parsha bit: Nitzavim-Vayelech

In parshat Vayelech Moshe says he is ready for Yehoshua to lead Israel. The rabbis ask why Yehoshua should take over and not Moshe's sons Gershon and Eliezer. The rabbis say that Moshe argued with God on behalf of his sons, but God says that they are not worthy of leadership because they spend their days idly and do not study torah. Further, Yehoshua honors Moshe more than his own sons do, so he is worthy of leadership while they are not. (Numbers Rabbah 21:16)

My comment: Priesthood is based on inheritance but community leadership is based on merit. God will accept inheritance for those who interact with him [1], but for leading people, demonstrated merit is required.

[1] Priests can be disqualified under some circumstances, but the default is "in".

work retreat, morning minyan

Thank you to everyone who responded to my laptop-versus-PDA query.

Thursday was our annual company retreat, held way the heck too far out of town. It's a nice site, but it's 40 miles from the office, and they schedule it so you're in rush-hour traffic both ways. Oh well. (Note to self: if we use this site again, bring own caffeine supply for the morning. They didn't put out pop until after lunch.)

I went late, after morning services, hitching a ride with someone else with a constraint (dropping kids off at school). I had an interesting (brief) conversation with that congregation's new rabbi after services. ( geeking )

Their new rabbi is on the bimah during morning services, but he doesn't lead. After the first time I asked him if I was encroaching (maybe he wanted to lead) and he said no, go ahead. Every week he has complimented me on something, so I'll take this as ongoing consent. (You don't need a rabbi to lead, of course, and it's not automatic that a rabbi would trump a layperson, but I figure it's polite to defer if that seems to be called for.)

The rabbi has an Ashkenazi pronunciation (and accent). Most of the congregation sits in the back third of the pews, so I'm not used to having a different-to-me pronunciation so close. It's improving my concentration skills. :-)