In light of recent rabbinic scandals, Stewart Weiss examines the duties of the congregational rabbi. Neither eloquence nor erudition, he argues, is the most important requirement for the position. Above all, a rabbi must lead by personal example:

The rabbi is first and foremost a spiritual role model. He embodies the personality traits . . . that one should seek to emulate, that we want to give over to our children. He is human—not super-human—but he has worked hard to master the moral, godly behavior that defines what a good Jew represents. It’s hard to describe exactly what these traits are, but, like all intrinsic values, we certainly know them when we see them. [This godly behavior is] part stately bearing, part affinity for the common man. It has a face of kindness and compassion, ever-ready to accept, but at the same time it projects a high standard and an absolute confidence that we, too, can reach that level of excellence.

Joy is the principal emotion that should radiate from the rabbi, reflecting an inner satisfaction with being a Jew. If there is any anger, it is directed at injustice and corrupted behavior. If there is sadness, it is focused on the plight of the less fortunate among us, empathizing with the hardships that life often throws at us, and the suffering we have long endured as a people at the hands of our enemies.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.