In a program designed to advance gender equity in Jewish communal leadership, there is much to unpack here, starting with the presence of “a Bat Kol.” Like many things in Hebrew, Bat Kol defies literal translation. The phrase is often referred to as a Divine Voice and, in contemporary language, is sometimes understood as an inner voice or a calling. Because of the grammatical use of the feminine bat, Bat Kol is also sometimes understood to be the presence of the shekhinah, representing the feminine attributes of God. When so much written about ritual, leadership and power is framed in the masculine, it is refreshing to encounter Talmudic instruction and influence framed in the feminine.

While the presence of the Bat Kol itself is satisfying, the message of the Bat Kol is also critical: She does not pick Hillel or Shammai, she picks Hillel and Shammai. She says, “these and those, Elu v’Elu,  אֵלּוּ וָאֵלּוּ.” Despite the fact that we can each only choose one path and one set of actions, the Bat Kol teaches us that there is more than one right path for our actions. Although the Bat Kol spoke to the Talmudic rabbis in ancient times, this text and its message remains vibrant and relevant for us today. Each of us, as teachers and leaders, must make choices that seem impossible. We encounter ideas that are counter to our own from our peers, our supervisors, and the very people we are hired to teach and lead.

This fall, Voices for Good Fellowship graduate, and Svara Faculty Fellow, Natalie Boskin brought this text to our current class of fellows for deep study. Our fellows engaged in a rich discussion about how we can, as leaders, embrace seemingly contradictory ideas. We considered strategies for creating space for two seemingly contradictory truths to co-exist.  We discussed how to listen for the Bat Kol in our own leadership work when we are faced with a choice about what to do when we must navigate elu v’elu.

With permission, one of our fellows later brought this text study to her own team to frame a conversation about how they, as a staff, might navigate their own differing opinions. She had planned to offer the text and then direct the conversation to the presence of co-existing different priorities among their staff, of elu v’elu. She anticipated the conversation would be about how they, as a group, could discuss all their ideas and still make decisions about how to move forward as an integrated organization. She planned a conversation about compromise, respect, and shared vision.

However, the staff on her team immediately lit up and brought the conversation to the elu v’elu of talking about Israel with their students. They noted the myriad views about Israel (ancient and modern) held by their students. They acknowledged that even amongst staff there were different ideas about Israel, current experiences of antisemitism, and feelings about  threats to democracy in the United States and abroad. Some people thought this, some people thought that, and some people thought something else all together.

Our fellow followed the practices modeled in Jewish LearningWorks conversations, pursued the interests of her staff, and embraced this conversation. This proved to be  a rich and grounded way for her staff to discuss the complexities of Israel, and other divisive topics, and how their students are encountering these themes on a daily basis. The text offered  a pathway to conversation about how they as individual leaders and teachers felt about Israel and how, as a united team, they might support their students while embracing the ideas of these and those to mingle in their programs.

As we approach the second  anniversary of the Simchat Torah/October 7th attacks, I invite us to all take a moment to pause, reflect, and mourn the terrible loss of life the world has endured. I encourage us, too, to lift ourselves up and turn toward the future we are building. As we courageously seek ways to talk with people who have different opinions than our own, I hope that we will be able to listen for the Bat Kol,  and together seek a future that has space in it for these and those, Elu v’Elu, אֵלּוּ וָאֵלּוּ.

Would you like to learn more about this text? Please email Jenni Mangel at jenni@jewishlearning.works to get access to Natalie Boskin’s slide deck.