Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you well and managing these challenging times.
My dear friend and colleague, Rav Yisrael Motzen reported on what happened in his shul, Ner Tamid in Baltimore, this past Wednesday morning:
“One of the most vocal Democrats in our shul was visibly in distress throughout Shacharis this morning. While we were wrapping our tefilin, one of the staunchest pro-Trump congregants slowly made his way across the shul. My back arched. This will not be pretty.
Mr. Pro-Trump walked up to the distraught Democrat and put his arm around him. ‘I’m so sorry. This must be really hard for you.’ He then spent the next few minutes as his fellow Jew unloaded and he listened with empathy.”
What a perfect story! Almost too good to be true, but Rabbi Motzen assures me that it is.
The extreme polarization that has infected the politics of this country will not be resolved by the rhetoric of political parties, networks, or newspapers. It will be overcome by kindness and sensitivity, by those who are conscious of the fears and concerns of those around them and aware that what they are celebrating others may be grieving over.
The Torah provides many models for the pursuit of unity. Yosef put aside past resentments with his brothers to move forward together with them, while David chose to embrace his rivals. The original unifier, however, was Avraham. “Achot lanu k’tana, this refers to Avraham, who unified everyone in the world.” (Midrash Bereishit Rabba 39:3)
That must have been quite a task, when you consider that Avraham was working in a world that God Himself had just divided and scattered following mankind’s ill-advised effort to build the Tower of Bavel. If God needed to divide humankind, how could Avraham bring them back together?
Avraham deployed two key tools. First and foremost, Avraham’s life and work was driven by chessed, a loving kindness that he extended to everyone, including those who saw the world very differently than he. His love for all people brought them together. Second, Avraham kindness was grounded in his humility and rejection of self-promotion (see Avot 5:19), allowing him to choose instead to direct people’s respect and allegiance to God. Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 39:3) in our parsha describes how when Avraham returned triumphant from the war against the four kings, the locals got together to construct a large stage upon which they placed Avraham and began to praise and celebrate him as their king, their prince, and their god-figure, leading Avraham to immediately redirect their appreciation and deference to the King and the God of the world.
This was Avraham’s counter-revolution to the Tower of Bavel, a skyscraper constructed by mankind to celebrate their own power, naaseh lanu shem, and unify mankind against God. Avraham did the very opposite, using the stage that others built for him to instead elevate God and choosing to travel from place to place to make Hashem’s name known to all, vayikra b’shem Hashem.
(It is striking to note the words of the prophet Zephania (3:9) spoken in the name of God referring to the ultimate day of unity when “ehepoch el amim safa berura likro kulam b’shem Hashem l’ovdo Shechem echad, I will transform the people’s language into clear speech so that they may call out the name of God and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.” Notice that this picture of unity is a direct reversal of the confusion of speech of the tower of Bavel, with safa berura replacing safa belula, and that this is achieved when we direct ourselves as Avraham to vayikra b’shem Hashem, making known the name of God, rather than naaseh lanu shem, self-promotion.)
This Shabbat, as we pray for the welfare of our government, we can humbly follow in the path of Avraham and join together – the pro-Trumpers alongside the distraught Democrats – in recognition of the One Who is always in office, the King of all Kings in Whose hands lie the hearts and decisions of our human leaders (Mishlei 21:1). We will daven together for the wellbeing of President Biden and his team and for President Trump and his future Administration, praying that we will move forward towards greater tranquility, cohesion, peace, and uplift for America, for Israel, and for the world. Amen.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and may we be blessed with besoros tovos, truly good news.
Moshe Hauer