Parashat Eikev
Friday, July 30, 2021/21 Av, 5781 Parashat Eikev Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25 Dear Friends, I love the Olympics. I delight in watching everything from synchronized swimming to skateboarding. My favorite event is gymnastics, and there is no one better than Simone Biles. I watched the qualifying rounds with concern as Simone made uncharacteristic errors. In interviews, she […]
Eikev 5781
To Lead is to Listen “If only you would listen to these laws…” (Deut. 7:12). These words with which our parsha begins contain a verb that is a fundamental motif of the book of Devarim. The verb is sh-m-a. It occurred in last week’s parsha in the most famous line of the whole of Judaism, Shema Yisrael. It […]
Parashat Va-et’hanan
Friday, July 23, 2021/14 Av, 5781 Parashat Va-et’hanan Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11 Dear Friends, This Shabbat is Shabbat Nachamu (the Shabbat of Comfort), our first Shabbat after Tisha B’Av, the commemoration of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Traditionally, Tisha B’Av is a day of mourning, ending with celebration, as we mourn, and then turn our […]
Va’etchanan 5781
The Fewest of All Peoples Buried inconspicuously in this week’s parsha is a short sentence with explosive potential, causing us to think again about both the nature of Jewish history and the Jewish task in the present. Moses had been reminding the new generation, the children of those who left Egypt, of the extraordinary story […]
Parashat D’varim
Friday, July 16, 2021/7 Av, 5781 Parashat D’varim Deuteronomy 1:1−3:22 Dear Friends, Last Sunday, over two thousand people gathered in Washington D.C. for a rally against antisemitism entitled “NO FEAR: A Rally in Solidarity with the Jewish People.” They were Jews and people from different cultures and traditions who showed up to support the Jewish […]
Devarim 5781
The Leader as Teacher It was one of the great moments of personal transformation, and it changed not only Moses but our very conception of leadership itself. By the end of the book of Bamidbar, Moses’ career as a leader would seem to be ending. He had appointed his successor, Joshua, and it would be […]
Parashat Matot-Masei
Friday, July 9, 2021/29 Tammuz, 5781 Parashat Matot-Masei Numbers 30:2–36:13 Dear Friends, Five sisters passionately pleaded their case before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the Jewish community in last week’s Torah portion. “Our father [Zelophehead] died in the wilderness… He left no sons. Please don’t let our father’s name be lost to his […]
Matot-Masei 5781
Conflict Resolution One of the hardest tasks of any leader – from Prime Ministers to parents – is conflict resolution. Yet it is also the most vital. Where there is leadership, there is long-term cohesiveness within the group, whatever the short-term problems. Where there is a lack of leadership – where leaders lack authority, grace, […]
Parashat Pinchas
Friday, July 2, 2021/22 Tammuz, 5781 Parashat Pinchas Numbers 25:10−30:1 Dear Friends, What is the most important verse in the Torah? A midrash in Ein Yaakov, a Talmudic compilation by Rabbi Yaakov ibn Habib, offers three different opinions. Rabbi Zoma says that the most central and inclusive verse is the Shema, “Hear Israel, Adonai is […]
Pinchas 5781
Lessons of a Leader The parsha of Pinchas contains a masterclass on leadership, as Moses confronts his own mortality and asks God to appoint a successor. The great leaders care about succession. In parshat Chayei Sarah we saw Abraham instruct his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, so that the family of […]