Words From Rabbi White

I am writing on Election Day in USA. By the time you read this, we shall probably know the outcome. As you may know, Election Day is always, by law, on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. Why on Tuesday? This law goes back to the first half of the 18^th century. People couldn’t vote on Sunday, as many were in church. People who lived in rural areas might need Monday to travel to the polls. And Wednesday was market day. So, Tuesday was the logical choice. And why in November? Because this is when the farmers had finished gathering in crops from the fields. Sound familiar?

Here in the once peaceful hamlet of Teaneck, local politics are a matter of significant concern on Election Day. Our local Jewish Action Committee is extremely concerned that the right people be elected to the town council and to the Board of Ed. Of course, we don’t have language issues as in Quebec, but we have other problems, such as concerns over anti-Zionism, that have come to the fore after Oct. 7.

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The word used in Israel for “elections” is bechirot.” That’s from the same root as the verb we kept saying in the prayers over the holidays: “‘attah bechartanu mi-kol ha-`ammim.” HaShem has, so to speak, elected (or selected) us to spread the word about monotheism and moral action. And in this week’s parashah we begin learning about Abraham.

Why was it that Abraham was elected to become the founder of a people? Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Laws of idolatry, chapter 1:2,3) explains how the world was becoming messed up after the Tower of Babel incident, until the “pillar of the universe,” Abram, was born.  Maimonides calls him “‘eitan,” which means “strong, and continuing to stand, without tottering.”  This indeed is our prayer for the future President of the USA, that s/he should stand strong against all of the antisemitic forces in the world. And also, of course, to support the PM of Israel.  And good relations with Canada!

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Going back for a moment to last week’s parasha: The story of Noah began with a description: “the land was corrupted before God.” The book Itturei Torah, which contains nice "vertlech" on the parshiyot, contains a suggestion that the verse means that in the eyes of HaShem the actions were disgusting, but only in His eyes. The people saw nothing wrong with what they were doing. Sadly, this describes our situation today. For example, students who cry “stop the genocide” don’t realize that they are complaining against the wrong side.  It is Hamas and Hezbollah that want genocide, whereas Israel is just trying to defend itself.

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Galia Dafni is co-sponsoring the kiddush in memory of her grandfather Ephraim ben Devorah Leah and Shlomo Ekshtein. May the neshama have aliya.

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Menahem White