…another person, who then changes the actions, requiring the group to adapt quickly (Every 30 seconds? Or whenever the leader winks at you? Decide how handovers will work before play commences). The leader and the participants must all be observant, quick-thinking, and, most importantly, adaptive! Parsha Philosophy Rabbi Sacks uses Moshe’s life to examine adaptive leadership challenges. In Shemot, Moshe’s…
I have become increasingly concerned about the assault on free speech taking place throughout the West, particularly in university campuses.[1] This is being done in the name of “safe space,” that is, space in which you are protected against hearing views which might cause you distress, “trigger warnings”[2] and “micro-aggressions,” that is, any remark that someone might find offensive even…
…end the conflict. Now, this is odd because we know that if you have a really serious problem and you want a miracle to prove your point, and the miracle happens, the miracle solves the problem. You remember Moses says, “Lo Ya’aminu li”, they won’t believe me. (Shemot 4:1) God says, you want to persuade the Israelites that you’re the…
The structure of Shemot chapters 18-20 is little short of astonishing. In 19-20, we read of the moment in which the Israelites received their constitution as a kingdom of priests and the holy nation. It was a unique encounter. Not only was the epiphany at Mount Sinai never repeated in Jewish history. It has no parallel in any other religious…
This week’s Covenant & Conversation owes its genesis to my teacher, Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch. One of the great Maimonidean scholars of our time, he taught us, his students, that Torah leadership demands the highest intellectual and moral courage. He did this in the best way possible: by personal example. The following thoughts, which are his, are a small indication of…
…Moses does not appear. The most important fact about routinised charisma is that it exists when the charismatic leader (i.e. Moses) is no longer there. We now understand precisely the connection between the sedra of Tetzaveh and the episode of the Golden Calf (later in the book of Shemot but, according to most commentators, earlier in time). The Golden Calf…
…elder brothers seeing their kid brother get the top job would be the tiniest bit jealous, and you will remember what the Bible says. God says, your brother Aaron is coming to see you, “v’ra’acha v’samach b’libo”, he will see you, and he will rejoice (Shemot 4:14). He will rejoice that his kid brother got to be number one. So…
…from departure (A-B) to the beginning of return (B-A). The entire Pentateuch (the five Mosaic books) forms a chiasmus. From the perspective of the Israelites in the wilderness, Bereishit looks back to the pre-history of Israel, while Devarim turns to the future, as Moses’ prophetic vision scans the far horizons of hope and expectation. Shemot and Bamidbar are a matched…
…essence of Midrash. New situations retrospectively disclose new meanings in the text (see the essay ‘The Midrashic Imagination’ by Michael Fishbane). The present is never fully determined by the present. Sometimes it is only later that we understand now. This is the significance of the great revelation of God to Moses in Shemot 33:33, where God says that only His…
…the Priests”. It is an appropriate title. Whereas Shemot and Bamidbar are shot through with narrative, the book between them is largely about sacrifices and the rituals associated, first with the Tabernacle and later with the Temple in Jerusalem. It is, as the name Torat Kohanim implies, about the priests and their function as guardians of the sacred. By contrast,…