With an eye to gleaning savvy business tips from the Torah, Rabbi Brackman and columnist Jaffe cover a span of topics-"Conquering Fear," management styles (referred to as "Patriarchal Business Models"), negotiation and "Dealing with Failure." Each chapter includes an illustrative story from the Torah, a real-life corporate example, insight for…
Leadership Lessons from the Torah
The Torah adds another important element of wisdom for leadership here that is important for all people to know especially leaders of businesses and organizations but it applies to others as well. Moses relates a very moving interaction he had with G-d. Moses wanted to enter the Promised Land and…
Renewable Energy is a Good Jewish Business
We are all painfully aware that oil prices have doubled over the last two years, and despite the fact that the price has recently fallen from its high of $147 a barrel, it is still at record levels. Here in the United States the politicians have come up with all…
Israel should be proud of prisoner exchange
The prisoner exchange between Israel and Hizbullah was so painful and disturbing that, in my eternal search for optimism, I tried to find some light and hope. At first I thought that at least there is some type of common ground being show here. The Israelis and Hizbullah have both…
Will the real progressives please stand up
Some think that moral relativism is synonymous with progress. A moral relativist thinks that there are no moral absolutes. Rather, according to them, morality is a subjective choice that varies from one society to another. I would argue however, that the opposite view which holds that there are absolute moral…
How to Achieve Self Mastery
From the story in the Torah of Moses sending spies to scout out the Land of Israel before it was to be conquered by the Israelites we find immense insight that guides us to self mastery. This is how the Torah relates it: “The Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Send…
Just Visiting
In this week's Torah portion we read that God told Moses to tell the children of Israel, (Leviticus 25:23) “For the land is mine, you are but sojourners and residents with me.” Does this mean that if one bought a property and the deeds are in one's own name it…
Jews Should Stop Being Ashamed of the Torah
Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, recently spoke to a Jewish audience. He started his talk with what he called a Dvar Torah, or a thought from that weeks’ Torah portion. He prefaced his comments by saying, “Before I go into this week’s Torah portion I want to…
Internet Culture is Bad for Society
In his latest column in The Forward and in other of his recent writings, David Klinghoffer has complained bitterly about the names and insults that have been hurled at him by what he terms as mostly “liberal Jews” because he dared to point out the influence Darwinism had on Hitler’s…
Please Don’t Politicize This Horrific Story
This week a horrific story of child abuse came to light in Jerusalem. Child abuse is always terrible and leaves psychological scars on its victims. Tragically in this case, one of the children involved has been severely and irreversibly physically injured as well. However, what makes this case even more…