GUEST EDITORIAL Practical wisdom for management from the Jewish tradition Pierre Kletz Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel and Mandel Foundation-Israel, Jerusalem, Israel Granit Almog-Bareket Mandel Foundation-Israel, Jerusalem, Israel Andre´ Habisch Catholic University of Eichsta ¨tt-Ingolstadt, Eichsta ¨tt, Germany and EABIS – The Academy of Business in Society, Brussels, Belgium Gilbert Lenssen EABIS – The Academy of Business in Society, Brussels, Belgium, and Cristian Loza Adaui Catholic University of Eichsta ¨tt-Ingolstadt, Eichsta ¨tt, Germany and EABIS – The Academy of Business in Society, Brussels, Belgium Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this issue is to provide an overview of the special issue on practical wisdom for management from the Jewish traditions. Design/methodology/approach – The guest editorial introduces the papers in this special issue, focusing in practical wisdom for management from the Jewish traditions. Findings – The question on the relationship between the Jewish tradition and practical wisdom for management is answered in two different ways: first, providing a particular Jewish answer to managerial problems and second, presenting how Judaism can be a field of reflection learning for managerial praxis at both organizational and individual level. Originality/value – The paper shows that the special issue offers insights into the value of practical wisdom of the Jewish traditions, from two particular points of view, as a guide for action and as an ethical approach to management. Keywords Judaism, Leadership, Management, Management theory, Practical wisdom, Jewish Paper type General review “Jewish education is character education” (Fox, 2003, p. 262). “For things that we have to learn to do, we learn by doing them” (Aristotle, 1934). Globalization has demonstrated to entail many opportunities that may also turn into risks. For instance, global decision makers sometimes experience the complexity of The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0262-1711.htm Journal of Management Development Vol. 31 No. 9, 2012 pp. 879-885 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0262-1711 DOI 10.1108/02621711211259929 The authors express thanks and gratitude to a number of individuals without whom this issue would not be possible: First, to the authors gathered in this special issue, for their commitment and the patience through the editorial process; to a panel of anonymous peer reviewers for their suggestions for the improvement of the papers; and to all those who attended the conference and made this special issue possible in one way or another. A special thank you to Antonio Scarafino, who was the first editorial assistant of this special issue and also to the editors and editorial assistants at JMD, who worked with the authors on this project, applying their own practical wisdom and patience. 879 Wisdom from the Jewish tradition