Wednesday, November 16, 2016

From Another McMullen Supporter

The election results are very depressing for a Hirschian like me. Please look at these paragraphs from a NY Times article about the Orthodox Jewish vote in Brooklyn:


Orthodox Judaism preaches the importance of strict moral behavior, but Mr. Stern said that he was not dissuaded by Mr. Trump’s very public peccadilloes, such as his multiple divorces and a recording of him talking about groping women.


“I think that’s not appropriate but I think he’ll handle better the situation of our country now,” Mr. Stern said. “I don’t really care that he’s not a model.”


Ms. Chizhik-Goldschmidt said that the Orthodox judged non-Jewish politicians differently.


“I don’t think people expect gentiles to follow those rules,” she said. “People are not looking to the United States president to be a representative of some sort of morality in the way that other Americans might. People are looking for a strong leader, a tough leader.”


Rav Hirsch clearly would not agree with the sentiments expressed by those people but rather with the sentiments expressed by the Rav in his McMullin endorsement. What can we do to change this kind of thinking?


I am also concerned about Trump's demonization of the Other. Many of our people feel comfortable knowing that Jews weren't among the groups he demonized. Is that reflective of the Torah ethic: until they come for you, don't worry about anyone else?
I would be grateful for any thoughts about this matter. Thank you.


I would love to see the sentiments expressed by the Christian leaders cited in the article below expressed by our own rabbonim. It's really sad if we should have to turn to Christian leaders for reiterations of Torah values during an election season!


I did see a similar statement condemning Trump signed by 40 Orthodox leaders but they are almost exclusively of the Open Orthodox variety. What happened to the Hirschians?


1 comment:

  1. Thank you for your principled stand for a write-in, which I did also but saw few frum people advocating. Trump won both the primary and general elections by bullying, in the lowest, crudist, most dehumanizing manner. Unfortunately, we see too much similar bullying behavior in the frum community, silencing victims of abuse, flouting zoning laws, or when disagreeing with Israeli society. This cannot be the "new normal," please maintain your stance on the higher ground!

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