March 16, 2021
The overriding purpose of the observance of the Passover Seder and all its many rituals, says the Torah, is v’hee-gadta l’vincha to teach your children. To teach them their family narrative that allows them to grow from their roots, giving them the knowledge and the confidence to claim their place as children of the Jewish people who received the Torah at Sinai in all its particulars.
At a time when Jews increasingly tend away from a religiously distinct identity, preferring to put their support and sympathy with the other (sometimes even going so far as to express solidarity with those hostile to Jews and Israel often in the name of universal values), how do we, parents, teachers, educators, advance the principle of v’hee-gadta l’vincha, specifically of ba-avur zeh asah Hashem li, bringing G-d and mitzvot into the equation?
Rabbi Shais Rishon speaks at a rally in New York City, January 2020. (Gili Getz via JTA)
(JTA) In the first chapter of Rabbi Shais Rishon’s new Torah commentary, the voices of ancient rabbis mingle with contemporary poets and, at one point, with “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson.
It’s all part of Rishon’s attempt at writing a text “that is firmly traditional/Orthodox, but with a modern and non-myopic lens on race and gender,” as he put it in the description of a Kickstarter campaign that recently raised $11,500, more than twice his goal.
The commentary, titled “In Black Fire,” represents an extension of Rishon’s ongoing efforts to speak up against racism in the Orthodox world. The 39-year-old rabbi frequently tweets on the topic to his more than 12,000 followers, and writes and talks about it in Jewish publications. He is the author of a semiautobiographical novel about a Black, Orthodox rabbi that sheds light on the constant questioning faced by man
In this book of Torah commentary, written by a Black Orthodox Jew, the voices of ancient rabbis mingle with contemporary poets and even “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson.
In my years of international business consulting work, I came to recognize that superior systems, while crucial, aren’t enough to sustain any organization. Many companies have spent millions of dollars on outsourced operational consultants and systems experts only to find the entity lacked spirit, substance, strategy and sustainability. Hyper-focusing on outsourcing creates a motion of activity that temporarily covers the lack of forward movement on mission and vision while also obscuring the holes in the soul of the institution. What is true for the heart of an organization is also true for the soul of society: Outsourcing isn’t the answer.