Taking Responsibility | Parsha with the Chief - Shemot
Release Date: 01/07/2026
Overcoming Inertia | Parsha with the Chief - Bo
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
There is a quiet struggle at the heart of human life: the tension between action and inertia. Between seizing a moment and letting it slip by. Between movement that builds a life, and delay that slowly drains it. We often assume that motivation must come first. That clarity, energy, or inspiration will eventually arrive and carry us forward. The Torah teaches the opposite. Energy follows action. Life is shaped not by waiting, but by movement. In this talk, Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein explores one of the most important principles of Jewish thought and personal growth: the power of decisive...
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Personal Agency | Parsha with the Chief - Va'eira
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Personal agency speaks to the most critical questions a person can ask: how much control do I really have over my own life? Do I see myself as a helpless victim of circumstances, or as an empowered agent capable of shaping who I become and how I live? The way we answer these questions determines how we approach every challenge, every choice, and every day of our lives. In this talk on Parshat Va’eira, Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein explores the Torah’s revolutionary concept of personal agency through one of the most dramatic confrontations in history: the battle of wills between...
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Taking Responsibility | Parsha with the Chief - Shemot
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Taking responsibility is one of the most subtle yet powerful forces shaping your life. Subtle, because it lives in the inner world, often invisible to others. Powerful, because it can change your life. Responsibility is, by definition, a heavy and demanding burden, but knowing how to harness its power will uplift your relationships, family, work and the trajectory of your personal growth. In Parshat Shemot, we meet Moshe Rabbeinu at the very beginning of his journey toward leadership. Before he speaks to Pharaoh, before miracles, before authority, Moses repeatedly steps forward when others...
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Hanukkah: The Fight for Values
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
We are living through turbulent and confusing times. Much of what we see is filtered through politics and headlines. Hanukkah offers a completely different paradigm to make sense of everything. In this talk, Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein asks a foundational question: what is Hanukkah really about? The Gemara speaks about the miracle of the oil, but why would our Sages establish a new festival for all generations on that basis alone, especially in light of the many miracles recorded in Jewish history and even in the Beit HaMikdash itself? Tracing the story of Greek oppression and the spiritual...
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Difficult Relationships | Parsha with the Chief - Vayeishev
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Difficult relationships and conflict are woven into so many social dynamics - within family, friendship, work community and society - causing tension, distance and pain. Can these relationships be repaired? Can resentments and divisions be overcome? In this talk on the Parsha of Vayeishev, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein explores the roots of conflict through the story of Yosef and his brothers. Drawing on Pirkei Avot and the classical commentaries, the Chief explains that conflict does not begin with an event. It begins within us: in jealousy, ego, resentment, competitiveness, the...
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Dealing with Fear | Parsha with the Chief: Vayishlach
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
Fear is an intensely powerful and natural human emotion. It takes many forms. Fear of harm or failure or disapproval, fear of loss or rejection. These fears can be debilitating obstacles to our success and growth, and to fulfilling our potential. And yet sometimes fear is an entirely appropriate response to real threats. Sometimes it warns and protects us. Where is the balance? And how do we rise above our fears so that we can truly flourish? In this talk on Parshat Vayishlach, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein explores Yaakov’s encounter with Esav as the Torah’s model for facing fear...
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Message of the prophets to South Africa - Live at FNB Stadium, National Day of Prayer
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
A few days ago I had the privilege of speaking to more than 100,000 South Africans in the National Day of Prayer at FNB Stadium. The moment reveals something profound about the soul of the real South Africa. What I experienced was profoundly moving: the warmth of the crowd, the shared spirit of prayer, and the deep sense of unity that filled the stadium. And I felt something else: the genuine love and respect towards the South African Jewish community. Because we stand for the same values: faith, family, moral clarity, compassion, community. What happened in the stadium is a small part...
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Finding Paradise | Parsha with the Chief: Vayeitzei
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein
There is a deep psychological need to find paradise - a state of bliss without stress, duty or struggle. Entire industries are built around that longing: leisure, entertainment, escape. Perhaps it is a yearning for the Garden of Eden we once had, and then lost. We have been searching for paradise ever since. But what are we really seeking? And are we looking in the right place? In this talk on Parshat Vayeitzei, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein explores Jacob’s dream - a ladder planted on the earth, reaching into the heavens - and reveals the Torah’s model for finding...
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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...
info_outlineTaking responsibility is one of the most subtle yet powerful forces shaping your life.
Subtle, because it lives in the inner world, often invisible to others. Powerful, because it can change your life.
Responsibility is, by definition, a heavy and demanding burden, but knowing how to harness its power will uplift your relationships, family, work and the trajectory of your personal growth.
In Parshat Shemot, we meet Moshe Rabbeinu at the very beginning of his journey toward leadership. Before he speaks to Pharaoh, before miracles, before authority, Moses repeatedly steps forward when others step back, intervening in injustice, defending the vulnerable, and acting when “there is no one else.”
Yet when Hashem calls upon him to lead the Jewish people, Moshe hesitates.
Why would someone who takes responsibility so instinctively resist leadership?
Drawing on Pirkei Avot and the teachings of our Sages, Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein explores a profound distinction: the difference between doing a task and carrying the mental load - the inner responsibility for whether something truly succeeds or fails.
Our Sages teach that the first place where there is “no one else” is within ourselves. Responsibility begins internally, long before it becomes visible leadership.
This talk offers a Torah framework for understanding leadership, self-mastery, and the quiet inner work that precedes all meaningful responsibility.
Key Ideas
- Responsibility is defined by the mental load, not by visible action
- The first place where there is “no one else” is within oneself
- Torah leadership flows from the inside out
- Moshe’s reluctance was humility, not avoidance
- Responsibility must be taken leshem shamayim