Friday, February 14, 2025

Disruptor In Chief

The notion of a disruption does not usually have positive associations. Disruptors generally cause disruptions and, for the most part, require some subsequent correction or tidying up. Recently, I was looking at someone's LinkedIn profile, and he listed "disruptor" as one of his positive qualities. This got me thinking as to why someone should be proud to be a disrupter. I looked into the issue and found that a disruptor can be positive if the individual actively challenges the status quo, questions traditional methods, and seeks to implement innovative solutions or approaches. Many innovative products in society are only here because some individuals are willing to be disruptors. As we are less than one month into the second Trump Administration, there is a vast gulf of opinions on whether this presidency is the greatest in history (let's redo Mount Rushmore) or if this is the biggest failure. There is one quality that all fans or foes would agree on, and that is that President Donald Trump is a disruptor. The disruptions have set up a dizzying few weeks of discussions on everything from buying Greenland to annexing Canada as the fifty-first state. (It's hard to imagine Tim Horton's coffee being an American product). The disruptor-in-chief took things to a new level with his bombshell announcement on Gaza. Up until recently, if anyone in Israel or elsewhere suggested even the voluntary emigration of Palestinians from Gaza, that would be considered absurd. I can't speak for others, but I'm not sure how many thought this proposal would ever come from the Whitehouse. While I am not a political pundit, and this is not a political op-ed, certain issues are bigger than politics, and in my mind, this certainly qualifies. While it is too early to tell if this idea is realistic or very distant from reality, the mere proposal has already changed the entire conversation. The focus of the conversation has become why neighboring Arab countries are not doing enough to help the Palestinians. Indeed, King Abdullah from Jordan felt compelled to announce this week on his visit to the White House that he was allowing 2000 children from Gaza into Jordan. This proposal (like it or hate it) represents fresh outside the box thinking. I have been reflecting that we can benefit from applying this fresh outside the box thinking to other areas of life. There are many areas of bottleneck in our personal, communal and professional lives that might benefit from a new perspective that has not been seriously considered. In our journey of life every once in a while, a little disruption may be a good thing. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch

Friday, February 7, 2025

The Price of Eggs

Egg prices are rising again. It seems surreal and borderline unbelievable how expensive the most basic staple of our diet has become. Some restaurants have begun charging a 50-cent surcharge for any egg one orders. In 2019 which seems like decades ago, a dozen eggs were less than $1.50. In the enlightened era of 2025, it is not uncommon to see eggs being sold for over $5.00 per dozen. This dramatic rise is just one example of why food prices, in particular, and the cost of goods in general, have skyrocketed recently. As the essential cost of goods and services continues to increase, people's salaries are not nearly keeping up at the same pace. The anxiety people have associated with Parnassah, or their material livelihood, is not a new issue and will continue to be ongoing until the end of time. Indeed, the prevalent Talmudic view is that even during the Messianic Era, humanity will continue to struggle with poverty and the challenge of bringing home enough funds to afford some food on the table. The Talmud famously says that "providing a person's food is as difficult as splitting the Red Sea." On a superficial level of understanding, this text is somewhat discouraging. After all, it is quite difficult for the sea to split. If earning a basic livelihood is equivalent to splitting the sea, then we are in serious trouble! I heard a fascinating insight on this Talmudic passage some time ago that provides me with a much better understanding. If one recalls the story of the immediate prelude of the splitting of the sea in this week's parsha, the Jewish people had their backs to the sea while the mighty Egyptian army aggressively pursued them. It appeared to be an imminent bloodbath of the nascent nation at the hands of the mighty Egyptian empire. As a people of faith, they cried to God for salvation. The people were praying for a miracle akin to a "David vs. Goliath" moment in which a vastly under-armed underdog defeats the favored heavyweight. They were not praying or hoping for the sea to split from behind their backs and open up a passage of dry land amidst the raging waters. The most dramatic miracle of the ages was equally unexpected in how it occurred. It could have only happened from the ultimate "Redeemer of Israel," who, in today's terms, is the ultimate in an "outside the box" manner and delivers unexpected results. The least likely possibility of the sea splitting behind them was orchestrated by the Redeemer of Israel. Similarly, in our pursuit of our daily livelihood, we often think that our breakthrough will come if a specific sequence of events were to occur. We must keep in mind that the ultimate Sustainer and Provider will deliver the results many times from the least expected source. Until that time comes, let's take a deep breath about the prices of eggs. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yakov Fisch

Disruptor In Chief

The notion of a disruption does not usually have positive associations. Disruptors generally cause disruptions and, for the most part, requi...