Normally book reflections go on the Netivot Monday Morning Reading email. This one, however, is only on my blog. The reflection is both too long, and the book too different from what I normally write about, that keeping it here seemed the more natural place for it to reside. Onward. Reading Chaim Grade is a…
Nickel and Dimed: Undercover in Low Wage America – Barbara Ehrenreich
In September I came across a byline in the newspaper that the writer Barbara Ehrenreich had passed away (here is fuller obituary from the New York Times). Though her name had crossed my desk many times, I’d never read any of her books, so I did what any person would do – I asked Google…
Five Little Indians – Michele Good
Growing up, a survivor meant one thing – a person who survived the Holocaust. For me this meant a person who somehow escaped murder by the Nazis, and then went on to live a life in Canada. It did not give any thought to what that life looked like upon their arrival, what memories haunted…
A Conversation with Chief Rabbi David Lau
Tonight I had the privilege of being part of an intimate conversation with the Chief Ashkenaki Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau (with gratitude to Mizrachi and the Pertman family for bringing this group together). I asked the Rav a question, and loved his answer, which I wanted to share. Some months ago, I told…
Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law – by Chaim Saiman
Yeshayahu Leibovitz makes a compelling claim that the core of Judaism is Halacha, Jewish law and practice, the common element in all Jewish communities throughout history. It is not, in contrast, because of any particular set Jewish ideas or philosophies. On the contrary, these ideas have differed from one end of the spectrum (rationalism and…
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, is one of those books that once you enter you don’t want to climb out of, and pine to get back into every time something in the ‘real world’ draws you away from its words. I’m not sure I have a good metric for why this happens…
The Six Types of Working Genius – Patrick Lencioni
Ever since I read The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni, I’ve been a big fan of his work. Lencioni is a consultant who focuses on improving workplaces and organizational culture. He’s lucid, easy to read, and always makes intuitive sense to me as a leadership practitioner. Almost all of his books are…
Sustainability and the Headship – A Prizmah Conference Reflection
I spent the first part of this week at the Prizmah conference, a gathering of over 1000 Jewish day school professionals that happens every two years. It was motivating and energizing to be with so many liked-minded idealistic fellow Jewish educators, who are so deeply engaged in this holy work. The conversation I had most…
Between Slobodka and Berlin by Hillel Goldberg
I rarely follow Amazon ‘suggestions’ of books to read, but when a book is titled Between Slobodka and Berlin: Jewish Transition Figures from Eastern Europe, has a picture of the Rav on the cover, and is only $6.98, of course I ordered it! The core of this book is a fascinating thesis: that there is…
Being Present: A Leadership Challenge
Midlife: A Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya is not a book I felt strongly enough to put on my Monday Morning reading list. However, there are a couple of ideas that I found very helpful and powerful, and want to think through here. They speak to aspects of leadership rarely discussed, having to do with…