Inner reflections, Divrei Torah and Growth in Spirituality

Another late night flight: this time over Europe from London to home in Israel.

Another fascinating visit we made whilst in Boston was to the JFK Museum and Library.

Now rather obviously, the museum is a shrine to the achievements vision and tragically brief drama of Kennedy’s presidency. It certainly does not refer to the complicated, highly controversial and sometimes seedier aspects of his personality and rule.

But even in a post Camelot, balanced and critical retrospective of the Kennedy years, one cannot but be awed and buoyed by the overarching vision and fundamental values and the historic and political challenges he issued to himself and to the American people.

All men are flawed; and perhaps to get to a position of ultimate political leadership, national leaders are more flawed than most. It is, however, striking when one finds that these flawed leaders prove capable of raising the vision of a nation and challenging the people to take personal responsibility for true progress and change.

JFK was one. Mandela was one. Ghandi was one.

The museum renewed my faith that even slippery and devious politicians can inspire us. There is no ultimate contradiction in terms. They just need to care to do so.

והשיבה לשופטינו כבראשונה