The hor­rif­ic events of Octo­ber 7, the ensu­ing hostage cri­sis and region­al con­flict, and the author’s chal­lenges with the poli­cies of the Trump Admin­is­tra­tion are the back­drop for Rab­bi Rosove’s new book. In Find­ing Your Moral Com­pass: Jew­ish Val­ues for the 21st Cen­tu­ry, Rab­bi John L. Rosove, Senior Rab­bi Emer­i­tus of Tem­ple Israel of Hol­ly­wood in Los Ange­les, writes not as a the­olo­gian or moral philoso­pher but as a con­gre­ga­tion­al rab­bi, lib­er­al Zion­ist, and stu­dent of human nature. He exam­ines a wide range of virtues and com­mit­ments, includ­ing faith, civil­i­ty, wis­dom, courage, humil­i­ty, grat­i­tude, and com­pas­sion. These chap­ters are grouped into six larg­er themes, includ­ing the rela­tion­ship between God and human­i­ty, inter­per­son­al dynam­ics, and Jew­ish Peo­ple­hood and the State of Israel.

In forty chap­ters, each ded­i­cat­ed to one val­ue, the author begins with a text based explo­ration and then con­sid­ers its con­tem­po­rary rel­e­vance. Each chap­ter clos­es with quo­ta­tions — often from non-Jew­ish thinkers — and ques­tions designed to prompt fur­ther dis­cus­sion. Each chap­ter invites per­son­al reflec­tion while also lend­ing itself to class­room use or fam­i­ly conversation.

The chap­ter titled ​“Anavah, Humil­i­ty” presents this virtue as the foun­da­tion for oth­er virtues, includ­ing grat­i­tude, patience, dig­ni­ty, gen­eros­i­ty, com­pas­sion, jus­tice, and peace. It frames humil­i­ty through the Tal­mu­dic pas­sage, ​“Know before Whom you stand,” empha­siz­ing both human lim­i­ta­tion and divine suprema­cy. The chap­ter con­trasts humil­i­ty with two extremes: arro­gance and self aggran­dize­ment on one side, and humil­i­a­tion, pas­siv­i­ty, and self den­i­gra­tion on the oth­er. It argues that true humil­i­ty is not weak­ness or self era­sure. Over­all, it defines humil­i­ty as a bal­anced moral dis­ci­pline root­ed in know­ing one’s dig­ni­ty and capac­i­ties while resist­ing arro­gance, remain­ing teach­able, and act­ing with com­pas­sion. The con­clud­ing quo­ta­tions and dis­cus­sion ques­tions invite read­ers to exam­ine humil­i­ty in them­selves and their leaders.

Find­ing Your Moral Com­pass is an acces­si­ble read that asks a decep­tive­ly sim­ple ques­tion: How should a per­son live at a moment when the world feels bro­ken? Rosove’s response is to recov­er Jew­ish val­ues as prac­ti­cal dis­ci­plines for liv­ing a moral life. Its most valu­able con­tri­bu­tion is not a nov­el eth­i­cal sys­tem, but an invi­ta­tion to make Jew­ish wis­dom usable amid uncer­tain­ty. For read­ers seek­ing a thought­ful entry point into Jew­ish moral tra­di­tion, Rosove’s book offers a prac­ti­cal guide. Rosove also argues that injus­tice and cru­el­ty demand more than pri­vate dis­ap­proval. He encour­ages read­ers to con­sid­er what they require in rela­tion­ships, insti­tu­tions, and pub­lic life.