A New Year Begins at the Beginning

With this week's d'var Torah, I start my 13th year of sending our such messages. It's been a very rewarding experience, not only for the study itself but also in learning from the wonderful comments I receive in return. While the focus was originally on how the weekly parasha could be interpreted to impact congregational management, I've expanded over time to talk about other issues, from relationships in families to our relationship with Israel and, on occasion, to political matters and current events as seen from what I can glean from the text. Thanks again for your comments and support. Shabbat Shalom to all.




Bereshit
Genesis 1:1 - 6:8

Précis: The first Book of the Torah, Bereshit (Genesis, literally “in the beginning” or “When God began to create”) begins with the familiar story of creation: the world is created in six days, with God resting on the Seventh. The story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden is included in this weekly reading, as is the story of Cain and Abel. We begin again the annual reading of the Five Books of Moses immediately upon its conclusion. Why? With each passing year, our understanding changes as we experience more of what life has to offer. Yochanan Ben Bag Bag said, "Turn it, and turn it, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and gray with it. Don't turn from it, for you have no better standard of conduct." (Avot 5:25)


Genesis 3:11-12 - “And the Lord said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree that I commanded you should not eat of?’ And the man said: ‘The woman you have given me to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.’”

Adam, when confronted by God about his failure to follow the single prohibition that God had commanded him to observe, first attempts to place the blame on Eve, and then on God Himself. It’s human nature that when one errs, one may defend one’s actions, or blame another. Adam refuses to acknowledge his responsibility. It was because something God did. When Eve is confronted, she responds that the snake made her do it. Were they banished from the Garden (and consigned to a mortal existence) because they violated God’s prohibition, or because they refused to accept responsibility for their own actions? There is a midrash that it was only after Cain killed Abel that Adam learned of the possibility of repentance (t’shuvah), and bitterly complains that had he only known of the possibility of atonement, he could have done so and remained in the Garden.


The bottom line for Executive Directors (and everyone else, perhaps) may be as follows: admit your own mistakes and take responsibility for them. An attempt to blame another, be it a staff member or a volunteer or a family member, will inevitably result in the loss of your credibility. We all make mistakes; it's what makes us human. Striving for perfection cannot obscure the fact the errors happen. Our mandate is to take ownership of our mistakes and accept responsibility for them clearly and unequivocally, and then move on!