During my days in the active
rabbinate, I would devote a reasonable amount of time each week to preparing my
Shabbos sermon and various shiurim.
Delivering a sermon is not the same as giving a shiur or saying a short dvar
Torah. Traditional sermons, which these days seem to have fallen out of
favor, were devoted to relevant topical issues as seen through the lens of
Torah. There were times when I thought I had prepared a pretty decent sermon, but
on erev Shabbos, some major event
would take place which required me to pivot quickly to address the topic that
was on the minds of my congregants. That’s what happened with this article. I
had originally prepared something focused on family issues and dilemmas, but when
Donald Trump was indicted, I felt it required me to pivot. Hopefully, what I’ve
written will be relevant to some of my readers.
* * *
Over 30 years ago, in Sydney,
Australia, we were sitting in the lounge room of the North Shore home of Dr.
Brahm and Sheila Lazarus. Brahm and his teenaged sons were excitedly watching a
finals rugby match on TV. Rugby is the global alternative to American football,
which is often referred to overseas as American gridiron. Unlike American
football, rugby players wear almost no protective padding or face guards. It’s
a pretty brutal sport, and injuries are not uncommon among players clamoring to
take possession of the ball. Sheila, a lovely person, who was not particularly
familiar with rugby, came into the lounge mid-game. She kept covering her face
while the hand-to-hand combat was taking place on the screen in front of her.
Naively, she asked Brahm, “Why are all of those grown men fighting with each
other?”
Brahm replied, “Because they
want the ball.”
Sheila said, “I can’t
understand why grown men need to fight over a ball!” She pointed to the screen
and said, “If that big bloke in the maroon jersey would just nicely hand the
football to the bloke in the blue jersey, they could stop fighting!” All the guys
had a good laugh. Later on, I thought to myself how innocent and how profound
Sheila’s words were.
What is the point of a display
of brutality? (The “sport” of kickboxing is among the worst.) Why do these “sports”
engender such passionate fans? What does it matter in the scheme of things if
the guy wearing the maroon jersey gets the ball? Will it make the world a
better place? Personally, I appreciate non-violent sports (think golf, tennis,
swimming, baseball, and cricket to name a few). Sadly, I’ve noticed that, in
the past few decades, passionate fans of the more violent sports are also the
ones who are more prone to violence before, during, and after attending a
match. In Europe, the police have to be equipped and ready for violent
eruptions, which sometimes send multiple fans to the hospital because they
didn’t share the views of opposing fans. Here in the USA, we’ve also suffered
these unfortunate confrontations.
*
* *
Unfortunately, in recent years,
American politics has become the latest combative – and sometimes violent –
sport. In sports and politics, very passionate fans find a sense of community
by connecting with those who share, and reinforce, their opinions and values.
Those feelings can sometimes be strong enough to actually cause a rise in
dopamine and adrenaline, which impact mood, feelings of panic, stimulation, and
excitement. A burst of adrenaline is what happens when we confront a
threatening situation resulting in what is commonly known as the “fight or
flight” response. Strong negative reactions among diehard fans can also cause
fear, anxiety, and stress, leading to combative (or fight mode) behavior.
Not long ago, the overwhelming
majority of Americans could make room for, and respect, opposing views in
sports and politics. I vividly recall a couple of wonderfully memorable
incidents from my younger days. The first was the hotly contested 1966 World
Series between the Baltimore Orioles and the LA Dodgers. It was Baltimore’s
first World Series. The odds against the Oriole’s winning the series against
the awesome Dodgers were huge. The odds against them winning four straight
games were astronomical. Nevertheless, Baltimore won the first two games in LA
and returned to Baltimore for the next three games of the best-of-seven series.
The Orioles won game three! My friend, dating back to elementary school, was
Barry Bacharach. His father was a well-known Baltimore judge, Carl W.
Bacharach. The judge had acquired two box-seat tickets to game four, which was
being played at the old Memorial Stadium.
Notwithstanding being an avid
baseball fan himself, Judge Bacharach gave his two tickets to Barry and me! An
incredibly magnanimous gesture! Upon arrival at the stadium for game four, we
noticed there were many Dodger fans mixed among the mostly Oriole crowd. In
fact, there were devout LA fans in the box next to ours. When Oriole pitcher
Dave McNally threw the final Series pitch to Lou Johnson, who hit a pop fly for
the third out in the ninth inning, the stadium erupted in wild jubilation.
Baltimore had won four straight games! Incredible! I vividly recall the Dodger
fans turning to the Oriole fans and offering their congratulations. A guy in
the box next to us stuck out his hand to shake mine and said, “Your team played
like champs!” What a lovely memory of baseball, good manners, and
sportsmanship.
The second fond memory was from
a couple of years later. It was the Sunday before the 1968 presidential
election between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon. My extended family had
gathered at my grandparents’ home to celebrate an uncle’s birthday. Some members
of the family were voting for Nixon; others were voting for Humphrey. There was
a lot of civilized discussion and some disagreements, after which everyone
moved on to the birthday party, and no one seemed upset or angry because
someone else had a different opinion. Back then that was normal behavior.
*
* *
Over the past couple of
decades, good manners and basic respect have taken a terrible turn. Open
hostility aimed at disrespecting the opinions of others is all too common.
These days, it seems to permeate our general discourse.
There is a Yiddish expression
(which some attribute to the Turks): “A fish stinks from the head.” The simple
interpretation is that when something is rotten, ascertain who is in charge, i.e.,
the head. If an entire class fails miserably on a test, is it because of the
kids or because of the teacher? If children are openly disrespectful to their
parents, is it because of the kids or because of the parents? If a city or
country descends into lawlessness and degradation, is it not ultimately a
massive failure of leadership and poor governance? Yes, the person committing
the crime is the thug, but if he has no fear of the law or the courts, then who
aided, abetted, and encouraged the thug?
There was a time, not that long
ago, when there were role models in sports and in government. Those role models
knew that they were role models and behaved accordingly. Today, finding role
models to look up to, especially in sports and government, is getting harder
and harder. The Cal Ripkens and Joe Liebermans are becoming quite scarce. I
remember as a kid wearing my nicest clothes and shoes just to tour the Capitol
building. It was part of our inherent respect for ourselves and our country.
In my last article, I spoke
about the statesmanship demonstrated by Al Gore and Joe Lieberman by graciously
accepting the harsh reality of their loss – “for the good of the country” – following
the Supreme Court’s ruling that ended the 2000 election. Another profile in
courageous statesmanship was displayed by President Gerald Ford a month after
Richard Nixon resigned. Ford, knowing that he would probably be compromising
his own bid for reelection, granted Nixon a full and unconditional pardon on
September 8, 1974. The firestorm from those who wanted Nixon prosecuted to the “full
extent of the law” was enormous. The media was in attack mode. Carl Bernstein
and Bob Woodward, the Washington Post
reporters who broke the Watergate story, were indignant. They attacked Ford, as
did Senator Ted Kennedy and many others.
In October 1974, President Ford
went before Congress to explain why he pardoned Nixon. He said, “I was
absolutely convinced then, as I am now, that if we had an indictment, a trial,
and a conviction, the President [Ford], the Congress, and the American people
would have been diverted from addressing other more pressing issues.”
What is most interesting is
that, 40 years later, in July of 2014, Bob Woodward, on a panel hosted by the Washington Post, said, “I came to
understand that there was a very compelling argument for Ford’s actions.” He called
it “an act of courage.”
In 2001, Ted Kennedy admitted
that, while he initially opposed the pardon, he came to realize that it was
done for “the best interests of the country.” Richard Ben-Viniste of the Washington Post wrote in 2006 – after
Ford’s passing – “Jerry Ford acted in accord with what he sincerely felt were
the best interests of the country; that there was no secret quid pro quo with
Nixon for a pardon in return for his resignation,” (as Ford’s media critics
claimed in 1974). Too bad they waited until after Ford’s death to go on the
record.
In considering his pardon, Ford
used a 1915 Supreme Court decision (Burdick v United States), which held that
accepting a pardon is an admission of
guilt. He made sure that White House attorney Benton Becker informed Nixon of
that prior to the pardon being granted. The important take away is that Gerald
Ford wanted America to look forward to a better and healthier future. He
achieved that, and the price he paid was losing the 1976 election by a narrow
margin, which he graciously accepted. Gerald Ford was a statesman and a mensch, who was unappreciated and
underrated in his short tenure as president.
*
* *
The Talmud (Tamid 32A) states:
“Who is wise? He who can see what will come to pass” – in other words, he who
can comprehend the consequences of his actions. Just as intoxicated
combative sports fans rarely grasp the consequences of their actions, so too,
in our current post-truth world of tribalism, our ersatz leaders haven’t a clue
when it comes to the consequences of their actions – including, but not limited
to: sexualizing young children, devastatingly poor energy policies, support for
criminals over police, out-of-control spending – and, of course, Donald Trump.
*
* *
At this point, I would like to
issue a “TRIGGER WARNING: Those readers
who often disagree with me should stop reading here if you don’t want to suffer
the consequences of an adrenaline rush!
*
* *
As a parent, teacher, and
former principal, I have learned that the more attention you give to the unruly
child, the more attention he will seek and the more impressed his peers will
become. Wise parents and teachers learn how to ignore and tamp down bad
behaviors designed to get attention. Unwise, inexperienced, or incompetent
parents and teachers often provide the fuel that propels negative behaviors
into the stratosphere. I recently quoted the late Rabbi Herman (Naftali)
Neuberger, zt”l, who said, “The
greatest thing that you can do is to prevent bad things from happening.” Sadly,
there are very few Rabbi Neubergers around. And we have none currently in
leadership positions in our executive and judicial branches of government.
In last month’s Where What When, I stated my feelings
about Donald Trump: The man is a narcissist and far from a role model, which I
made quite clear. To be fair, I also mentioned some positive things he had done,
which enraged some readers. Trump, like the unruly child, thrives on attention.
It makes little difference to him if he’s the “bad boy.” Therefore, witnessing
our government and its media allies constantly feeding his unruly behavior is a
gross disservice to our country. Keep in mind, however, that Trump is the
immediate past president – about whom the “deep state” and media lied, before,
during, and well after the 2016 election in order to destroy his presidency. As
I also mentioned last month, the Durham report clarifies and affirms the
conspiracy against Trump, which involved a past president and vice-president,
the Clinton campaign, the Justice Department, and the FBI.
Last month I attempted to
explain that, whether we like or dislike someone, equal justice should prevail.
Tragically, our governing officials in the White House and the (so-called)
Department of Justice do not possess the foresight and capacity to understand
the consequences of their actions, past and present, regarding Donald Trump.
They do not realize that they have unleashed fallout that will further divide
our country by indiscriminately throwing fuel on a smoldering fire. Those who
despise Trump will say he’s evil and deserves to be continuously prosecuted.
Other, more balanced citizens will question the government’s motives. And of
course, millions of Trump’s committed supporters will be very vocal and
possibly combative. The terrible schism in our already fractured country will
widen dramatically and may not be able to be closed. Our country is
hemorrhaging, and our ersatz leaders are drawing more blood.
The ill-advised FBI Mar-a-Lago
raid last summer followed the same procedures that would have been used in a
surprise raid to take down the murderous head of a drug cartel. That, coupled
with the recent indictment and arrest of the former president, were huge errors
in judgment. HUGE! Although the seething, Trump-hating crowd is now cheering,
tens of millions of Americans are seeing this as another political hit job – especially
because other high-profile politicians who have committed more egregious crimes
have escaped prosecution.
Hillary grossly mishandled
classified materials, as did Bill Clinton (with his sock drawer tapes).
Clinton’s national security adviser, Sandy Berger, tried to steal classified
Clinton documents from the National Archives by stuffing them into his
underwear, socks, and suit pockets. When caught, he paid a very small fine and
was sentenced to probation. Joe Biden had classified documents in his garage
and several other completely unsecured locations. Hunter Biden runs the family
criminal enterprises with impunity.
As crude, narcissistic, and
irritating as Trump may be, he is gaining the sympathy of hardworking, common-sense
Americans because they view him as a victim of a huge deep state conspiracy
that has only one goal: get Trump at any cost! Additionally, because the Durham
report exposed the deep state lies, supported by the media, the credibility of
the Department of Justice and the FBI has been compromised. As a result, many
Americans rightfully question whether the charges against Trump are politically
motivated. Following the made-for-TV raid at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s poll numbers
went up. After his recent indictment, his numbers increased further. The more
Trump appears to be singled out for prosecution, the greater his martyrdom in
the eyes of many millions of Americans.
*
* *
During my tenure as a shul rabbi
in Cape Town, South Africa, I was also the chairman of the Rabbinical Association.
It was customary for the head of the Rabbinical Association to serve as an
alternate member of the beis din. I
vividly recall meeting with the av beis din
of South Africa, the distinguished chacham,
Rav Moshe Kurtstag, may he live and be well. He said, “Reb Yitzchok, it is
vital that our decisions are not only just and correct, but it is imperative
that they be seen by others, especially the litigants, to be just and correct.
We should strive to find ways to achieve a peshara
(a negotiated settlement) whenever possible, so that we can hopefully create
shalom between the parties. Sometimes a peshara
wasn’t possible. When that happened, we did our best to prepare the litigants
to accept the decision of the beis din in the spirit of darchei shalom (peace).
On April 1, 1940, Franklin Roosevelt’s
US Attorney General, Robert Jackson, who later became a justice on the US
Supreme Court, speaking to a group of US states attorneys, said these words:
If the prosecutor is obliged to choose his cases, it follows that
he can choose his defendants. Therein is the most dangerous power of the
prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he could get, rather than
pick cases that need to be prosecuted. With the law books filled with a great
assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at least a
technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone. In such a case,
it is not a question of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking
for the man who has committed it; it is a question of picking the man and then
searching the law books, or putting investigators to work, to pin some offense
on him. It is in this realm – in which the prosecutor picks some person whom he
dislikes or desires to embarrass, or selects some group of unpopular persons
and then looks for an offense, that the greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting
power lies. It is here that law enforcement becomes personal, and the real
crime becomes that of being unpopular with the predominant or governing group,
being attached to the wrong political views, or being personally obnoxious to
or in the way of the prosecutor himself.
Those are powerful, timeless,
and awesome words. Maybe reread them. Most likely, our current attorney
general, the feckless Merrick Garland, never read them or, if he did, didn’t
comprehend them.
We are living in an America
dominated by an inverted sense of justice and a profoundly warped
rejection of G-d and His commandments in favor of self-centered, hedonistic
paganism. Those who attempted to speak truth to power during Covid were
silenced and punished. Now, physicians and therapists run the risk of losing
their livelihoods if they criticize, or counsel against, gender ideologies that
are destroying the lives of the next generation. In such an unstable
environment, I’m sure that it makes perfect sense for the ruling class to keep
Donald Trump in the news, since it will distract the country from the serious
economic and social issues facing us on a daily basis.
The country of my youth, for
which my Dad fought valiantly in World War II, is no more. In the previous issue
of the Where What When, I spoke of
former Senator Joe Lieberman’s efforts to find “no labels” candidates who will
hopefully stop the hemorrhaging and save our republic. It is my fervent prayer
that this once great country will, with G-d’s help, become law abiding, civilized,
and tolerant once again. That can only happen if moral, ethical, and G-d-fearing
strong leaders, who are role models, are elected. May Hashem have mercy upon
all of His children.
