WHEN A LEADER ERRS IN JUDGEMENT As I write these words, the Prime Minister has just announced his resignation. As support whittled away, Boris Johnson found himself in office but not in power. The cumulative effect of a number of errors of judgement made his position no longer tenable. Even the greatest leaders are vulnerable...
TOPPLING A LEADER How do you topple a leader? What is the best tactic to use in order to create a takeover without the use of force? On the face of it, Korach, in this week’s parsha, has adopted a very smart tactic. When he makes his bid to be leader of the Jewish people,...
CATCH 22? When Joseph Heller published his novel, Catch 22, in 1961, he hadn’t realized how quickly his title would become a catch phrase. What started as an illogical rule in army bureaucracy, soon came to include any situation where a a person can’t escape because of contradictory limitations Moses is faced with a Catch...
AI AND THE MENORAH The scenario is the Tabernacle or Temple. The Kohanim are getting their instructions on how to light the golden Menorah. They are told: Beha’alotcha, “when you cause to rise up.” When lighting the Menorah the Kohen needed to hold his taper to the wicks until the lamps could burn independently. What...
RABBINIC PLATFORMING The late Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, (d. 2020) head of Yeshiva University (whose yahrzeit fell last week) used to remark that he knew of only one joke in the Mishna: the statement that “rabbinic scholars increase peace in the world!” Yet, the late Rav Kook (d. 1935) addressed this question. He said it...
JUBILEE AND COMMUNITY This weekend is all about numbers! Of course, the number 70 is on everyone’s mind as we celebrate Her Majesty’s magnificent milestone. But this Shabbat we begin to read the Book of Numbers, which opens with the numbering of the Jewish people in the desert. This will not be the first time...
COUNT DOWN OR COUNT UP? This Shabbat will be the 42nd day of the Omer. Six of the seven weeks from Pesach to Shavuot will have passed. The Sefer HaChinuch (Spain 13th cent.) poses an obvious question. If the Omer count represents the time that the Israelites, having left Egypt, anticipated receiving the Torah on...
INVISIBLE BARRIERS When one of my teachers wanted to emphasise that he disapproved of something, he would pound the table with his fist and exclaim: lo mit an oleph! The English equivalent would be, “No, with a capital N!” The origin of this Yiddish phrase is that the Hebrew word, lo, can imply either ‘No’...
A MEETING OF MOADIM Look carefully at the Sefer Torah when it is being lifted up in shul this Shabbat. You will see that the parchment is slightly more worn. Why? Because the scroll is being opened more frequently to this section. This week’s parasha contains the readings for the second day of Pesach and...
SELF HELP Tzeddaka or Charity is a cornerstone of Judaism. But equally important, is how it is administered. In this week’s parasha we learn that when a farmer harvested his crop, he was obliged to leave a corner of the field (pe’ah) for the poor. When he came to reap the grain, if one or...
