Surmounting Challenges

How did David defeat Goliath? Judah Taub in his terrific new book, Moonshots for Israel,  suggests a fresh answer. David found a way to make Goliath’s powers irrelevant. Fascinating. Let’s bookmark this insight. 

Only two biblical personalities are associated with God’s  protective shield (magen): Abraham and David. They both figure prominently in this week’s Torah and Haftorah readings. 

Abraham is resourceful and pragmatic. He knows when to negotiate and when to delegate. He negotiates a family burial-plot for Sarah. And he delegates his servant to arrange for Rebecca to choose to marry Isaac (Gen 24:58). His goals are clear. And he figures out how to ask for help in achieving them. 

Today’s challenges are Goliath-sized. Worries mount over AI’s influence on life as we know it. Hate-movements are gaining ground. And our internal-fights are debilitating. Perhaps we’d do well to learn from David and Abraham’s goal-setting and agility.

Can these threats be met by finding ways to make their powers irrelevant? Perhaps. It’s interesting that global AI leaders have all decided to put offices in Israel, the world’s only land-bridge between three major-continents (Europe, Africa, and Asia). And a side-effect of in-fighting with our own can keep us from being blindsided. 

A wise notion was suggested by a wonderful KI family of learners this week. Maybe God’s protective-shield wasn’t granted to Abraham and David, it was earned by them. That is, their agility and agency are what generated God’s shielding protection. The more resourceful they got, the more protected they were. 

May you and I take this lesson personally. In doing so, may we surmount our own challenges to become better connected, respected, and protected. Am Yisrael Chai.