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Leadership in the Wilderness: Authority and Anarchy in the Book of Numbers

Erica Brown

4.08 · Rating details · 13 ratings · 4 reviews

Confidently navigating the ancient wilderness, master educator Erica Brown guides readers through the tumultuous events of the book of Numbers in search of the key to successful leadership. How might a leader overcome unrest? How to contend with external challenges and internal doubts? And how to rekindle the faith of a people who have all but given up? Bringing together B ...more

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Hardcover, 274 pages

Published May 1st 2013 by Maggid

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May 23, 2014 Eric rated it it was amazing

I figured this would be an excellent time to read Erica Brown's recent book, as we head into the Midbar

This was one of the most enticing, inspiring and enlightening leadership books I have ever read. It is, in my humble opinion, a brilliant commentary of Numbers, which I will never read again in the same way! ...more

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Apr 22, 2020 Jaz Twersky rated it really liked it

Shelves: jewish-mc, nonfiction, woman-author

I found the book's scholarship engaging, drawing on a richness of both Jewish and secular sources to buttress its points. It's more of a leadership manual that's just drawing on the book of Numbers than I expected. Some of the chapters are stronger than others - I'm not convinced by the chapter about the need for good followers, for instance. But I found it thought-provoking nevertheless, and a good launching point. ...more

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Oct 04, 2014 Zvi rated it really liked it

Leadership in the Wilderness: Authority and Anarchy in the Book of Numbers

Erica Brown has established herself as a leading educator, thinker, and leadership consultant for the Jewish community. In this book she draws on all of those areas of expertise to present a thoughtful and complex work. Brown’s erudition and access to a wide range of literature – from midrash to Erich Fromm to Jim Collins – are eloquently woven into a tapestry of depth, wisdom and insight, sometimes with the quality of an Leadership in the Wilderness: Authority and Anarchy in the Book of Numbers

Erica Brown has established herself as a leading educator, thinker, and leadership consultant for the Jewish community. In this book she draws on all of those areas of expertise to present a thoughtful and complex work. Brown’s erudition and access to a wide range of literature – from midrash to Erich Fromm to Jim Collins – are eloquently woven into a tapestry of depth, wisdom and insight, sometimes with the quality of an exquisite sermon. Her gifts of insight are matched only by her gift of expression, and her eloquence is not a superficial replacement for poor content, rather an appropriate outlet for her depth. Reading this book it is easy to understand why she is sought after as a speaker, mentor, guide, and consultant to many Jewish communal organizations.
This book exhibits two main strengths – one with regards to leadership and the other with regards to reading the Biblical text. Brown is deeply familiar with the issues and literature on leadership. She knows what good leadership looks like and brings years of experience working with lay and professional leaders in the Jewish community to this work. She has a deep, empathic view of the human condition in a range of circumstances and brings it forward to understand human needs, and the concomitant demands on leaders – and her suggestions move from theoretical analysis to practical application. Large portions of her early discussion focus more on followership a she uses the wilderness of Numbers as the canvas upon which she paints her portrait of leadership.
Regarding the Biblical text, Brown excels in her macroscopic reading. She can look at an entire book, or a theme as expressed throughout Tanakh, and distill essential concepts. For example, one such concept she develops early on is that no human leadership can ever be truly successful, only God’s, or the deep tension between the desire to be led and the need for independence, a tension which is never completely resolvable. These macroscopic reading provide a jumping off point for deep discussions on leadership.
The dual foci of the book, however, can generate some confusion. Is this a book about leadership or an exegesis of the book of Numbers? Most of its chapters begin with a discussion of leadership, followed by an analysis of some text, and a return at the end to the discussion of leadership, but the connection between those two sections at times feels tenuous, midrashic rather than organic. For example, one of the finest exegetical analyses focuses on the nazir – I found Brown’s presentation inspiring. Yet her application of the nazir to leadership issues, presenting him as the “spiritual gadfly” who plays a valuable role in any healthy environment, seemed more believable before her analysis of the nazir than afterwards. I was often left with the question of whether her leadership insights emerged from a careful reading of Numbers or if the text presented a convenient framework for expressing them.
Brown’s excellence in her macroscopic reading is somewhat attenuated by optical illusions created by the Biblical text. For example, the popular misconception that the Israelites complained incessantly for forty years is the result of textual silence for thirty-eight and a half of those. It is that silence which makes those thirty-eight and a half years invisible to the reader, but which need to be considered before asserting that all the Israelites did was complain for forty years. Thus, Brown’s insightful comment that Samuel was “sandwiched” by the crimes of Eli’s sons and those of his own children may be true in terms of the textual presentation but not necessarily in Samuel’s life – there were many decades separating those two events. Or Brown’s contrasting of the self-perception of the “spies” with the perception of the Israelites “only chapters later” in the eyes of the Moabite king Balak – but what the Bible presents as “only chapters later” is, in reality, thirty-eight years later. Similarly, Brown (like many before her!) conflates the rebellion of Korah with that of Datan and Aviram, thereby concluding that Korah “equated holiness with power,” whereas those are two distinct, albeit linked, rebellions.
The lay reader will not be sensitive to these slips, and one could even argue that they do not impact negatively on the book’s overall message. The book is filled with leadership wisdom and many sharp observations about the text, including surprising ironies and literary twists – too many to enumerate here. This book is a significant contribution to the emerging world of Jewish leadership literature and provides many examples of how a deep reading of the big picture yields valuable messages.
Available at http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Wild...

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Apr 18, 2015 Stephen rated it it was amazing

This is an informative and thought provoking book. Brown brings to light many leadership dilemnas faced by Moses and his followers during their time in the desert and integrates many relevant leadership theories and ideas into the analysis of these events. One walks away from this book with an appreciation for the subtleties of leadership as well as a deeper awareness of the ambiguity and tumult faced by good, effective leaders throughout history. Ultimately, leaders risk the most and often do n ...more

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