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From Julia Neuberger, Senior Rabbi at the west London Synagogue:Ìý

There have been a lot of new leaders taking up their jobs recently around the world, in France, Ireland, South Korea - to name but a few and Saudi Arabia as recently as yesterday, with the King’s son now being appointed Crown Prince. I wonder what preparations these modern leaders have made or are making for their roles – I wonder what I would do when faced with such tough new responsibilities. In Jewish law, a new king has to write out a whole book of Torah, the five books of Moses, and read it every day of his life. The thinking behind that was that they should not become haughty and arrogant, and should keep God’s laws.

How many of the Israelite and Judean kings actually did this, given that the stories about some of them later in the Bible suggest they were neither God fearing or humble, isn’t known. But perhaps we could learn from this idea in our day. What if, before taking on any important position of responsibility, like parenthood, for instance, or caring for a loved one, we had to think through and maybe even write down what our obligations and duties are? We could prepare for all sorts of responsibilities life throws at us, by thinking though what those obligations mean, and what principles we should follow. It might help us clarify our thoughts, and even behave better.

I love the idea of new kings writing a Torah scroll, to make sure they knew God’s law. But I’d like to apply the thinking behind it to my life as well.Ìý I’d like to stop for a moment and think what values should inform what I do. Stopping to think before rushing into action should help me do things well, whatever my duties and responsibilities. In these turbulent political times, we might hope our leaders would do the same. But whether they do or they don’t, it’s important for me to just stop for a moment and consider what principles really matter, maybe even write them down, and then try to carry out my responsibilities accordingly. I’m just off to write my list now…..