Let's table the discussion" is a new Adath Israel Shul initiative where a story or thought is presented in order to stimulate exciting and constructive discussion around our Shabbos table or among friends and children. (Dedicated to the Refuah Sheleima of Shalva Adina Bas Sarah Chana & Eliyahu Aharon Ben Yocheved Yetta Ettel).

Steve Jobs was synonymous with the Apple Inc. When he was with the company, it soared to success. After he left it in 1985 it began to plummet. The situation had gotten so bad that Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy. In 1996, Jobs returned to the company he cofounded and in an incredible 2 years, he managed to turn the company around – a time that Apple calls “the return to profitability.” It saw the development of the itouch, Iphone and ipad not to mention many of the mac products that revitalized an almost stagnant Apple Inc.

However, many note that Steve Job’s most important creation and the one that best marked his legacy was not what he released to the public but rather what he created in his own company – the development and running of the guarded Apple University.

The idea behind Apple University, an executive training program of business courses that are encouraged but not mandated by Apple, was to take what is unique about Apple and impart that uniqueness to future generations of Apple employees. Steve Jobs hired top level professors from the major business schools to study all of the major decisions that the company had made, and to turn them into full scale educational materials and courses that could be taught to executives in order to give them the ability to think like Steve Jobs and the other early executives responsible for Apple’s success.

He identified tenets that he believes unleash innovation and sustain success at Apple — accountability, attention to detail, perfectionism, simplicity, secrecy. And he oversaw the creation of university-caliber courses that demonstrate how those principles translate into business strategies and operating practices.

 By creating the programs that allowed for others to be molded in the Apple way, Jobs saw to it that he, his thinking and philosophy, would be a part of Apple’s vision for the rest of Apple’s future – even after HE was no longer physically a part of it.  

The day after Yom Kippur, Yisro observed Moshe Rabbeinu serving the people by handling their spats in Din Torah all day long. Each person with a dispute would seek Moshe and his ability to adjudicate his issue and waited for the opportunity to present his case. The observant Yisro saw a fatal flaw in the process. “You will falter as will the people with you for the job is too hard for one man (or even with Aharon, Chur and the 70 Zekanim) to do alone.”

 Yisro suggested the Moshe establish a system of judges to handle the day to day responsibilities and needs of the people. Those people would be trained by Moshe himself and supervised by him too, which would allow him the time and space to impart the Torah and its values to the people as a whole – guaranteeing that they would receive the proper education and Hadracha from him but that they would be capable of living Jewish life long after he was gone.

The Oheiv Yisrael and the Likkutei Mharil both note that Moshe Rabbeinu’s primary job as leader was to give each person the inspiration to find his or her own way in Torah-true Judaism – not to lead it instead of them. By setting up the Dayanim system, this primaryjob could be done by Moshe and inspire the people.

As community people, parents and teachers, we often worry that if we do not “do it” then who will? And while that message is true and an important part of the contribution to the continuity of the Jewish people,  bringing our neighbors and children along to DO our Mitzvos and Chassadim will inspire them to see it and do it in a manner that they too, will be able to do it too.

What are YOUR core tenets of Jewish living?

Do YOU take the opportunities to have your children, friends and neighbors join you in order to have them develop the same passion you have?

 Let’s  “table” the discussion – by discussing it with our children, spouses, families and guests and open an exciting  discussion into our homes and communities