Torah Philosophy of Time Management | Parsha with the Chief - Toldos
Release Date: 11/20/2025
Torah Philosophy of Time Management | Parsha with the Chief - Toldos
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Life is short. The average human lifespan of 4000 weeks is, as Oliver Burkeman says, “absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short”. No increased productivity or efficiency can escape the limits of our mortality. How do we live with this? How do we confront the fact that our time is finite, and that nothing we do can change that? To explore this question, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein contrasts Oliver Burkeman’s book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, with the Torah’s much deeper framework for understanding time itself. In this talk on Parshat Toldot, we examine the...
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My Journey After October 7th - The Common Sense Interview with the Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
I was invited by The Common Sense - South Africa’s newest and most exciting online publication, led by Dr Frans Cronje - for a long-form interview about my journey since October 7th. In this conversation with Gabriel Makin, I reflect on leading the South African Jewish community through crisis, and standing up to the anti-Israel campaign advanced on behalf of Iran and Hamas. In this wide-ranging interview, the Chief Rabbi speaks about what it meant to guide the community through two years of uncertainty, pressure, and historic responsibility. The discussion explores the events after the...
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The Search for Self-Worth | Parsha with the Chief - Chayei Sarah
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
There is a deep psychological need that every human being has to impress other people. To be recognised, to be seen, respected, and to be valued. This need is real and demands to be fulfilled. But when we pursue it in the wrong way, it can be harmful to our happiness, our integrity, and our relationships. In this talk on the Parsha of Chayei Sarah, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein explores a foundational teaching from Pirkei Avot: “Say little and do much.” The Gemara contrasts two figures - Abraham and Ephron - as archetypes of righteousness and wickedness. Abraham promises little and...
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How to Approach Difficulties in Life | Parsha with the Chief - Vayera
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Life is filled with obstacles and problems. Some are small. Others shake us to the core. Setbacks and struggle punctuate the human condition. How do we deal with this reality? We need a mental model that’s honest and realistic, and also positive and productive. In this talk on the Parsha of Vayera, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein explores a profound Mishna from Pirkei Avot: Avraham Avinu was tested with ten tests, and he withstood them all. From persecution and exile to famine, war, family tension, and the ultimate trial of the Akeidah, Avraham’s life was defined not by ease, but by...
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The Leadership Model | Parsha with the Chief - Lech Lecha
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
We often think leadership is only for those in official positions. But actually, we’re all leaders. Because leadership is about how we impact the lives of others. We’re leaders in family and community, at work, in society and wherever our actions touch others. I want to share a model of leadership that can change your life. In this talk on Parshat Lech Lecha, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein explores a Torah model of leadership that transcends titles and hierarchy. Drawing on Pirkei Avot, he contrasts two figures, Noach and Avraham. Both faced ten generations of moral decline, yet...
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Dynamics of Change | Parsha with the Chief - Noach
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
How do you reverse a negative trend in your life before it’s too late? And how do you catalyze positive change to transform your life for the good? The key is to understand the dynamics of change itself. The story of Noach teaches that just as decline unfolds step by step, so too can redemption. Each action, each decision, creates the world we live in, for good or for bad. Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein explores how societies rise and fall, and how individuals can transform their lives. Not through revolution, but through accumulation. The generation of the Flood becomes the ultimate...
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Listen Now: 'We have won' - SAZF speech
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Almost two years to the day since the October 7 attacks, Israel has achieved peace through strength, and South African Jews have stood firm against the ANC government. These past two years have taught us powerful lessons about moral courage, unity, and a formula for securing the future. The remaining hostages have been returned. The war in Gaza has ended. Israel stands victorious, a nation tested in fire, guided by faith, and strengthened by purpose. In this address, delivered before thousands at the South African Zionist Federation gathering, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein reflects on what...
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The Purpose of Life | Parsha with the Chief - Bereishit
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
What is the purpose of life? It’s the most important question of all. Why was the world created? Why do human beings exist? What does Hashem want from us? The Torah begins with Bereishit - the story of creation - to answer these questions. In this talk, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein explores the Torah’s vision of purpose through the lens of Pirkei Avot and the great commentators. Their insights reveal that creation was not random, but intentional - shaped by moral and spiritual purpose. The Mishna teaches that God created the world with Ten Statements, when He could have done it...
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Blessings of Vulnerability | Sukkot with the Chief
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Human vulnerability is profound and inescapable. And yet, one of our deepest psychological longings is for safety and security. We need to know everything will be okay. But the world offers no guarantees. How do we make peace with being fundamentally vulnerable? Sukkot provides the answer. We leave our secure homes for the sukkah, a temporary dwelling that must be fragile enough to let rain through. After Yom Kippur's vulnerability, we paradoxically make ourselves more vulnerable, and find joy in it. Drawing on Pirkei Avot and the story of the Jewish people's birth in the desert, Chief Rabbi...
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Your Second Chance | Yom Kippur with the Chief
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Yom Kippur is a celebration of the human capacity to change. Making mistakes is part of being human. But Yom Kippur tells us something radical: our mistakes don't overwhelm us. Failure is not the end of the story. You can rewrite your past. Growth is born in struggle. It is not a day of humiliation, but of hope. It's not a day of fear, but of transformation. Yom Kippur commemorates Moshe bringing down the second set of tablets from Mount Sinai. Hashem forgave the sin of the golden calf and gave the Jewish people the chance to begin again. We all get a second chance. The deeper challenge...
info_outlineLife is short.
The average human lifespan of 4000 weeks is, as Oliver Burkeman says, “absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short”. No increased productivity or efficiency can escape the limits of our mortality.
How do we live with this? How do we confront the fact that our time is finite, and that nothing we do can change that?
To explore this question, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein contrasts Oliver Burkeman’s book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, with the Torah’s much deeper framework for understanding time itself.
In this talk on Parshat Toldot, we examine the encounter between Yaakov and Esav as a case study in how human beings respond to mortality. Esav declares, “I am going to die. Of what use is the birthright to me?” His philosophy is simple: if everything ends, then only the present matters.
But the Torah offers a radically different view.
Pirkei Avot teaches that “this world is a prozdor - a corridor - before the next,” we discover that the way out of the 4,000 weeks is not by stretching them, but by using them to reach something beyond: eternity.
Time is the most precious resource we possess. It is life itself. There is much to be done. And the task is impossible to finish. Yet our lives do not need to be tragic. They can be heroic.
This is a lesson about time, purpose, mortality - and the heroic dignity of the human condition.
Key Insights:
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Life is about 4,000 weeks - and we cannot escape that limit.
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Esav’s mistake: “I am going to die. What use is the birthright to me?”
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This world is a prozdor leading to Olam Haba - Pirkei Avot 4:21.
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The way out of the 4,000 weeks is through them and toward eternity.
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“If not now, when?” Rashi teaches: if I don’t do it here, I cannot do it there.
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Time becomes meaningful when it becomes eternal.
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Priority is the essence of Torah time management.
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We are born in the middle of things, we die in the middle of things.
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We are mortal, but also heroic - limited beings with access to infinity.