In light of recent rabbinic scandals, Stewart Weiss examines the duties of the congregational rabbi. Neither eloquence nor erudition, he argues, is the most important requirement for the position. Above all, a rabbi must lead by personal example:

The rabbi is first and foremost a spiritual role model. He embodies the personality traits . . . that one should seek to emulate, that we want to give over to our children. He is human—not super-human—but he has worked hard to master the moral, godly behavior that defines what a good Jew represents. It’s hard to describe exactly what these traits are, but, like all intrinsic values, we certainly know them when we see them. [This godly behavior is] part stately bearing, part affinity for the common man. It has a face of kindness and compassion, ever-ready to accept, but at the same time it projects a high standard and an absolute confidence that we, too, can reach that level of excellence.

Joy is the principal emotion that should radiate from the rabbi, reflecting an inner satisfaction with being a Jew. If there is any anger, it is directed at injustice and corrupted behavior. If there is sadness, it is focused on the plight of the less fortunate among us, empathizing with the hardships that life often throws at us, and the suffering we have long endured as a people at the hands of our enemies.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.