Social Justice: Leadership and Philosophy

We must continuously strive to implement justice, as it is so easy to backslide when our attention and our resolve falter. Even during a time of war, when we are at our most vulnerable, we must still check ourselves to see if our conduct is as moral as possible.

[The Torah] asks us to take seriously our power and ability to create change. It asks us to get off the couch, and to use the best of our spiritual and political wisdom to challenge the injustice of our time and transform the world.

We all must work towards a more just society, understanding and accepting that we will never attain perfection.

Yeshayahu Leibowitz wrote, “The uniqueness of the People Israel is not a fact; it is a task. The holiness of Israel is not a reality but a role.” If Jews are to express some sense of being “treasured,” we need new religious perspectives recognizing everyone as created in God’s image.

The world becomes more dangerous when leaders cannot be trusted and incontrovertible facts are subject to manipulation. Our responsibility, both as leaders and as citizens who elect them, is to value accountability.

As we travel into the unknown wilderness of our shared future, may we clearly articulate what we need from our leadership and insist that we be led by wisdom, capable experience, and the commitment to equity for all.

The necessary work of teshuva cannot be completed by one individual alone. Rather, our mandate to uphold God’s name “in truth, in justice and in righteousness” can only be achieved through collective action.

A truly free people accepts its covenants without coercion. As we work for a better world, one of true dignity and equality for all, it’s important to remember that.

Perhaps this midrash holds out a hope that any of us can be transformed to meet the needs of the moment. And perhaps we can find a way to change the course of today’s story so it does not have to end in wholesale destruction.

Community knowledge is the strongest tool we have, and we must learn how to both respect and harness it. When we seek to make change in the world, we must ask ourselves: Who might know what needs to happen even better than I do?