Courageous Compassion: Parshat Shemot

Abstract

Dear Friends,

In today's parsha essay, Rabbi Schiffman directs us to an unexpected female heroine, Batya, Pharoah's daughter, and the gift of compassion from someone who was ostensibly an enemy. It reminded me of Rachel Goldberg's powerful words to mothers in Gaza as she pleads on behalf of her kidnapped son Hersh: “Every single person in Gaza has a mother or had a mother at some point. And I would say this, then, as mother to other mothers: If you see Hersh, please help him. I think about it a lot. I really think I would help your son, if he was in front of me, injured, near me," (“I Hope Someone Somewhere Is Being Kind to My Boy,” The New York Times (Oct. 12, 2023).

Heroism can come in small gestures of compassion that can have enormous implications for the future of leadership.

Speaking of female heroes, this coming Saturday night, the Sacks-Hernestein Center will take 36 students and 4 faculty members on a solidarity mission to Israel to spend a week volunteering and learning more about the current war from a variety of scholars and activists. We are bringing 15 duffle bags of requested gear for the 727th Battalion, an all-female combat unit currently in Gaza. It's a small gesture that's also a big hug from us. It's our way of saying thank you for serving. May Hashem have compassion on each and every member of the 727th and bring each woman home safely to the embrace of her family.

Shabbat Shalom,

Erica

Dr. Erica Brown Vice Provost, Rabbi Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership