The group suggested a variety of articles and podcasts – but two pieces stood out for being recommended several times. The first was a short essay by Yehuda Kurtzer, co-president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, on which presidential candidate he felt would be the best for Israel and the Jewish people.
The second piece that was recommended several times was an audio essay by New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein – about which I’d like to share a few reflections tonight.
In his column, Ezra Klein made the following argument. He said: the thing that causes some people, like me, to be so deeply bothered by Donald Trump is exactly the same thing that causes other people to be so deeply attracted to him. Namely, Klein argues, there is one, central personality trait that seems to define the president-elect – one characteristic that causes him, in some circles, to be loathed, and in other circles, to be loved. And that central, defining feature is that he is so highly disinhibited, so lacking in self-censorship.
Before I continue, I should say one thing clearly. My critique this evening is not of people who voted for Donald Trump, but rather, of the president-elect himself. If anything, the election results demonstrate that those of us who voted for Vice President Harris seem to not fully understand the constellation of factors that led more than half of the electorate to cast their vote for Trump. If Democrats want to be successful in future national elections, we would be wise to try and more earnestly understand the decision-making process that motivated those voters, rather than reacting by dehumanizing them. As a close friend of mine put it this week: dehumanizing the other side doesn’t always lead to political violence; but all political violence begins in dehumanization.
So again: my critique this evening is not of the voters, but rather, of Trump himself – who, as Ezra Klein argues, is highly disinhibited.
Most of us, Klein notes, approach our everyday interactions with a certain degree of self-censorship – purposefully inhibiting ourselves from saying every little thing that we think or feel. Of course, all of us have our baser thoughts. But we are socialized not to speak or act on these impulses. Politicians in particular, Klein points out, are especially well practiced in the art of self-censorship. Good ones come across as thoughtful and deliberate in everything that they say and do. Less practiced politicians, we perceive as dissembling and inauthentic.
But for Trump, this whole series of considerations – this process of purposefully inhibiting ourselves – seems not to apply. In fact, he seems to relish specifically in not worrying about whether he is saying the right or the polite thing.
Among many of his supporters, this exactly is his appeal. It is refreshing, even exhilarating to hear someone say outloud the things that others might think, but would never let cross their lips.
Among his opponents, the effect is the exact opposite. His lack of inhibition, many of his opponents feel, ought to morally disqualify him from leadership. He is vulgar and insulting, offensive and bigoted. And when a person who speaks and acts the way that he does is rewarded by becoming one of the most powerful people in the world, it not only opens the door for others to do so, it actively incentivizes it.
But, Ezra Klein goes on to say, president-elect Trump’s lack of inhibition is no mere personality trait. Rather, it is the force that animates his policy positions. Because he is already willing to say things that others would never say, when it comes time to shape policy, he is willing to propose ideas that others would never propose. There are too many examples to try and name them all. He has promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. He has promised to impose restrictions on the lives of transgender people. He evidently is considering whether to issue an executive order that, at a national level, would ban abortion at any stage. And many other alarming policies like these.
And now, this disinhibited personality is seeking to build an administration in which dissenters are not welcome – as, meanwhile, his party wins control of all three branches of the federal government. Who, we should wonder, will be there to inhibit him?
Our Jewish tradition might cause us to feel deeply concerned – not only about this kind of leadership, but also, about this kind of character. Ours is a tradition that prizes the inhibiting force. Judaism is concerned with the setting of boundaries, the defining of limits – with a careful eye towards recognizing the difference between what is kosher and what is not.
Our ancestors were well aware of our baser human instincts. For this reason, they instructed us to avoid not only the obvious moral transgressions – “you shall not steal,” “you shall not murder.” Additionally, they instructed us to avoid even subtle shortcomings – “you shall not bear a grudge,” “you shall not covet what is not yours.” In this way, our ancestors sought (in their own words) to “build a fence around the Torah,” so that we might avoid even approaching the edge of moral wrongdoing – knowing full well how slippery is the slope, how easy it is to fall in.
If this is the level of self-control that our Jewish tradition demands of ordinary citizens, how much the more so does it make these demands of anyone who would aspire to a position of leadership?
In the ancient Near Eastern world in which our Jewish tradition was born, rulers were endowed with unlimited authority. A pharaoh of Egypt was no mere leader; rather, he was a god. And like a god, his powers were unlimited.
Our Jewish tradition, by contrast, insisted on a different framework of authority and leadership. The Torah commands that ancient Israelite society be administered by four branches of government. Yes, there was a king. But also, power was vested in the judges, the priests, and the prophets.
The prophets, in particular, were responsible for reprimanding the king when his leadership had turned foul. If the king should try to exceed the limits of his authority, imagining that he might be protected by virtue of his position, the prophet was to chastise him – to point out all the ways in which he had gone astray, to try and convince him to return to the right path. The prophet’s responsibility towards the king was, in a word, to inhibit him.
It is striking to note that, in the biblical passage that outlines the four branches of ancient Israelite government, the role of the king is severely limited. For each of the other three branches, the Torah prescribes a list of active responsibilities – functions and tasks that each role must do. Not so for the king. For the king, the Torah is concerned only with what he may not do. We read in the Book of Deuteronomy: the king is not permitted to amass great wealth. He is not permitted to assemble a large cavalry of horses. He is not permitted to keep a harem of wives. The very definition of an Israelite king is to be inhibited.
There is, however, one active thing that the king is commanded to do – but it’s not what we might expect. We might imagine that the king’s active responsibility is to ordain laws, or to declare war and make peace, or to provide sustenance for his people. But this is not what the Torah prescribes.
Rather, this is the one and only active thing that the king is commanded to do. He is commanded to sit on the royal throne all day long; to keep always by his side his own personal copy of the Torah; and to spend every waking hour of the day reading and studying the laws. In this way, he is personally responsible for ensuring that no one in the kingdom is more familiar with, or has more reverence for, the laws that govern their society.
This is the Jewish vision of leadership: not the disinhibited personality that says whatever base things come to mind, and enacts whatever laws it wants to. Rather, the Jewish vision of leadership is to practice constant restraint, to be subject to admonition, to be primarily concerned with what the leader ought not to do. That is to say: to willingly and purposefully practice being inhibited.
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A few months ago, a group of TBS congregants went to see the play Prayer for the French Republic on Broadway (which, if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend). The play takes its title from a traditional section of the Jewish prayer book, in which the Jewish community, having already prayed for its own internal well-being, now turns its attention outward and prays for the welfare of the state in which they live.
The biblical prophet Jeremiah explained the purpose of the prayer like this. He said: “Pray for the welfare of the city in which you live – for in its well-being, you will find well-being.” And indeed, for Jews here in the United States, Jeremiah’s logic has largely proven true. As our country has thrived, so too have the Jewish people here thrived.
But in addition to Jeremiah’s logic, there are other reasons why we might want to pray for the welfare of our country. The ancient Jewish sage Rabbi Hanina framed the argument in the converse. Rabbi Hanina said: “Pray for the welfare of the government – for without the government, every person would swallow his neighbor alive.”
Rabbi Hanina was offering us a warning of what can happen when governments fall apart. And so, let us heed his wisdom. Let us offer a prayer for our country.
Eloheinu, v’elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu, elohei tzetza-einu – our God, God of our ancestors, God of our children and our children’s children:You taught us the importance of setting boundaries. You taught us to build a fence around the Torah, so that we might avoid the moral slippery slope that can lead to real wrongdoing. You taught us to expect the best from ourselves – and to demand the best from our leaders. You taught us that good leaders exercise restraint. You taught us that kings should have the most reverence for the law. You taught us that when leaders turn astray, good citizens must become prophets and speak out against what is wrong.Our God, help the duly elected new leadership of our country rise to this moral standard. And where they do not, help the citizens of this country find the courage and the strength to become the prophets that our society needs.Help us heed the warning of Rabbi Hanina, in order that the people of this country not swallow one another alive.We offer this prayer for the American republic. May it be so. Amen.