And what will Rabbi Weil do once he’s done with the Orthodox Union?
Take Malcolm Hoenlein‘s job (as CEO of the Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations)?
Run for political office? That to him might be a sell-out.
I’m betting his ultimate ambition is to take charge of Yeshiva University about ten years down the line.
I asked a source in the know who said: "I think Rabbi Weil will do a very good job with the OU. He’ll take it to a whole new place. Will he be controversial? Probably. Will he be stepping on people? Probably. Will he be co-opting programs and things other people are doing and put them under the umbrella of the OU? Definitely."
Rabbi Weil is not a profound thinker nor an innovator. He’s a CEO. He talks a good game. He’s a good guy. He’s friendly. He’s power hungry. He’s territorial. He needs to be the alpha male.
In Pico/Robertson, Rabbi Weil would try to co-opt the other Modern Orthodox rabbis. He’d step on their toes. He’d compete for their most powerful congregants. The way to be a good shul rabbi is to have good relationships with other rabbis in the community and work together for the greater good. Rabbi Weil saw his mandate as "bringing back all the people who left Beth Jacob," even though many of them were never Beth Jacob members.
Some of Beth Jacobs old-timers saw the place as the first shul in the area and that the other shuls had therefore taken their members.
Rabbi Weil bought into that and that caused him needless conflict.
If, while running the OU, Rabbi Weil sees another organization doing something he wants, he’ll step in, if he can, and take it.
Rabbi Weil is a great speaker and a great big-picture guy. He’s great at delegating. Who will take care of the details for him?
Rabbi Weil has a hair-trigger temper. I wonder how much this will get him into trouble.
