Rabbi Joshua Rabin

I’ve always had a bone to pick with postdenominational Judaism.

Oh, it’s not that I have some problem with someone being actively committed to Jewish life and wanting to avoid some label affixed to their Judaism.

But today, Jews who once gathered under a broad, albeit imperfect, umbrella stopped seeing themselves as part of something larger.

And it shows.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Imagined Community
2. Book Recommendation: Imagined Communities
3. What I Read This Week: What is Blueskyism?

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Why do we overcomplicate things in Jewish life?

Sometimes, as much as I want to focus on issues like meaning, intentionality, and depth in Jewish life, I recognize that the success of my organization and my own professional growth will depend on fairly simple concepts, such as membership, enrollment, and fundraising.

Could we be hurting our efforts to achieve these things by convincing ourselves that they are more complicated than they actually are?

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Complexity Bias
2. Book Recommendation: The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists
3. What I Read This Week: When nature calls…

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Who is a leader you admire?

Scratch that. Too easy…

Who is a leader you IDOLIZE?

These leaders make it look so easy, yet it’s not magic.

It’s a deliberate choice to be great.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Homeostasis
2. Book Recommendation: Peak
3. What I Read This Week: Liz Plank on the Backstreet Boys

You can subscribe to Moneyball Judaism on Substack, LinkedIn, or Medium.

I love to argue.

Perhaps too much.

Ok. Definitely too much.

Truthfully, I often don’t even realize it when I’m doing it.

And it’s actually more of a problem in Jewish life than we might think.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Debate Team Energy
2. Book Recommendation: If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?
3. What I Read This Week: Are Clergy Miserable?

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How is it possible that so many broken systems never actually break?

Maybe because people are hiding their feelings…

It’s simultaneously shocking how many people hide their true feelings about the status quo, and the relatively modest number it takes to turn a system upside down.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Preference Falsification
2. Book Recommendation: Why Civil Resistance Works
3. What I Read This Week: Is the River Winning?

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Is your organization too political?

Too apolitical?

Falling apart over political disagreements?

I’m not here to tell you what your community should or shouldn’t do. But it’s worth recognizing the limits of doing nothing, and giving ourselves some grace for the difficult position we find ourselves in.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Non-Player Character (NPC)
2. Book Recommendation: Fear No Pharaoh
3. What I Read This Week: The Great Pickle Divide

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Why do failing organizations never get their act together?

The easy answer is “bad leadership.”

But blaming failure on bad leadership is more reflexive than revealing.

So what if we tried something more radical?

Picking leaders by lottery.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Sortition
2. Book Recommendation: Leadership from Bad to Worse
3. What I Read This Week: The Pope’s Astronomer

You can subscribe to Moneyball Judaism on Substack, LinkedIn, or Medium.

Intelligence is a funny thing.

Say that a successful leader needs to be “smart,” and most people won’t argue. But take it one step further, and you’ll quickly encounter the thorny question of what “smart” even means—and whether too much of it can become a liability.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Curse of Knowledge
2. Book Recommendation: The Genius Myth
3. What I Read This Week: Scapegoating the Algorithm

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Many Jewish organizations avoid conflict out of fear—rational or not—that even a single disagreement could bring everything crashing down.

But fragility isn’t the only path.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Antifragile
2. Book Recommendation: There’s Nothing Like This
3. What I Read This Week: Kryptonomics

You can subscribe to Moneyball Judaism on Substack, LinkedIn, or Medium.

I’ve never been a promoter of Jewish unity.

Oh, I suppose it’s an aspiration I would support — if it were possible.

But it’s not.

Read why in this week’s issue of Moneyball Judaism:

1. Big Idea: Outrage Heuristic
2. Book Recommendation: The Science of Revenge 
3. What I Read This Week: The Great Cholent Crisis

You can subscribe to Moneyball Judaism on Substack, LinkedIn, or Medium.