Dear friends,

Outside the palace, the Ten Plagues rage. Pharaoh’s advisors urge him to compromise and send out just the men. Pharaoh agrees and makes the offer.

But Moses answers: “With our youth and with our elders we will go. With our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, for it is a pilgrimage of God to us.”

Pharaoh scoffs. He can’t believe his generous offer is being rejected. He can’t fathom what it means to value every member of a community.

One of the central messages of Passover is that every single person matters. We all have a role to play. We all are part of the community. Young and old,  wise and wicked, simple and unsure, we all have to consider ourselves as if we personally came out of Egypt. Unlike with some sacrifices that are eaten only by the priestly class, every community member is to be nourished by the korban Pesah (Passover offering), just as in every generation we share the dangers, and the promise of rescue, that we sing about during the Seder. 

Getting the Jewish community out of Egypt is one thing; getting the Egypt out of the Jewish community is another. How deeply have we in the Jewish nonprofit sector internalized Moses’ message that everyone counts? How much “Pharaoh mentality” still remains in our field’s decision-making?

What would it look like if we valued people not like Pharaoh, but like Moses? Would we be more invested in things like onboarding, intensive professional development, and psychological safety? Would our compensation philosophies change? Would our approach to time and workload management evolve?

Recently, Prof. Joshua Margolis of Harvard Business School and I co-authored an article arguing that the Jewish nonprofit sector needs a mindset shift in how we think about talent. We need to stop thinking about talent as a cost and start thinking about it as an investment, we argued.

Creating actionable, tractable answers to these questions is not easy, and we are imperfect leaders of imperfect organizations during a hard time. The past year and a half have been a tremendously difficult and painful time for the Jewish people, and for all people, Jewish and otherwise, who work, lead, and serve in the Jewish communal field. 

But like Moses, facing off against Pharaoh with audacity, our job is not to despair in the face of obstacles, but to demand miracles — and work toward them.

May the Passover holiday bring a sense of rest from our labors, and a sense of hope against darkness and despair. As our community faces war, antisemitism, and increasing societal upheavals and divisions, let’s remember that it was at “about midnight” when the Exodus truly began. As we prepare this year for the hope and the respite that the Passover season may bring, let’s all recommit to valuing one another like Moses. Let’s recommit to investing in each other like partners in a shared covenant.

Gali Cooks
President & CEO
Leading Edge