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…
What Strange Paradise – Omar el Akkad
I read What Strange Paradise at the same time as I came across the story of Yusra Mardini, whose biography was made into the Netflix movie, The Swimmers. That the stories parallel one another (with the exception of the outcome) was fascinating to me, and reinforced the reality behind each narrative. I’d never read much…
People Love Dead Jews, by Dara Horn
How can you not read a book titled People Love Dead Jews?? It is a book that, in truth, demands to be read, although after reading it, I can attest that it is as much for the content as the title. The author, Dara Horn, is an accomplished novelist, and an academic trained in Yiddish…
A Modern Orthodox Challenge?
I noticed a trend a few years ago of people speaking about the experience of Modern Orthodox (MO) high schools starting to seem more like NCSY Shabbatonim, with a focus on the experiential, fun, and social elements of religious life. I’ve talked about it with a few friends, including administrators in some of these schools…