,” Academy of Management Review 45(1):130–153. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2017.0387
Kreisel H. 2005. “Maimonides: Political Philosophy,” in K. Seeskin (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides (pp. 193–220). Cambridge University Press.
Levine S. J. 2006. “Looking Beyond the Mercy/Justice Dichotomy: Reflections on the Complementary Roles of Mercy and Justice in Jewish Law and Tradition,” Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 45:455.
Maimonides M. n.d. The Guide for the Perplexed. Trans. by M. Friedländer. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. URL: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/m/maimonides/guide/cache/guide.pdf
Maimonides M. n.d. Mishneh Torah. Trans. by E. Touger. Moznaim Publishing. URL: https://www.sefaria.org.il/texts/Halakhah/Mishneh%20Torah
Maimonides M. n.d. The Eight Chapters of Maimonides on Ethics. Edited with notes by J. I. Gorfinkle. Sefaria. URL: https://www.sefaria.org.il/Eight_Chapters%2C_Introduction?lang=en&with=all&lang2=en
Mashrabjonovich O. I. 2024. “Developing Global Leadership Activities: Integrating Psychological and Spiritual Dimensions,” International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences 12(6):392–402. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijefm.20241206.15
Miao Q. & Nduneseokwu C. 2024. “Applications of Leadership Theories and Concepts in Environmental Leadership,” in Environmental Leadership in a VUCA Era (pp. 67–85). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-0324-4_6
Newman L. E. 2013. “Balancing Justice and Mercy: Reflections on Forgiveness in Judaism,” Journal of Religious Ethics 41(3):435–456. https://doi.org/10.1111/jore.12023
Newman L. E., Messinger R., Waxman D., Kennebrae G. 2020. “Jewish Ethics and Leadership,” Journal of Jewish Ethics 6(2):224–250. https://doi.org/10.5325/jjewiethi.6.2.0224
Nguyen B. & Crossan M. 2022. “Character-infused Ethical Decision Making,” Journal of Business Ethics 178(1):171–191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04790-8
Rahal F. E. Z. M. & Farmanesh P. 2022. “Does Servant Leadership Stimulate Work Engagement in the Workplace? The Mediating Role of Trust in Leader,” Sustainability 14(24):16528. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416528
Rozenberg J. J. 2023. “Determinism, Divine Will, and Free Will: Spinoza, Leibniz, and Maimonides,” Australian Journal of Jewish Studies 36:57–81.
Saiman C. & Chizhik-Goldschmidt A. 2024. “Materialism and the Rise of ‘Modern Orthodoxy,’” Tradition 56(2):84–115. https://doi.org/10.54469/GDH74SJ9A
Shatz D. 2020. “Teaching Jewish Philosophy,” Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought 52(4):62–71.
Shiundu T. W. 2024. “Ethical Leadership and Its Implication on Decision-making in Organizations: A Literature Review,” Journal of Human Resource & Leadership 8(1):59–67. https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t30131
Solomon E. 2018. “Rabbi Dessler’s View of Secular Studies and Wissenschaft des Judentums,” PaRDES: Zeitschrift der Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien e.V., 103–124.
Steffens N. K., Munt K. A., van Knippenberg D., Platow M. J., & Haslam S. A. 2021. “Advancing the Social Identity Theory of Leadership: A Meta-analytic Review of Leader Group Prototypicality,” Organizational Psychology Review 11(2):155–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386621992300
Ullah M. 2022. “Organizational Leadership: Its Role in Shaping Business Success,” Strategic Management Review 10(2):86–105. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3440805
Williams J. H. 2020. “The Importance of Ethical Leadership in Organizational Outcomes,” Journal of Business Research 103:89–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.040
License
Copyright (c) 2025 liron Hoch
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.