Congregation B'nai Israel Vallejo
  • Welcome
  • The CBI Community
    • President's Message
    • Publicity
    • Birthdays
    • Youth Education Program >
      • Our Teachers
    • Membership
    • Donate on-line >
      • Donate with Check >
        • Gift Planning
        • Fund a Need New Refrigerator 2017
        • New Prayer Books - Book Plates
        • Sponsor a Seat
        • In Honor and Fond Memory of Beryl Cohen Flooring Campaign 2017
    • Bulletin
  • Rabbi's Blog
    • How to be of help and strength in the aftermath of the wildfires
  • Calendar
    • Laptops wanted
    • Finding Myself in Torah ongoing
    • Stop the Bleed training, December 10th
    • Potluck Shabbat Seder, December 20th
    • Kabbalah Class, December 15th
    • CBI Chanukah Party, December 29th
  • History
    • Tree of Life Leaf
    • Yahrzeit
    • Memorial Page
  • Photos
  • Advertise
  • Links
  • Contact Us
    • Building and Grounds

What do you look for in Leadership?

5/1/2017

 

As we enter the month of June, we have just finished celebrating arguably the most important, if least observed, of the Jewish pilgrimage holidays (comprised of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot).   The Shavuot holiday, commemorating the giving of the Torah, concluded on June 1, with Hallel, and connecting with our dear ones no longer in this world, with Yizkor.

It is ironic that Passover and even Sukkot receive more attention than Shavuot, given that without the Torah we have no Judaism.  As important as Passover is, in celebrating our beginnings as a people liberated from human enslavement, without the gift of Torah, that experience would have been forgotten long ago, as happens with so much of human history.  As important as Sukkot is, in celebrating the harvest of life and survival for 40 years of vulnerability in the wilderness, it is the Torah that recounts that story and enables us to remain conscious of the core blessings of life.  

Shavuot brings Torah into our lives.  It is home to our history, celebrations, laws and principles, updated throughout the ages, all commemorated in observing this holiday: time of the giving of the Torah.  

Shavuot is a call to leadership in its identification of the holiday as “The Time of the “Giving” of Torah”.    No assumption is to be made that the Torah is automatically “received” by any given generation.  Each generation, and each individual has to make a decision to receive this gift and to accept it whole-heartedly.  Responding affirmatively places us on the path of harnessing the power of Torah, given by God, in that it teaches we were created to be partners with God in our decision making capacities.  The responsibility is ours to choose to accept the Torah, rather than it being forced upon us as some kind of obligatory ritual that could be mistakenly assumed or interpreted as unrelated to our world.

Midrashim, imaginative stories generated by the rabbis to teach important morals and principles, suggest that the world was created for the sake of the Torah.  Translating that into practical application, we were not put in this world without purpose, without need to do more than enjoy life without regard for the wellbeing of this miraculous physical realm.  We were put here to enable God, spiritual in essence, to become a vibrant part of this physical entity, through us, physical partners.

In other words, beginning with the obligation for the human being to make a decision to accept the Torah, the infrastructure of our Sacred Text provides the wherewithal to learn to become conscious every day and throughout each day of opportunities and responsibilities to choose Life and to choose paths that make this world Kadosh, Holy, special, unique and Godly.  The outcome of accepting this mandate, commemorated with Shavuot, is in understanding that those who accept Torah receive tenets, principles and strategies for “leading” their lives, rather than mindlessly following societal norms.  The Torah is a leadership development system whose details provide contexts for each member of the community that accepts it to think for themselves.   They are to become leaders in bringing better conditions into a world overwhelmed with a history of destructiveness and wars of domination of nations and cultures, since each society was “taught” to see the other(s) as threats.  

Lack of leadership in so many pockets of American society, from top down, is increasingly critical when you face so many and varied threats to our world, whether feuding nations or terror groups, or the threat of extinction from environmental factors.  Even as we attempt to comprehend the breadth and depth of the violation of American infrastructure possibly/likely reaching to, if not from, the highest office in the land, it is important to take stock of the reality that leadership does not simply manifest by being elected to a position of power, or worse, grabbing it in oligarchical fashion.  Leadership is taught and learned, and, from Judaism’s perspective, emanates from a Power greater than any human, and, thereby, beyond realms of fear and jealousy that often motivate those who have found or been given leadership positions.  

Those that choose to accept Torah and honor Shavuot’s mandate to learn to lead their lives and teach such values to their children must apply those principles in holding elected officials accountable.  God placed us in this world to do no less, and as conditions deteriorate, especially with America’s standing in the world today, it is most critical to do what we can to bring these “truths” to light and strive to infuse such principles into the consciousness of those making decisions today that will determine whether we continue to have a world to hand over to our children, in another generation or two, let alone for the long term.

So, don’t leave the Shavuot experience behind as you enter the quieter summer months.  Keep mindful that every moment is another opportunity to make a difference that will move us away from the curses of so much hurt in the world toward the blessings of why God created this realm, to begin with, an enterprise with long-term promise, with our dedication to see God’s will prevail, reflected in people and nations treating one another with respect and appreciation.  That is what Shalom looks like, and that is what we are here to do: to bring Shalom and unify the physical realm with the spiritual domain that is God’s realm of essence and eternity.      

Comments are closed.

    Reflections
    by Rabbi
    David White

    Ideas, suggestions, and other feedback is most welcome.

    Archives

    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    December 2007
    November 2007
    October 2007
    September 2007
    July 2007
    June 2007
    May 2007
    April 2007
    March 2007
    February 2007
    January 2007

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.