Sublime

from the perspective of the dominant class in Israel.

I believe Israel is mired in an increasingly chauvinistic ethnonational project, one that has undermined the more humanistic attempts of certain earlier iterations of Zionism.

When the author of the Mishna Berura writes, as he often does, that “the common practice is such and such, but this is wrong,” Shimen’s response is to credit the author’s claim regarding the common practice and to ignore the admonition.

through which he is best known to tradition: Moshe Rabbenu, the leader as teacher. Leadership is not a gift with which we are endowed at birth. It is something we acquire in the course of time, often after many setbacks, failures, and disappointments.

But we are not prophets, and in some ways, that makes our task even harder: unlike Moses, we first have to discern our mission, and then decide whether to heed the call.