Temple Beth El of Boca Raton

Shabbat Message from Rabbi Greg Weisman: “There isn’t a major film today that doesn’t use some CGI, thanks in part to Steve Jobs. His wide-ranging success brought him so many accolades, including being named one of Time Magazine’s 20 most influential Americans of all time, alongside George Washington, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln. But, he almost threw it all away before he got started.
Steve started Apple at age 21, with no business experience. He was young, brash, and arrogant. His leadership type was uncompromising and abrasive. When the business did well, though, people looked past his shortcomings. But in 1985, as the business was starting to founder, the toxic work environment and routine humiliation of co-workers became too much to bear. When the company board relieved Steve of most of his responsibilities, he resigned from the company he founded.
For the next twelve years, Steve did the quiet, unglamorous work of reinventing himself as a leader. He built companies through struggle, learned to trust people he used to dictate to, and slowly became someone who could wield power without abusing it. Steve did teshuva. He might not have called it that, but we can. He reflected on what caused him to cause harm to others. He sincerely regretted it, so much so that he taught himself how to do better in the future. Perhaps most importantly, when he regained leadership of Apple, he did not revert back to his old ways. Steve Jobs’ second tenure as Apple CEO was historically successful. He applied what he learned from his teshuva process, and his past mistakes did not limit him in the slightest. We should learn from his example and pursue our teshuva with the same energy and vigor. That is the true measure of teshuva. The Talmud asks, “What are the circumstances that demonstrate complete repentance?” The answer: if a person has the opportunity to repeat their mistakes, but overcomes their inclination, that proves the repentance is complete, and they are forgiven.”

READ THE FULL MESSAGE ON OUR BLOG: https://tbeboca.org/shabbat-shuva-reboot-shabbat-message-by-rabbi-greg-weisman/