10 Ways Your Rabbi Can Connect Yom Kippur to Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs dying is a big deal. Is talking about him from the pulpit appropriate for the Day of Atonement? I personally don't usually talk about current events, but perhaps the death of Steve Jobs is more than that. Undeniably he was a man who changed the world and affected everyone on this planet in some way, even those who don't have computers, as they were in turn affected by people who did.


I will not be speaking about him, but there are lots of ways he can be connected to Yom Kippur. Here are some ways I thought of off the top of my head and I am curious if any Rabbis out there use these ideas or some of their own.

1. Mortality: Steve Jobs had everything and yet could not escape death.

2. Potential: Steve Jobs shows us how much one man can achieve.

3. Perseverance: Steve Jobs failed many times before he finally succeeded.

4. Destiny (the goral): Steve Jobs' adopted parents really wanted a girl.

5. Immortality (Yizkor): we can continue to live on after death with our deeds just as Steve Jobs' contributions will continue to benefit the world.

6. Israel: Steve Jobs' changed the world with technology just like the startup nation (bonus - tie in the Israeli chemistry Nobel Prize)

7. Integrity: Unlike other companies who put out shoddier products would initially sell better, Steve Jobs' insisted on only producing true quality with the confidence that truth would in the end prevail.

8. Community: Steve Jobs created so much more than a company. He connected people with common ideas.

9. Equality: Steve Jobs' democratized technology and made it accessible and affordable to everyone.

10. Resolution: Steve Jobs gave the world a gift through his technology - will we use it for good or for the alternative.

*none of these drashot will be given at Beth Israel - don't worry.