Kol Bo and Sermon

Today was the first day of Kol Bo, which looks like it is going to be very interesting this year.  Kol Bo started with a morning service lead by Rene, Emily read Torah and I gave a d'var Torah.  (See Below). I also feel that I am making good progress with the project for Limmud so all in all. Things are going well.

Good Morning. (Smile and pause)

Max Weber, the eminent German sociologist, once suggested that there were three forms of authority: Legal (which is based on either on a system of bureaucracy or a standardised set of normative laws), Traditional (which is based on custom-or the principle that 'this is the person who has always held authority'), and Charismatic (which depends on the characteristics of the individual and the demands of the moment).

It is possible to identify each of these three types of authority within the structure of ancient Israelite society. The traditional authority of the heads of houses, and the kings. The Legal authority of officers and advisors for example those appointed by Moses, and of course the charismatic authority of the Prophets and Judges.

But the nature of authority and leadership are still a topic of scholastic (and indeed popular) research. Walk into any bookshop and you are likely to find shelves and shelves of books on the topic of leadership, and a summation of this week's Paraha, Parasha Pinchas, could be 'authority and leadership'.

Because leadership is a major focus of this Parasha. From the dealing with the consequences of Pinchas' dynamic and deceive actions during a moment of potential political crisis impaling Zimri and Cozbi (this dramatic incident actually concluded last week's Parash.)

The motif of leadership continues with Moses' considered application of a legal frame-work to a new situation in response to the request brought to him by the Daughters of Zelophehad, and parasha concludes with Moses handing on authority and leadership to Joshua.

This Parasha really is concerned with and focused on leadership. In its many forms and in its different styles.

But in describing the investment of Joshua the Torah uses the verb, VaYis-M'ch. From which the word Semicha (rabbinic ordination) is taken. The Rabbis of the classical period, and indeed latter, wanted to link their forms and style of leadership with those that had operated in the Biblical period.

But the challenges of Jewish life have continued to evolve as has the types of leadership necessary to meet these challenges.

(pause)

Leo Baeck College, has been providing leadership and leaders for the progressive Jewish community not just in Britain but across the world for almost 60 years.

But just as the leadership of Moses and then of Joshua would not have been possible without the active support of other leaders within the community, so too the college relies upon the support, in many different forms from the members of the wider progressive community.

In the modern world, work place and indeed rabbinate, leadership is often separated from authority, in a way which Weber would almost certainly have found compelling.

But with the help of the College, aided and supported by the members of the progressive community, I am certain that the current generation of students can follow in the footsteps of the current rabbis, and those who came before, and meet and even more than meet the challenges of providing the necessary leadership in partnership with the broader membership of the progressive and wider Jewish community.

Ken Yehi Ratzon.