One of the most impactful aspects of my experience as a member of Voice of the People has been learning how fellow delegates advocate for the global Jewish community in different ways. Some are charismatic educators who produce content on social media. Others cultivate personal relationships from within the Jewish communal world. Yet others eloquently represent the Jewish people while working in industries that, on the face of it, have little to do with Jewish life. In this exceedingly challenging year, the myriad ways that VoP delegates have highlighted the vibrance and resilience of the Jewish people has inspired me to think about my own leadership in new ways. It has also given me occasion to consider what Jewish tradition tells us about great leadership, and the kind of leadership that we at VoP should aspire to adopt.Recently, I’ve found myself thinking about two leaders in Jewish history who responded to crises in different ways, and who embody two distinct models of leadership: Yosef, whose story appears at the end of Sefer Bereishit, which we read in synagogues each December, and Yehuda Maccabee, the hero of the Chanukah story, who led Judean Jews to victory against the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE. In the decades following this war, Jews became increasingly captivated not by the story of Yehudah, but by the story of Yosef. Enamored of the beautiful teenager who couldn’t get his brothers to accept him, who encountered challenges that culminated in a reversal of fortune, who became beloved to his Egyptian neighbors, and who reconciled with his family in middle age, Jews produced reams of stories, plays, and commentaries about Yosef. Meanwhile, they had almost nothing to say about Yehudah, the valiant hero of their own day. Besides the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, which provide accounts of the Hasmonean war with the Syrian Greeks, no Jewish literature about Yehudah and his family survives from this era. Why were Jews enthralled by Yosef, when they had a real life hero to admire? Why did they turn their backs on Yehudah?  Early Jewish interpreters probably preferred the stories of Yosef to their own modern-day hero Yehudah because they, like most Jews in the ancient world, embraced certain aspects of the culture in which they lived, and Yosef’s story assured them that they could successfully live in two worlds. As an Israelite who was devoted to his ancestral identity and who thrived in the court of a foreign king, Yosef was an improved version of themselves. These same Jewish interpreters viewed Yehudah, meanwhile, with cautious skepticism. Yehudah saw the world as a binary, with pious Jews who act as zealous conservators of their tradition on one side, and all other people, who corrupt the purity of their tradition, on the other. Yehudah saw no possibility of integrating into Greek life, or of adopting aspects of Greek culture to enhance his practice of Judaism. For Yehudah, the great battle against Antiochus IV Epiphanes symbolized the Jews’ commitment to purity that could be traced back to his priestly ancestor Levi, who also zealously protected his faith. Whereas Yosef’s approach to Egyptian society was pragmatic and complex, Yehudah advocated for insularity in the face of an existential threat. And whereas Yosef placed a limit on his own power, reminding those around him—Pharoah, his sons, and even his father—that the one true God controls human destiny, Yehudah authorized himself with control over the Judean people, and exercised no such spiritual humility. Soon after Yehudah’s death, his Hasmonean descendants would consolidate the positions of monarch and high priest, positions that were meant to stay separate in order to keep the monarch’s power in check.While Yehudah’s triumphs are celebrated on Chanukah each year, the appeal of Yosef’s leadership remains powerful even today, particularly for Jews who seek to engage with the broader world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the VoP community, where we are drawn towards the diplomatic, complex leadership of Yosef rather than the uncompromising leadership of Yehuda. While some circumstances call for the leadership of Yehudah and others call for the leadership of Yosef, and while we don’t deny the existence of enemies who pose existential threats, we resist the temptation to flatten our world into friends and enemies. Like Yosef, we make ourselves vulnerable by entering the public square, and we seek to do so without surrendering our religious integrity. And like Yosef, we remember that even in moments of influence, we are committed to checking our own power with a sense of humility and responsibility. The balance between defending our heritage and engaging the world with radical optimism isn’t easy. But it is precisely this kind of leadership—the leadership of Yosef, the leadership of President Herzog, and the leadership of all of you—that I’m inspired to pursue as a member of Voice of the People as we transition into a new year. Thank you for inspiring me and countless others