Ability is Responsibility

 

Rav Shlomo and Kira Ashkenazi arrived at Washington University in St. Louis on October 9th, 2023. They walked into a house they'd never seen before: no furniture, no light fixtures, nothing. They texted a WhatsApp group of students they barely knew: "We're getting in at 3. Want to do Mincha and a kumzitz at our house at 5?" Forty students showed up. Shlomo cried in front of people he didn't know. A community was born.

In three years, that community has more than doubled, from around 50 day school students to over 100, with 50 gap year students arriving next fall. Growth is exciting. Growth is also a real problem. How do you preserve startup culture at scale? How do you keep a diverse, student-run community from turning cliquey as it grows? Shlomo draws on his venture capital background to ask the same question he'd ask about any company: how do you keep the culture alive when the headcount keeps climbing?

The animating Torah framework comes from Sifsei Chaim on Rosh Chodesh Nisan. If you have the ability to do something, you have the responsibility to do it. Shlomo points out it's written right into the word: responsibility contains ability. That's what brought the Ashkenazis to St. Louis. That's what they're asking their students to sit with.

For campus rabbis, educators, and anyone building something Jewish from scratch.