IJII

The "Forward" (December 10, 2012) has published an article listing the salaries of executives in Jewish not-for-profit organizations. Eighteen of these individuals are earning over $400,000 per year, with the top salary at over $879,000. When the "Forward" published its report last December, I wrote the following Angel for Shabbat column. It seems to be just as relevant today as it was then...perhaps moreso.

Prudence in Good Times and Bad: Thoughts for Parashat Mikkets
By Rabbi Marc D. Angel

Thanks to Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, the Egyptians were spared a terrible calamity. Joseph offered a plan whereby the Egyptians could store produce of the seven years of abundance, so that they would have food during the following seven years of famine.

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(Rabbi Finkelman is a member of the International Rabbinic Fellowship. He earned his rabbinic ordination at Yeshiva University, and has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the City University of New York. He teaches literature at Lawrence Technological University, as well as adult education classes in his local Federation.)

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(This article, by Rabbi Marc D. Angel, appeared in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, May 23, 2012.)

“Something there is that does not love a wall.” So wrote the great American poet, Robert Frost. Walls divide us, separate us, block us from free contact with each other. And yet, we can’t live without walls. We need boundaries to maintain our individual selves, our communities, our nations. Just as we feel the need to resent walls, we also need to appreciate their value.

But where to draw boundaries and where to build walls are matters of great controversy.

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What About Me?

“The slave lives in silence, if such a meaningless existence may be called life. He has no message to deliver. In contrast with the slave, the free man bears a message, has a good deal to tell, and is eager to convey his life story to anyone who cares to listen.” (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, “Redemption, Prayer, Talmud Torah”)

For the past few decades, we have all examined, explored, debated, and tried to adjust the women’s role in Torah observant Judaism to work more productively with contemporary sensibilities and realities. I appreciate the need, the effort, and some of the results. However, as a man I often say to myself, as did the simple attendant to the demanding Shakespearean stage actor in the 1983 film The Dresser, “What about me?”

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