For quite a while now, we have been hearing a lot about a leadership crisis. It seems that, all over the world, the best and the brightest are not interested in seeking public office, and the people who are seem to let us down, one way or another, again and again. In North America, Europe, here in Israel, there is an almost constant stream of scandals involving politicians and people in public life, leaving one with the feeling that the lunatics have been elected to run the asylum.

Over the past 200 years or so, the Jewish people have struggled with the question of how to relate to the new, more liberal denominations and movements which began to take shape with the advent of  emancipation and enlightenment. How should communities who see themselves as bearers of the Jewish tradition react to communities who fly the banner of reform, change, reassessment, and, at times, even rebellion?

Here in Israel, the relationship between the Charedi (ultra-Orthodox) community and the rest of the country is a very hot topic. The big issues are the current exemption charedi men have from serving in the army, and what is called here the "core curicullum." Currently, Charedi schools teach Torah almost exclusively; very little, if any, secular studies are offered - no math, scienece, English and other languages, etc.

A very common way to start a blues song is "I woke up this morning..." and then go on to something bad happening, like, "...and my baby was gone". You get the idea. Well, I woke up this morning and heard the news on the radio. A policeman from Bat Yam shot his wife and then killed himself, all in front of their two-year-old son. The couple was in their twenties. Then we were told that this was the ninth woman to be murdered this year in Israel by her husband or boy friend. And we aren't even half-way through the year.

One of the interesting things about getting old (hey, I’m 60, show some respect!) is realizing how much things have changed. Many of today’s most often used words simply did not exist when I was a kid; in fact, they’ve only been around since I hit middle age. Google, web site, cell phone, text message, megabytes; the list is long. Many other words did exist, but who ever used them? Jihad, terrorist, global warming, shoe bomber (I’m trying to think of some pleasant things but am not succeeding – I got it – sushi, and quinoa).

The Tea Party, global warming, Sodom, and Abraham - Weekly Portion - Va'yera A couple of days ago, there was an article in the NY Times about skepticism towards global warming among Tea Party members and the public in general. The article claimed that only 14% of tea party members believe that global warming is an environmental problem that is having an effect now, as opposed to 49% (NOT A MAJORITY!) among the general public. Let me tell you, both figures are scary, especially since the temperature hit 95 degrees in Jerusalem on Wednesday, and broke records all over Israel.

In the parsha of Lech Lecha, God commands Abraham to "Go out from your land, your birthplace, and the house of your father, to the land which I will show you". The Rabbis are bothered by the rather long-winded specificity of God's describing the place Avraham already knows he is in and is about to leave - "your land, your birthplace, your father's house" - as opposed to the lack of clarity concerning where Avaraham is going - "to the land which I will show you". Usually, we give directions the other way, focusing not on where you are, but on where you want to get to.

I would like to look at some things in Parshat Ki Teitzei which relate to  the notion of creating a Utopia - a perfect society. This dream, to create as perfect world, was especially popular in the 19th and 20th centuries, and is still, even after the failure of Marxism, seen by many as a goal. Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm apparently once said, in an interview with Michael Ignatieff, that 20 million deaths (more or less what Stalin was guilty of) would have been worth it had it led to the creation of a Utopian society. Sadly, he is not alone in his thinking.