What Makes a Great Leader?

16 Sunday Aug 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Among the greatest challenges confronting the United States and Israel this year are our respective populations’ efforts to clarify the values of our next set of leaders and dominant political parties. Though there is no single style of effective and morally based leadership that applies to all peoples, religions, cultures, nations, governments, political parties, for-profit and non-profit businesses and organizations, there are common values that best make for effective, compassionate, democratic, and ethically based leadership.

Judaism has much to say about what constitutes great moral leadership. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (1948-2020) summed it up this way:

“Great leaders are great not just because they care for their own people – everyone except a self-hater does that – but because they care for humanity. That is what gives their devotion to their own people its dignity and moral strength … To be an agent of hope, to love the people you lead, and to widen their horizons to embrace humanity as a whole – that is the kind of leadership that gives people the ability to recover from crisis and move on. It is what made Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah three of the greatest leaders of all time.”

Great leadership also requires a clear policy vision along with the virtues of humility, gratitude, generosity, compassion, and wisdom, a respect for the dignity of every human being by virtue of being created b’tzelem Elohim (in the divine image – Genesis 1:27), and a sacred commitment to further the common good.

The best leaders depend upon reason, fact-based information, science, and the objective analysis of societal problems to devise and then carry out strategies to address challenges as effectively as possible.

Great leaders do not appeal to fear, anger, hate, or vengeance. Rather, they seek to promote social harmony, equality, mutual respect, and love. They are careful to avoid divisive and coarse language that appeals to base ignorance, prejudice, hatred, and cruelty.

Great leaders are constantly honing their skills. They delegate responsibility and value teamwork to enable others who have the necessary knowledge and expertise to do their best work. They give credit generously and take pride in their colleagues’ accomplishments. They take responsible criticism seriously and when things go wrong, they never blame others for failure. They assume responsibility for the failure themselves.

In recent years, the “servant–leader” model of leadership has taken hold in many religious, non-profit, governmental, political, and secular organizations and causes:

Rabbi David Ellenson (1947-2023) described that model:

“[The servant-leader] is servant first … It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The servant-leadership model is one that promotes such values as collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment … relationship-driven leaders are more empathetic, patient, and tolerant. They approach decision-making subjectively, using personal values as a guide, and they examine how each option will impact others. They are approachable; strive for harmony among their employees [and followers] and work to build consensus and trust. They also admit when they are wrong and seek constructive criticism … they are adept at listening and forging personal connections.”

The US presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin (b. 1943) adds:

“Leadership is the ability to use one’s talent, skills, and emotional intelligence to mobilize people to a common purpose and to make a positive difference in people’s lives. The qualities important for leadership are humility, empathy, resilience, self-awareness, self-reflection, the ability to create a team where people can argue with you and question your assumptions, and the ability to communicate with people using stories to make people feel a part of what you are saying. The most important thing is the willingness to take a risk because the ambition for the greater good has become greater for you than for yourself.”

Great leaders take risks even when they know they will be criticized and may fail. “You must be headlights and not tail-lights,” said Congressional Representative John R. Lewis. Dr. Martin Luther King opined, “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” Great leaders demonstrate courage and speak truth to power without hesitation or fear.

Leadership is often difficult, painful, and lonely. Leaders need the support of allies who share their mission. They need, also, trusted loved ones and friends with whom they can confide their hesitations, doubts and despair, and who can advise them honestly.

Any government (federal, state, city, and local), political party, company and business, religious and educational institution, nonprofit organization and communal cause will succeed or fail based on the ethical quality of its leadership and the leader’s direct engagement with the people he/she represents and leads. It was said of President Abraham Lincoln that Union soldiers during the Civil War were devoted to him personally and to his commitment to save the Union and eliminate human enslavement because Lincoln went out to meet and engage with soldiers in the field of battle. They understood that he cared about them personally.

Challenges are ever constant and often beyond the control of even the most effective and ethically based leaders. Economic downturns, riots, earthquakes, fires, floods, disease, war, terrorism, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and anti-immigrant bigotry have challenged the patience, compassion, equanimity, vision, and management skills of every decent leader. Those nations and communities that ultimately do well, that persevere and overcome their challenges, are directly related to the moral quality, competency, open-heartedness, love, and skills of their leadership. Although there is no perfect leader, and communities that expect perfection will be disappointed when a leader fails, voters have the ultimate responsibility in democratically run organizations to make the hard decisions about their leaders and either vote them in or out of their positions.

There is a common adage that warns: “What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. What you tolerate, you deserve.”

In short – ethically based leadership, an informed citizenry, and voting matter.

Additional thoughts

“A leader needs emotional intelligence. Great leaders move us. They ignite our passion and inspire the best in us. When we try and explain why they are so effective, we speak of strategy, vision, or powerful ideas. But the reality is much more primal: great leadership works through the emotions.” –Daniel Goleman (b. 1946)

“The Jewish approach to leadership is thus an unusual combination of realism and idealism – realism in its acknowledgement that leaders inevitably make mistakes, idealism in its constant subordination of politics to ethics, power to responsibility, pragmatism to the demands of conscience. What matters is not that leaders never get it wrong – that is inevitable, given the nature of leadership – but that they are always exposed to prophetic critique and that they constantly study Torah to remind themselves of transcendent standards and ultimate aims.” –Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (1948–2020)

“No person is fit to govern great societies who hesitates about disobliging the few who have access to him for the sake of the many he will never see.” –Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–59)

“I have long believed that the key question is not which positions politicians will support or oppose. It’s the issues they’re willing to lose their office over in the name of principles that matter.” –Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky (b. 1948)

“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82)

This blog is edited from a chapter in my book Finding Your Moral Compass – Jewish Values for the 21st Century (Toronto: University of Toronto New Jewish Press, 2026), 219-26. The book is available from the publisher and on Amazon.

Reflections on the Awful Consequences of War

22 Wednesday Jul 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Ernest Hemingway opined: “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Ask the infantry and ask the dead.”

Jewish tradition supports wars of self-defense, to restore justice, prevent genocide, and to ensure the survival and continuity of the Jewish people. Before going to war, however, every possibility must be explored diplomatically to resolve disputes between nations, and then once wars begin, every effort must be made to protect innocent life.  

Israeli fears about Iran as an existential threat are justified based upon Iran’s consistent threat to destroy the State of Israel. The Obama Administration’s painstaking negotiated agreement with Iran (the JCPOA) that was finalized in Vienna on 14 July 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, the U.K., U.S.—plus Germany) together with the European Union, took effect after 20 months of negotiations on 20 January, 2026. The deal was criticized by many political leaders in Israel and by many in America’s Republican Party. However, many Israeli retired generals and security officials argued at the time that the deal could be effective and was worthwhile, though imperfect. In fact, the deal achieved the following:

  • Iran limited its uranium enrichment levels to 3.67% for 15 years;
  • Iran reduced its stockpile of enriched uranium to 300 kg, down from over 10,000 kg;
  • The Arak heavy-water reactor was redesigned to prevent the production of weapons-grade plutonium;
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had enhanced access to monitor at every level Iran’s nuclear facilities;
  • In exchange for Iran’s compliance, international sanctions on Iran were lifted, allowing for economic benefits;
  • Key restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program were set to last for 10 to 15 years, with some provisions extending longer.

That deal was working well. Iran’s march to a nuclear bomb was essentially halted. Those who negotiated on behalf of the United States and the western nations acknowledged, however, that the deal wasn’t everything that they would have hoped to achieve. But, they said, when the deal would expire in 10 to 15 years, a new extension could be negotiated that would continue what had already been achieved, and that the control of Iranian ballistic missile production could be added along with other limitations on Iran’s worst instincts and behavior.

Donald Trump, in his obsessive effort to reverse everything President Obama did, tore up the deal on 8 May 2018 without any thought to develop a plan to replace it. Iran immediately accelerated its march to the development of a nuclear weapon.

The dire consequences of Trump’s cancellation of the working Iran deal led to this war. Trump went to war unilaterally without the consent of Congress, without clear and achievable goals, and with no international allies, beginning on 28 February. He wrongly expected that American air power would destroy Iran’s military and nuclear capability in two weeks. After almost five months of war, an estimated 1,700 or more Iranian civilians (including hundreds of children) have been killed, and 17 young American soldiers are dead. Now Trump thinks that bombing Iran from the air is going to bring that nation to its knees, an assumption that most Iran experts believe is a delusion.

Jennifer Rubin of The Contrarian (22 July 22 2026) summed up well the truth about this war:

“No decision has been as unpopular and humiliating for Trump as the decision to launch a harebrained war against Iran. The war has delivered on none of its goals — e.g., regime change; an end to Iran’s nuclear program or missile production — or even undone the reckless damage it caused, like ceding control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran. Despite constant chest-thumping from Trump and his testosterone-obsessed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the war has resulted in one military calamity after another, which civilian leaders have tried to minimize, hide, or simply lie about.”

Going to war has horrendous consequences, and I would hope that Congress turns down Pete Hegseth’s request yesterday before the Senate Appropriations Committee for $86.7 billion, what Senator Patty Murray of the State of Washington rightly called “another forever war.”

I offer a few insights into the awful nature of war and why going to war must be the very last option a nation undertakes:

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” -General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

“The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.” -General George Marshall (1880-1959)

“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.” -General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891)

“The one that is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.” -Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

“All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.” -John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

“The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.” -Robert Lynd (1879-1949)

“People may go to war when they will but cannot always withdraw when they like.” -Nicolo Machiavelli (1649-1527)

“War, at first, is the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn’t any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone’s being worse off.” Karl Kraus (1874-1936)

“The force which makes for war does not derive its strength from the interested motives of evil [people]; it derives its strength from the disinterested motives of good [people].” -Norman Angell, (1872-1967)

“In the nuclear era, the enemy is war itself.” -From the film Crimson Tide, spoken by Mr. Hunter, played by Denzel Washington

“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.” -John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

“That’s the terrible hypnotism of war, the brute mass-impulse, the pride and national spirit, the instinctive simplicity of human beings that makes them worship what is their own above everything else. I’ve thrilled and shouted with patriotic pride, like everyone else. Music and flags and [people] marching in step have bewitched me, as they do all of us. And then I’ve gone home and sworn to root this evil instinct out of my soul. God help [us] — let’s love the world, love humanity — not just our own country!” -Christopher Morley (1890-1957)

“No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.” -Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

“I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young [people] to die in.” -George McGovern (1922-2012)

“Any leader who does not hesitate before sending young men and woman to war, doesn’t deserve to be a leader.” -Golda Meir (1898-1978)

“It is easier to lead those to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace.” -Andre Gide (1869-1951)

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” –General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

“I hate with a murderous hatred those who, having lived their youth, would send into war other youth, not lived, unfulfilled, to fight and die for them; the pride and cowardice of those old men, making their wars that boys must die.”  -Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958)

“When the sword is drawn, peace is lost.” Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 58a

“In times of war, the Torah teaches us to seek peace.” –Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 59b

“Who is mighty? The one who subdues the [evil] inclination, as it is said: ‘The one that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and the one who rules one’s spirit than the one that takes a city’ (Proverbs 16:32)” -Mishnah, Sayings of the Sages 4:1

“Whoever saves one life saves an entire world” -Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5

Seekers of Meaning Television Show and Podcast

17 Friday Jul 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

I was interviewed this week by my colleague Rabbi Richard Address, the convener of The Seekers of Meaning Television Show and Podcast as part of a series of interviews he conducts on Jewish Sacred Aging. He invited me to discuss with him my newest book, Finding Your Moral Compass – Jewish Values for the 21st Century, published by the University of Toronto New Jewish Press (2026).

I wish to thank Richard for giving me the opportunity to speak with him and his audience about a subject that I have spent my life struggling to understand as a moral and ethical human being, a Jew, rabbi, liberal Zionist leader in the United States, and as a lover of the people and State of Israel.

This book, representing more than 50 years of my learning, teaching adults and children, and leading Jewish communities in San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, is a source book written in a relatable manner for our people as well as for Christians, Muslims, and anyone who wishes to understand what liberal Judaism and liberal Zionism mean.

I offer 40 short chapters on 40 foundational values that Judaism has addressed over a period of 3000 years. I include classic Jewish texts set within the context of my experience from childhood to leading congregations and in my leadership as a former national chair of the Association of Reform Zionists of America and as a former co-chair of the Clergy Cabinet of the pro-Israel, pro-democracy, and pro-peace American political organization J Street. At the end of each chapter, I offer quotations from world religions and literature on each value and discussion questions for high school through adult learners in synagogues, churches, mosques, and universities, for Jews-by-choice and those interested in the essential values that characterize liberal Judaism in North America today.

The book is available from the University of Toronto New Jewish Press or on Amazon. I hope you will acquire a copy for yourself and for anyone you believe may benefit from reading it. Thanks in advance.

You can read pre-publication endorsements that I offered on earlier blog here: https://rabbijohnrosove.blog/2026/04/28/my-book-is-now-published/

To watch or listen to my interview with Rabbi Address, here is the link: https://vimeo.com/1209978419?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

The Case for “Aspirational Zionism”

12 Sunday Jul 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

“Everything depends on how we live in our land and how we behave here. Our brethren in the Diaspora want to see here what is missing there in the cultural and spiritual and moral life of Galut [Diaspora]; … If they do not feel that our values here are unwavering, we will not find a path to their hearts … Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel] must give the Diaspora something more than Jews of any other country can give: something with a spirit of holiness, above and beyond the usual and commonplace.”

So said Chaim Nachman Bialik in Tel Aviv in January 1926 as he prepared to tour the United States and raise money for the Jewish settlement in Palestine. Bialik’s aspirations for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel beg the question: Has Israel lived up to Bialik’s and the founders of the Jewish state’s expectations and dreams?

In many ways it has. Israel remains a parliamentary democracy, though Israel needs a constitution that delineates clearly the separation of governmental powers and that spells out human rights for all its citizens and inhabitants.

Israel absorbed millions of Jews from around the world, built great universities and a thriving modern culture. It is a world center of innovation in medical, communications, environmental, and agricultural technologies; pharmaceuticals; computer software development; and start-up companies of every kind. Israel claims more PhDs per capita than any other country in the world, and despite multiple wars and terrorism, Israel’s economy has attracted international companies and businesses to build there. After the murderous Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 Israel re-established itself as the most powerful and strategic military in the Middle East.

Despite these significant accomplishments, Israel today is not the source of pride and inspiration for a portion of US Jews. Why?

Part of the answer has to do with what North America has become for Jews. Here we are beneficiaries of a vibrant and multicultural society that respects religious and minority rights despite the dramatic rise in antisemitism in recent years and the fact, according to polls, that American Jews are feeling increasingly unsafe. Nevertheless, many Jews no longer feel they need Israel as an anchor for their Jewish identity. Some feel that Israel has taken them for granted and that their voice and concerns are not heard by the Israeli government. Others have turned away because of Israel’s destruction of Gaza, the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians there, and Jewish settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

I was born a year after the state was established and raised on “the crisis narrative” of Jewish history. The Holocaust hovered as a dark shadow over my childhood and has been a defining existential experience that taught Jews that when we are powerless, we are vulnerable to destruction. I was raised with the understanding that Israel could not lose a single war and that it had to fight for its existence over and over again. It had to have the strongest military and maintain its qualitative military and technological edge over every other Middle East nation. Since the founding of Israel in 1948, its survival has been the number one priority for Israelis and world Jewry and the need for security the number one policy requirement of every Israeli ruling coalition government.

We come to this crisis mode honestly. We Jews are a traumatized people from experiences ancient and modern. Our wounds are deep and our memories are long. Our closets are filled with ghosts of antisemites past and present. We understand that Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Palestinian extremists are foes committed to Israel’s destruction.

The crisis narrative has served to unify world Jewry and propel us to activism on Israel’s behalf. However, the crisis model is no longer adequate by itself to assure the loyalty and commitment to Israel of many diaspora Jews who do not respond well to traditional aggressive Israeli advocacy. They are less worried about overt military threats and delegitimization, and are more concerned with social justice, equal rights, religious pluralism, and the compassionate treatment of those on the periphery of Israeli society: the Palestinians of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Israel’s poor, its Arab citizens, women, and immigrant workers.

Dr. Tal Becker, an associate at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, has written:

“The conventional [crisis-based] narrative is both narrow and shallow. Narrow, in that its focus is on the physical existence of the Jewish people in their homeland, not on the breadth of what this sovereign project might offer for the collective Jewish experience. Shallow, in that it pursues Jewish survival for its own sake but tells no deeper story as to why that survival is important and worth fighting for.”

Dr. Becker argued for a values-based conversation about Israel that differs in four ways from the crisis narrative that has dominated discussion about Israel since 1948.

First, the values-based conversation asks what it will take to address Israel’s challenges and build a moral and just society that reflects in policies our liberal values as a people and the democratic Jewish state. In a crisis-driven narrative, how minorities are treated is unlikely to be addressed unless these minorities are a threat to Israel’s survival or a propaganda weapon for Israel’s opponents. But in a values-based conversation, the way a Jewish society relates to its minorities is an independent question that commands our attention.

Second, the crisis model always turns on the measures the Israeli government and military need to repel the dangers Israel faces. However, Judaism deals with values and reasoned argument. In a democratic society we have to be able to accept the Jew who questions the propriety of Israel’s forceful response against Israel’s enemies and its West Bank settlement policies and not presume that such a person is committing an act of betrayal against the Jewish people, any more than the Jew who supports these policies without a second thought is guilty of moral bankruptcy.  

A Jew’s intent, however, is a critical element in this conversation. Criticism of Israeli government policies from love of the country, its people, and respect for and support of the Zionist project is far different than criticism from hate and rejection of the right of the Jewish people to a state of our own in our historic homeland. The vast majority of North American Jewry, according to polls, believes that one can be loyal to Israel and critical of its government policies just as they can be critical of their own government and remain loyal to their country.

Third, a values-based conversation focuses on the meaning of one’s criticism of Israel. In a crisis model, any criticism of Israel and its policies is problematic. If the only focus of Israel’s policies is on confronting the external dangers, public Jewish criticism is regarded as demoralizing and fodder for Israel’s enemies. In the crisis model, the plurality of Jewish voices is regarded as a mortal danger to the survival of Israel and the Jewish people. A values conversation, to the contrary, supports the plurality of voices if criticism comes from love and not hate.

The love-based argument is nothing new to the Zionist project and Judaism itself. However, in recent years intolerance of diverse opinions has grown dramatically within Israel and has bled into discussions about Israel in North America.

Put in a different way, for those operating from a crisis-mindset, Jewish unity is defined narrowly by the common threats we face as a people and nation. A values narrative regards Jewish unity in terms of a common moral and social justice engagement that unites our people, not because we agree with each other or because the one overriding issue is survival but based on a shared commitment as Jews and supporters and lovers of the Jewish people and state to engage together in a complicated, divisive, agonizing, and exhilarating process of writing the next chapter of Jewish history in a way that is worthy of our tradition and experience as a people.

Fourth, the moral imperative of the values narrative is Kedoshim tihiyu – holiness. If the conversation shifted out of the crisis mode to a values mode, a new Zionist paradigm reflecting a new stage in Zionist, Israeli and Jewish history would emerge. This new stage, per Dr. Becker, is “Aspirational Zionism.”

Aspirational Zionism asks these questions:

How do Jewish values augment Israel’s democratic and pluralistic society? How do the moral aspirations of the biblical prophet and the compassionate impulse of the rabbinic tradition interface with contemporary ethical challenges? How do Jews in Israel and around the world fight the sinister intentions of our enemies bent on our destruction without sacrificing our moral sensibilities? How do we as a people genuinely pursue peace and diplomacy as a moral and quintessentially Jewish obligation despite the threat of war and terrorism? How does Israel respond ethically in an era in which the Jewish people have reclaimed sovereignty and power for the first time in two thousand years in our historic homeland? And how do we support our Israeli brothers and sisters while advocating on behalf of the equal rights and dignity of Israel’s minorities and the Palestinian people?

It is distressing that inside Israel, many pressing moral issues have been set aside by successive governments operating in the crisis mode. They argue that the crisis necessarily dictates the choices the government and security forces make. When the crisis subsides, they say, Israel will be able to deal with the growth in poverty, the second-class treatment of Israel’s Arab citizens, the abuse of Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the soul-crushing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Ironically, it seems that the Jewish world’s obsession with a crisis-based approach is creating its own crisis. The lack of sufficient attention to values is alienating many diaspora Jews, young and senior, and is harming Israel’s image and legitimacy on the world stage.

In reading the words of Bialik, I am struck by how true a statement it was when he uttered it in 1926. We need a new focus in Jewish life relative to Israel – a new kind of Zionism, aspirational, moral, liberal, and democratic that emphasizes Jewish values beyond crisis, beyond the vagaries of war, terrorism, and occupation, and beyond the exigencies of the moment that fulfills the raison d’être of the Jew in history, to be a just and compassionate people in our historic homeland.

This blog is edited from a chapter in my book Finding Your Moral Compass – Jewish Values for the 21st Century (Toronto: University of Toronto New Jewish Press, 2026), 255-67.

“It’s universal. We all do it; we all must do it.” Mark Twain

06 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

Fact-checkers at The Washington Post documented that across all four years of Donald’s Trump’s first presidential term, he lied or said blatantly misleading statements 30,573 times, an average of 21 such statements each day. Assuming the per day average holds in his second term, between 21 January 2025 and 1 July 2026 (527 days) Trump lied 11,067 times for a total of 41,640 times while in office – and still counting. It is likely that no American president or politician or American leader of any kind (and perhaps no world leader) has lied as much and as often about matters large, small and ridiculous as Donald Trump.

Deceit, of course, is nothing new to the human condition. It is even embedded in the founding myths of Judaism and Christianity. Eve justified eating the forbidden fruit: “The serpent deceived me.” (1) After Cain murdered Abel, God asked Cain, the killer: “Where is your brother?” Cain refused to answer truthfully: “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (2)

The point is this – we all lie. Deception occurs in every kind of relationship – between parents, children, spouses, partners, and friends, employers and employees, professionals and their patients and clients, governments and their citizens, politicians and their supporters.

Dr. David Livingston Smith, Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England says that lying is programmed into our DNA (3) and is embedded in the structure of the brain as a Darwinian mechanism of survival. Habitual and pathological liars have much more white matter that speeds communication between neurons in the prefrontal cortex of the brain than non-liars. Liars have fewer neurons. (4)

Lying and cheating are epidemic in North American culture. Students cheat on school tests and, in this AI age, lift entire passages from the internet for term papers and final exams without attribution to the original writer. Adults mis-represent themselves on employment applications and cheat on their tax returns. In marriages, partners keep secrets from each other about money, flirtation and infatuations. Though many secrets are better left unsaid, many couples violate their most intimate promises to each other made under the wedding canopy. According to the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, national surveys in the United States indicate that 15 percent of married women and 25 percent of married men have had extramarital affairs. The incidence is about 20 percent higher when emotional and sexual relationships without intercourse are included. (5)

Why do we lie so chronically?

There are many reasons. We want the better job, to land a sale, and to enroll our children into better schools. We want the attention of love interests, recognition, fame, power, and wealth. For the most pathological of liars, truth and facts are irrelevancies to get what they demand, want and need. Even for those who do not lie incessantly, so often they convince themselves that a little lie is not such a big deal. After all, everyone does it, the sin is innocuous, deceiving makes little difference, no one gets hurt, and no one will know.

It’s human nature to want to hide the truth and protect oneself when we feel inadequate or have done something wrong about which we feel guilt and shame. Whether we lie in politics, government and diplomacy, business, with co-workers, employees and employers, colleagues, friends and family, everyone at one time or another succumbs to that Darwinian impulse to limit our exposure and hide our shame and embarrassment when we fear that we look incompetent, inadequate, stupid, foolish, weak, heartless, insensitive, or cruel.

What are ways to protect ourselves from lying and deceptive behavior while affirming the value of truth-telling and honesty? I offer seven ethical guidelines and strategies from a variety of Jewish sources against which we can measure how ethical we really are:

1.     Strive to speak factual truths and avoid half-truths;

2.     Be as precise and accurate as possible about even minor matters, and avoid making minor alterations to the truth;

3.     Avoid lying or shading the truth, even on behalf of a good cause, not only because lying is morally wrong, but because others will come to doubt your credibility even when you speak the truth;

4.     Teach your children to be honest. Keep your word to them and do not make false promises because your children will learn that it is permissible to lie;

5.     In business, maintain credibility at all costs, even when it is disadvantageous and costly;

6.     Avoid what the Talmud calls “stealing the mind” (6) which covers a wide range of deceitful actions such as cheating on a test, tax returns, job applications, and dating Apps because these and other acts lead others into thinking we are not who we say we are;

7.     Stay far from the most destructive lies of all, such as persuading others by misrepresenting the facts and ourselves using gross exaggerations and outright lies in order that others not follow us into promoting evil, whether it is in politics, government, the courtroom, the boardroom, the classroom, or the family room. Included also in this most destructive category of lies is spreading gossip and slander about others, a sin that Judaism compares to the crime of shedding innocent blood because slander and gossip can destroy another person’s livelihood, reputation, and good name, and at the very least, sow suspicion and doubt about the integrity of the other person. (7)

It is legitimate to ask, however, if it is always wrong to withhold or shade the truth. The biblical and rabbinic traditions cite many examples when it is not only permissible to lie, but it is a higher virtue to do so. For example, it is permissible to lie to save a life, to prevent physical harm being done to another, and to divert a bully from exploiting or humiliating another human being. So too is it acceptable to lie to right wrongs or injustices done to us by an unscrupulous and dishonest person, and to take something back from a person who stole it from us. (8) Shading the truth and outright lying are also acceptable to spare someone shame and embarrassment. (9) We are allowed to withhold or shade the truth when speaking to a seriously ill patient, for to do so might rob patients of hope and be injurious to their lives, unless (of course) the dying patient insists upon hearing the entire truth about his/her condition.

There are many who pride themselves on always being honest and giving unsolicited advice, however brutal and hurtful to others their honesty may be. They are convinced that it is a virtue to hold nothing back, that honesty in all things is the best policy. However, Judaism counsels that kindness is preferable to truth, and if being honest means that we are hurtful, then we ought to reconsider what we say.

The problem with truth is that we cannot live by it alone. It is too abstract, theoretical, and ideal; too absolute, unbending, and exacting; too uncompromising, precise, and rigid. Because truth is so demanding, it is natural to run from it, pervert it, or lie outright. However, when what we say and do fills us with feelings of guilt, shame, unworthiness, and inadequacy, that is evidence that we likely violated our sense of integrity, and we best pay attention to that.

Trump is not the cause of the deception and lies that have permeated our culture. He is simply the very worst example of a liar that most of us have ever witnessed in our lives. But each of us too crosses the line from time to time between telling the truth and misrepresenting it or outright lying about it. Telling the truth and acknowledging facts, be they historical, scientific, data based, or legal, constitute the greatest antidote to the spread of lies and deliberate misrepresentations, and constitute acts of resistance against the most corrosive, immoral and destructive condition in human nature.

This blog is edited from my chapter “Truth-Emet” in my book Finding Your Moral Compass – Jewish Values for the 21st Century (Toronto: University of Toronto New Jewish Press, 2026), pages 71-77. It is available from the publisher or on Amazon.

Notes:

  1. Genesis 3:13.
  2. Genesis 4:6.
  3. Dr. David Livingston, Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind (New York: Macmillan Press, 2006).
  4. The British Journal of Psychiatry, as reported in The Los Angeles Times, 1 October 2005.
  5. Jane Brody, “When a Partner Cheats,” NYT, 22 January 2028.
  6. Babylonian Talmud, Hullin 94a.
  7. Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 43b, and many others.
  8. Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 65b.
  9. Chofetz Hayim, Laws of Rechilut, 1:8.

Donald Trump’s Transactional Understanding of “Love”

29 Monday Jun 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

In an op-ed in the NYTs by columnist Frank Bruni “Flattery paves the road to the president’s heart” (June 29, 2026), he wrote this definition of what Donald Trump means by “love”:

“It’s love as a transaction. A contract. A pact. I’ll stroke your back — lightly — if you give a deep-tissue massage to mine. We’ll call that love.”

Nothing about what Trump considers “love” suggests what most of us understand about that most important value.

We live in an era of chaos, ugliness and brutality, fear, ignorance, bigotry, and hate, all of which polarize large segments of our population in North America, Israel, and around the world. Such animus and negativity shut people down and close them off from one another, leaving us mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually depleted and feeling alone. Yet, even as we acknowledge the mess in the world, it is important to remember the virtue that drives, sustains, unites, and enables us to cope and find greater meaning – love (Hebrew – ahavah-אהבה).

There are all kinds of love: the foundational bond that anchors parents and children, the romantic and erotic passion that elevates lovers, the sibling intimacy that strengthens sisters and brothers, and the love and trust that deepens intimacy and understanding between the closest friends. There is the mentor–mentee love that enriches teachers and students. Our love of work motivates us to be productive and affirm our meaning and purpose in the world. Our love of the arts and ideas breathes new life into our spirits. There is the ineffable soul-love that draws us closer as spiritual beings to intuit the unity of all things. There is also that pure, sweet, angelic, and continually requited love we feel in the eyes, the wagging tail, the excited bark, and the vibrating purr of our four-legged “best friends.”

Of all these kinds of love, a love upon which religion most focuses our attention is spiritual love, our awareness of the soul’s interconnectedness with all of being. It is our purpose as human beings, and it is fundamental in Judaism (and all the great religions) to understand, demonstrate, and express heart-soul love.

The spiritual teacher David Steindl-Rast (Essential Writings, p. 73) wrote that the one common thing at the core of all loves is the yearning to belong, to feel connected to something greater than ourselves. This yearning is foundational to the human species; to bond heart to heart not just with the people we know and about whom we care, but with every other human being, with all creatures and living things on the planet, with every astro-body in the cosmos, and with the transcendent God.

Jewish mysticism taught the interconnectedness of all things, and today scientists and meta-physicists understand that our bodies and souls are part of a great expansive and infinite Oneness. It is an axiom of many faith traditions, including Judaism, that every human being shares a common origin and destiny, and because we are so interconnected with each other, we “belong” to each other as if we are, all of us, part of a greater human family. Like families, we are responsible to and accountable for each other.

Steindl-Rast taught that “loving one’s fellow as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) is not meant to be understood in a limited way. Thinking about the “self” includes our consideration of the dignity of our neighbors, following the idea that the Hebrew word for life is a plural form – chayim-חיים – and that we exist together and belong with and to one another. This understanding of an expansive “self” in relationship to all others widens the heart, thereby enabling each of us, however difficult it may be, to feel at one with all people and all living things everywhere.

The 12th century Spanish mystical Jewish sage Nachmanides (aka Rabbi Nachman ben Maimon) taught that “loving one’s fellow as oneself” means that what we wish for ourselves materially, emotionally, and spiritually, we must wish also for others, not only those we know and love but also those unlike us, strangers, other peoples of faith, cultures, and tribes, living here and everywhere on the planet. This kind of expansive love is liberating because we come to understand that we are a part of something very great.

There are, of course, people who are easy to love. But what about those who are hard to love – our enemies, perpetrators of cruelty, pathological liars, and serial murderers? Must we love them too?

As a Jew, I say, “No!” There are some people we cannot wish well because their deeds are too heinous to tolerate or forgive. That said, I cannot forget what Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin said as he signed the Camp David Peace Accords on the White House lawn with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt in 1978. PM Begin remarked that the Jewish people consider it among the greatest of commandments to transform a “ra-רע” (an “evil” person – an enemy) into a “re’a-ריע” (a fellow – a friend). Although Egypt and Israel are hardly “friends” as we understand friendship between nations, it is a fact that since that day in 1978, there has not been one day of war between the State of Israel and Egypt.

Judaism does not ask us to “love” our enemies, only to act ethically toward them leaving open the possibility of a transformation of the relationship should circumstances change (see Exodus 23:4).

There is nothing, in my understanding, about Donald Trump’s relationship with others that suggests the true meaning of “love”, and for him to use that word in describing his transactional relationships is a corruption of the idea of love itself.  

Note: The above is taken from my book Finding Your Moral Compass – Jewish Values for the 21st Century (Toronto: University of Toronto New Jewish Press, 2026) pps. 137-145. Available on Amazon

Fifty Years Ago – 4 July, 1976 – Memories

26 Friday Jun 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

Fifty years ago, I was working (as a rabbinic student) on the programming staff of the Reform Jewish movement’s summer Camp Swig in Saratoga, California. As I recall, all of us were planning to celebrate with our campers the 200th anniversary of the United States on 4 July. We had heard, however, about what had happened a week before on 27 June and discussed how to teach our campers about what was taking place.

An Air France Airbus with 248 passengers was hijacked by members of the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to Entebbe, Uganda, that was governed at the time by the dictator Idi Amin. The entire awful story of that hijacking and the extraordinary Israeli response and rescue can be read here – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entebbe_raid

The plane departed from Tel Aviv and carried 246 mainly Jewish and Israeli passengers with a crew of 12. The plane flew to Athens, Greece, and picked up an additional 58 passengers, including the four PFLP hijackers and two German revolutionaries. The flight was on its way to Paris, but soon after take-off, it was diverted to Benghazi, Libya and then to Entebbe, Uganda where it was greeted happily and warmly by Idi Amin who had, in his earlier years, trained in Israel.

As noted in the resource above, the hijackers “demanded the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian [terrorists], 40 of whom were prisoners in Israel. They threatened that if these demands were not met, they would begin to kill all the hostages beginning on 1 July 1976.”

The hijackers did a “selection” of the Israelis and Jews from everyone else, reminiscent of what the Nazis did in the death camps. The account reads as follows:

“On 30 June, the hijackers released 48 hostages. The released were picked from among the non-Israeli group – mainly elderly and sick passengers and mothers with children. Forty-seven of them were flown by a chartered Air France [jet] out of Entebbe to Paris, and one passenger was treated in hospital for a day. On 1 July, after the Israeli government had conveyed its agreement to negotiations, the hostage-takers extended their deadline to noon on 4 July and released another group of 100 non-Israeli captives who again were flown to Paris a few hours later. Among the 106 hostages staying behind with their captors at the Entebbe airport were the 12 members of the Air France crew who refused to leave, about ten young French passengers, and the Israeli group of some 84 people.”

What the Israeli government secretly ordered, however, under the command of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on 3 July was what was a very risky but ultimately a successful rescue attempt of all but one of the hostages (an elderly Jewish woman) under the nose of Amin and the terrorists that resulted in only one Israeli combat death, the commander of the rescue team, Yonatan Netanyahu, the older brother of the current Prime Minister. Israelis and the Jewish world were exultant when it was reported that the plane carrying the remaining hostages lifted off and was on its way out of Entebbe.

That event eclipsed for us at Camp Swig the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the United States, but we celebrated both events. The Entebbe rescue remains one of the most extraordinary episodes in the history of the State of Israel.

So much has changed during these past 50 years in Israel, the Jewish world, for the Palestinians, and the United States. To list here those changes would take volumes, and indeed, volumes have been written and are still being written. However, on that 200th anniversary of the United States (4 July, 1976), my memories of what Israel did to save Israelis and Jews remain uppermost in my heart, mind and pride.

My Book Signing at Chevaliers Bookstore in Los Angeles – Wednesday, June 10 – 7 PM

04 Thursday Jun 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

 

I invite those of you in Los Angeles to join me at Chevaliers’ Book Store (133 North Larchmont Avenue – Hancock Park) where I will talk about and sign my latest book Finding Your Moral Compass – Jewish Values for the 21st Century, published by the University of Toronto New Jewish Press. 

The book is now available for purchase at Chevaliers, the oldest independent bookstore in Los Angeles. 

If you are free and in LA, I would love to see you. 

“Finding Your Moral Compass is a treasury of wisdom. Drawing on decades of personal and professional experience, along with deep reading in Jewish and non-Jewish sources, Rosove presents thoughtful musings on forty Jewish principles that he considers the most valuable for shaping a meaningful life. The book offers inspiration for Jews and non-Jews alike and will be a useful resource for teachers of adults and teenagers.” — Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, The Rabbi Aaron Panken Professor of Rabbinics, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, LA

“After years of losing much of my faith in moral clarity and hope itself, Rabbi Rosove has the antidote. These essays suggest an elegant formula for a new generation of Jewish leaders, based on a foundational belief in Jewish decency and justice which can transform how we strengthen the Jewish people, as well as how we view our position in our country and in the world.” — Mayim Bialik, Actor, Neuroscientist, and Writer, LA 

“In a time of moral confusion, angst and even despair, John Rosove’s latest book brings a wealth of knowledge and insight about Jewish values and history. John’s deft mix of personal anecdotes with secular history and Jewish texts helps illuminate what it means to be Jewish – and to be human. Whatever your level of religiosity, there is a treasure trove of valuable insights about both the specific dilemmas that we face in our daily lives (Should we give money to beggars on the street?) and the profound questions about what we owe our fellow human beings. John’s chapter on Diaspora Jews’ relationship with Israel – reframing our paradigm from “crisis Zionism” to “aspirational Zionism” — is among the most valuable and profound contributions on this fraught subject. “Finding Your Moral Compass” should be an essential part of any Jew’s home library.” — Jennifer Rubin, American Journalist, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Contrarian Substack, Washington, D.C.

“A must read! Rabbi Rosove brilliantly and eloquently distills a lifetime of Jewish learning into forty concise chapters on key Jewish values. Most distinctively, each chapter addresses real life situations, and concludes with additional thoughts from great thinkers, as well as suggestions for further reflection and discussion. Anyone who wants to learn about the central teachings of Judaism in an easy-to-read and relatable format – this is the book! And the additional bonus: By absorbing its teachings, you will lead a more decent and meaningful life.” — Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, Senior Rabbi of the Stephen S. Wise Free Synagogue and Host of the In These Times Podcast, NY

“In a world where what matters most is bitterly contested, utterly ignored, or in mortal danger of being lost completely, here are forty Jewish values to live by; a beautifully composed and easily accessible discussion of 3000 years of Jewish wisdom. A combination of mind and heart, by a widely admired rabbi who shares what he has learned from a lifetime of Jewish leadership.” — Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, Professor of Liturgy, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, NY 

“Finding Your Moral Compass vividly portrays key Jewish values and illustrates them with contemporary and classical anecdotes and apt quotations. In this book Rabbi Rosove invites the reader to ask how these values apply to contemporary issues and personal conduct. In addition he invites a dialogue about how committed liberal Jews can best engage with their relationship with Israel and Israelis in all their complexity. This wonderful explication of how a Jew should live will uplift and challenge all who read it.” — Rabbi David A. Teutsch, Ph.D., The Louis and Myra Wiener Professor Emeritus of Contemporary Jewish Civilization, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Philadelphia 

“Rabbi Rosove’s writing about Jewish values is both timely and profound. In an era when many of us feel adrift in a sea of immorality, he offers a lifeline—bringing Jewish teachings to life through personal experience, sacred texts, and contemporary commentary. Deeply rooted in Jewish tradition, his book is wise and thought-provoking, yet accessible. Each chapter ends with questions for discussion, making it ideal for a class, the family dinner table, or small group discussion.” — Rabbi Emerita Andrea London, Beth Emet – The Free Synagogue, Chicago 

“Finding Your Moral Compass is indeed a valuable text about the moral values of the twenty-first century, but it represents so much more. Through this work, John Rosove introduces us to his rabbinate while sharing with us his personal ethical framework as well as providing readers with insights concerning the richness and relevance of Jewish sources and texts. As part of this learning experience, Rabbi Rosove challenges us with his thoughtful and essential questions, offering each of us a pathway to explore our own religious and ethical understandings.” — Steven F. Windmueller, Professor Emeritus of Jewish Communal Studies, Hebrew Union College, LA

For more information see https://chevaliersbooks.com/event/2026-06-10/finding-your-moral-compass-rabbi-john-rosove

 

 

 

 

 

My Book is Now Published

28 Tuesday Apr 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

I hope you will consider acquiring it (as of April 28) either from the publisher (the University of Toronto New Jewish Press, here – Finding Your Moral Compass) or on Amazon.

Pre-publication endorsements:

“Finding Your Moral Compass is a treasury of wisdom. Drawing on decades of personal and professional experience, along with deep reading in Jewish and non-Jewish sources, Rosove presents thoughtful musings on forty Jewish principles that he considers the most valuable for shaping a meaningful life. The book offers inspiration for Jews and non-Jews alike and will be a useful resource for teachers of adults and teenagers.” — Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, The Rabbi Aaron Panken Professor of Rabbinics, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

“After years of losing much of my faith in moral clarity and hope itself, Rabbi Rosove has the antidote. These essays suggest an elegant formula for a new generation of Jewish leaders, based on a foundational belief in Jewish decency and justice which can transform how we strengthen the Jewish people, as well as how we view our position in our country and in the world.” — Mayim Bialik, Actor, Neuroscientist, and Writer

“In a time of moral confusion, angst and even despair, John Rosove’s latest book brings a wealth of knowledge and insight about Jewish values and history. John’s deft mix of personal anecdotes with secular history and Jewish texts helps illuminate what it means to be Jewish – and to be human. Whatever your level of religiosity, there is a treasure trove of valuable insights about both the specific dilemmas that we face us our daily lives (Should we give money to beggars on the street?) and the profound questions about what we owe our fellow human beings. John’s chapter on Diaspora Jews’ relationship with Israel – reframing our paradigm from “crisis Zionism” to “aspirational Zionism” — is among the most valuable and profound contributions on this fraught subject. “Finding Your Moral Compass” should be an essential part of any Jew’s home library.” — Jennifer Rubin, American Journalist, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Contrarian Substack

“A must read! Rabbi Rosove brilliantly and eloquently distills a lifetime of Jewish learning into forty concise chapters on key Jewish values. Most distinctively, each chapter addresses real life situations, and concludes with additional thoughts from great thinkers, as well as suggestions for further reflection and discussion. Anyone who wants to learn about the central teachings of Judaism in an easy-to-read and relatable format – this is the book! And the additional bonus: By absorbing its teachings, you will lead a more decent and meaningful life.” — Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, Senior Rabbi of the Stephen S. Wise Free Synagogue and Host of the In These Times Podcast

“In a world where what matters most is bitterly contested, utterly ignored, or in mortal danger of being lost completely, here are forty Jewish values to live by; a beautifully composed and easily accessible discussion of 3000 years of Jewish wisdom. A combination of mind and heart, by a widely admired rabbi who shares what he has learned from a lifetime of Jewish leadership.” — Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, Professor of Liturgy, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

“Finding Your Moral Compass vividly portrays key Jewish values and illustrates them with contemporary and classical anecdotes and apt quotations. In this book Rabbi Rosove invites the reader to ask how these values apply to contemporary issues and personal conduct. In addition he invites a dialogue about how committed liberal Jews can best engage with their relationship with Israel and Israelis in all their complexity. This wonderful explication of how a Jew should live will uplift and challenge all who read it.” — Rabbi David A. Teutsch, Ph.D., The Louis and Myra Wiener Professor Emeritus of Contemporary Jewish Civilization, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

“Rabbi Rosove’s writing about Jewish values is both timely and profound. In an era when many of us feel adrift in a sea of immorality, he offers a lifeline—bringing Jewish teachings to life through personal experience, sacred texts, and contemporary commentary. Deeply rooted in Jewish tradition, his book is wise and thought-provoking, yet accessible. Each chapter ends with questions for discussion, making it ideal for a class, the family dinner table, or small group discussion.” — Rabbi Andrea London, Beth Emet The Free Synagogue

“Finding Your Moral Compass is indeed a valuable text about the moral values of the twenty-first century, but it represents so much more. Through this work, John Rosove introduces us to his rabbinate while sharing with us his personal ethical framework as well as providing readers with insights concerning the richness and relevance of Jewish sources and texts. As part of this learning experience, Rabbi Rosove challenges us with his thoughtful and essential questions, offering each of us a pathway to explore our own religious and ethical understandings.” — Steven F. Windmueller, Professor Emeritus of Jewish Communal Studies, Hebrew Union College

“Some are guilty, but all are responsible.” Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

19 Sunday Apr 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

I comfort myself by knowing that the midterms are coming, that Democrats have consistently won off-year elections since Trump became President, that there are many hundreds of attorneys across the country filing law suits against illegal Trump executive orders and his cabinet illegalities, that the courts mostly have ruled against the Trump Administration, and that polls look good for the House to return to Democratic Party control and possibly the Senate, as well as state governor races and legislatures.

There are many ways to protest against illegal and heartless actions and policies of this government. They include joining protests against the building of concentration camps to house those arrested by ICE and reaching out to our neighbors who may be vulnerable to arrest by escorting their children to and from school and doing their shopping so they will not grabbed by ICE agents. Cable commentators, pod-casters, and journalists are speaking and writing truthfully now about everything that is happening. Politicians too are speaking out, and many of us are contributing financially to candidates we believe can flip Republican seats to worthy Democrats in the mid-term elections.

I was moved this morning by Heather Cox Richardson’s report (April 18, 2026) in which she wrote:

“Last night in Kansas, former secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg, who is speaking across the country in support of Democratic candidates, explained to an audience why he is working so hard to restore American democracy. He said: “[W]hen you have one of those long nights, when you’re asking yourself, can I really do any more that I’ve already done? I want you to reach into whatever is your personal why.

“For me, the reason I make sure to hit the road and be with you on a night like this is actually, ironically, the very same thing that makes it a little bit harder than it used to be. When I woke up this morning before I headed to the airport, about 6:30 this morning, as usually happens, my first interaction was with a four-year-old boy. And I’m putting out the cereal for him and his sister. And he says, ‘Papa, can I come with you? On this trip?’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t think it’ll work out. I gotta go to Kansas. You gotta go to preschool, and…’ And then he walks up to me with, um, a Sonic the Hedgehog walkie-talkie. He tells me to put it in my briefcase. He says, ‘Take this with you. That way we can talk to each other.’

“I wasn’t sure whether I should explain how range works on walkie-talkies or not. Just gave him a big hug instead. But what I know is that it won’t be so long before he and his sister, who right now are asking me questions I can handle—like, the other day, I got: ‘Papa is a grapefruit bigger than a pineapple?’ I can handle that. But, what am I gonna do when they say, ‘Papa, back in the 2020s, did you do enough?’

“They’re gonna ask that, and I want to make sure we have a very good answer by the time they’re old enough to ask that question.”

Here are a few quotations about the sin of silence for your reflection:

“You shall not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds.” (Leviticus 19:16 – 6th century B.C.E)

“One who is able to protest against a wrong that is being done in one’s family, city, nation or the world and doesn’t do so is held accountable for that wrong being done.” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 54b – 6th century C.E.)

“It is not what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.” (Moliere – 1622-1673)

“He who allows oppression, shares the crime.” (Erasmus Darwin – 1731-1802)

“A person may cause evil to others not only by one’s actions but by one’s inaction, and in either case that one is justly accountable to them for the injury.” (John Stuart Mill – 1806-1873)

“In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” (Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel – 1907-1972)

“The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances [i.e. the Nazi Holocaust] was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.” (Rabbi Joachim Prinz – 1902–1988)

“We will have to repent in this generation, not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., –1929-1968)

“I found myself in a role to which I was not accustomed, and to which I did not aspire, but which was now required of all of us who were unwilling to stand idly by and watch the undoing of all we cherish, and that was the role of resistance.” (Senator Adam Schiff – b. 1960)