Parashat
Yitro
22
Shevat 5777 / 17-18 February 2017
Torah:
Exodus 18:1 – 20:23
Haftarah:
Isaiah 6:1 – 7:6; 9:5-6 (Ashkenazim); Isaiah 6:1-13 (Sephardim)
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Candle lighting: 5:20 pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat
follows.
Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon
follows.
Sunday – NO Religious School
or Adult Learning – Presidents’ Day Weekend
Tuesday – Lunch and Learn – noon.
Friday, 24 February – Shabbat Evening
Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 25 February – Shabbat Morning Service
– 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday, 26 February – Religious School – 9:30
am. Adult Hebrew class – 10:00 am. Game Day at Temple B’nai Hayim – contact
Beth Meier or B’nai Hayim for details.
Friday,
3 March – Shabbat Across America
Service and Dinner – A guitar-led family and learners’ service at 6:00 pm,
followed by Shabbat dinner at 7:00 pm. Reservations for dinner a must. Contact
the Beth Meier office for details.
This d'var torah is offered in memory of my aunt, Shirley Schack,
whose yahrzeit falls on Tuesday, 25 Sh’vat. Y’hi zikhronah liv’rakhah – May her
memory be a blessing.
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel
Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Zehavah B’rakhah bat Leah, Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit,
Sarah bat Devorah, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky (Serach bat
Miriam), Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht
(Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry
Forman, Beth Goldstein, Myra Goodman, Simon Hartman (Shimon ben Serach), Fouad
Kay (Yehoshua ben Salima), Bonnie Kleiger, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek, Toni
Linder, Roy Miller, Carol Rosen (Tsharna Aliza bat Leah), Deborah Schugar
Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), and Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina).
Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this
list or if there is anyone who may be removed from this list.
Please
feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Yitro said to Moses (his son-in-law): “The thing
you are doing is not right. You will surely wear yourself out, and these people
as well. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen
to me, and God be with you! You represent the people before God; you bring the
disputes before God, and enjoin upon them the laws and the teachings, and make
known to them the way they are to go and the practices they are to follow. You
shall also seek out capable people who fear God, trustworthy people who spurn
ill-gotten gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties
and tens, and let them judge people at all times…. Let them share the burden
with you. If you do this – and God so commands you – you will be able to bear
up; and all these people too will go home unwearied.” Exodus 18:17-23
In a way, this sounds like the establishment of an
army, or a government, or any other type of human organization. It looks a bit like
a model for setting up a synagogue – a rabbi, a board of directors and
committees. The difference is that, usually, but not always, the rabbi does not
choose the board of directors – the congregation does. And unlike Moses, the
rabbi is not sent by God – the congregation, directly or through the board, chooses
the rabbi.
Yitro sees a necessary separation of management and
spiritual leadership. My colleague and friend Rabbi David Greenspoon wrote some
years ago that the difference between leadership and management is that
leadership is doing the right thing, and management is doing the thing right.
Sometimes leadership, doing the right thing, requires going out on a limb.
Management, he says, is the antithesis of going out on a limb. Doing the thing
right requires management to be sure that processes and outcomes have
consensus. It’s often about risk avoidance and shared responsibility. The
modern synagogue is a bit more complicated – rabbis must be managers, and
managers must be leaders. And always, everyone should share the burden!
Yet, the Israelites have problems. When the system
breaks down, bad things happen. Sometimes Moses fails to lead, sometimes the
managers go beyond their authority. When Aaron’s sons, the “managers” Nadav and
Abihu, try to usurp Moses and Aaron, God punishes them – they are struck down.
When Moses fails to rebuke the Israelites while the Moabite women are enticing
them, the result is a civil war and a plague among the Israelites. But
ultimately, they all manage to get through the desert together, because they
take care of each other. They fight for each other, not with each other.
Leaders, managers, followers, workers – we all must
join in the Jewish enterprise together, as a unified people – even when we
disagree. This is how it is explained by Pirkei Avot. “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh
lazeh” – All Israel are responsible one for the other. We either build each
other up, or we tear each other down.
To tell you the truth, this sounds like pretty good
advice for our society in general.
I wish you Shabbat Shalom Uv’rakhah – A Shabbat of Peace and Blessing.
Rabbi
Richard A. Flom
Congregation
Beth Meier
Studio
City, CA
Visit
me on Facebook
Twitter: @DrahcirMolf
"שתיקה
כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence
in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT
Yevamot 87b
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