Social Justice: Leadership and Philosophy

A D’var Torah for Rosh Hashanah by David Arnow, Ph.D. From climate change and the erosion of democratic norms to the resurgence of antisemitism and the fight for human rights, one thing is clear: If despair triumphs over hope, we’ll never overcome the challenges we face. Hope enables us to envision a better future and...

The work of pursuing justice, healing this world, feels at moments like a desert without a clear destination. The journey is hard and long, but when in the desert, when in the midst of suffering, when in despair, we are commanded not to lose hope.

Balaam models being an independent and critical thinker... He refuses to stoke the hot coals of fear that demonize the other.  

Nowhere do we see God and the people in a real process of engagement with their history and what is broken in their relationship. With so much left unsaid and unresolved, we should not be surprised to see the same issues in their relationship emerging again and again. 

Even if we vehemently disagree with the complaints of others, though, perhaps we have to listen and discern the genuine concerns underlying such dissatisfaction — much as we strive to listen more closely to the Israelites’ culinary complaints. 

I wonder if there might not be some wisdom in “let’s not talk about it”; if the covering might, sometimes, be part of the carrying. 

This is as relevant for us today as it was in the Ramban’s time: That which we consume has the power to consume us. There’s nothing today we consume more than media.

‘I was asleep, but my heart was wakeful.’ The first part of this verse is a call. ...Within myself there is something to be awakened.

Passover’s story reminds us to see ourselves as newly freed slaves. The Nachshon story invites us to see ourselves as agents of miracles.

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