I made a fascinating discovery this week. I heard it on a radio news program, when an announcer said excitedly: “Florida has a new resilience officer!”

I was duly impressed, although I had no idea how a state resilience officer would spend their days. Is this person expected to cheer on the governor when things go badly? Does the office come with pompoms?

“Resilience is your ability to withstand adversity and bounce back and grow despite life’s downturns,” says Amit Sood, MD, the executive director of the Global Center for Resiliency and Well-Being.

Dr. Sood, sometimes called “Doctor Happiness,” explains that wellbeing involves a positive self-image and self-esteem, and resilience—the quality most directly tied to wellbeing—is about coping with and adapting to new situations.

It’s a word I rarely heard until recently. Now it seems to be everywhere. And learning that it’s part of an actual government job title made me wonder: Do the Jewish people need a resilience officer? What might that person do?

Which brings me to this week’s Torah portion, containing the famous phrase tzedek, tzedek tirdof—“Justice, justice you shall pursue.”

The Bible isn’t generous with words. Repetition is unusual. To repeat “justice” is extraordinary. Perhaps that’s the role of a resilience officer: To keep us pursuing justice, reminding us what matters when circumstances are difficult. In that sense, the Torah casts God as the resilience officer, handing down instructions for enduring adversity.

But on reflection, I’m not sure God is suited to the job. The God of the Torah can be warlike, impatient, even unhelpful. Remember when God offered Moses the option of destroying the Children of Israel and starting over? Not exactly the model of resilience.

No, I have reluctantly determined that God isn’t a candidate for the position. We humans need other humans. We need people who endure the same stressors and fear-inducing situations, people who we can relate to and emulate.

That’s why, ironically, I find myself praying that we find resilience officers among our religious leaders. Not cheerleaders with pompoms, but people who remind us of our strength, encourage us to act with courage, and steady us in the pursuit of justice.

Resilience isn’t about bouncing back alone. It’s about holding one another up, so that together we can keep moving forward—toward justice, and toward hope.