Back to Reality
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R
abbosai let’s admit we’ve gotten carried away. It’s time to get back to reality. To wake up and return to the true Jewish outlook on the bizarre events we’ve recently witnessed to see them through the lens of Torah.
We know that the hearts of rulers are really in Hashem’s hands so let’s all calm down put more trust in HaKadosh Baruch Hu and rest assured that what really determines American policy is Divine influence strengthened by our own choices to do G-d’s will. In other words from now on Donald Trump depends on us.
Most of us American citizens or not were following the presidential election campaign with a deep sense of personal interest. We all waited in suspense to know the final outcome of the lengthy contest for leadership of the world’s greatest democracy a battle that reflected no honor on that great nation and was a cause of frustration if not shame to large portions of the American public who were dismayed with the choice placed before them. And according to reports that came my way many were even beginning to question the efficacy of the democratic process as it is practiced today in theUnited States.
I and my fellow Israelis too well aware of our country’s dependence on the great nation across theAtlantic were transfixed by the campaign. We looked for updates daily and didn’t go to sleep at night before checking for the latest reports. On Election Day itself we stayed glued to our sources of news and that night — seven to ten hours ahead — we were restless knowing that as we slept the votes were being tallied up.
It’s no wonder we were so tense. The fate of the world was being decided in those elections! Whoever would be elected the globe was about to be remodeled. The words of Unesaneh Tokef seemed to echo in the air: “V’al hamedinos bo ye’amer…” WouldAmericaelect Trump the man who promised among many other things to build a wall along the Mexican border (and make the Mexicans pay for it!) and hinted at the possibility of leaving NATO? Should he be elected wouldIsrael too have to pay for the military aid it receives from theUS despite his being surrounded by Jewish advisors? Would he really abolish the nuclear agreement withIran? Or wouldAmericaelectClinton — whose integrity was so compromised that there were calls for her impeachment even before the elections were over — essentially staying on the path laid out by the Obama administration with its liberal and anemic policies?
The tension and fear that gripped people around the world was perfectly understandable. And of course there was the perennial concern about ourselves: Would the candidate that emerged victorious be good for the Jews? It’s no wonder we could hardly sleep last Tuesday night. And of course once the elections were over we spent time discussing and analyzing the results pointing out the societal trends that had led to Trump’s surprising victory. Suddenly everyone was a political pundit who could see what everyone had failed to see earlier.
Whether we participated fully as voters or merely as fascinated and concerned spectators our feelings were only human — and legitimate. But it’s time to get over it and move on. We are Jews who believe in Hashem and in His hashgachah and it’s time to wake up from the delusion that our future and the future of the world hinges upon who sits in the White House.
Yes we all know that Donald Trump came on the political scene like a curveball and there is no knowing how he will tackle the problems of theUnited Statesand the world. Nor can we Israeli Jews predict what relations between his government and ours will look like. We’ve been disappointed many a time in the past by Republican leaders supposedly good friends ofIsrael who let us down when it came to those critical moments face to face in the Oval Office. I think it is wiser therefore to quit speculating and remember that the big decisions are made Somewhere Else. We have our own sources of information and they tell us “A king’s heart is like rivulets of water in Hashem’s hand; whichever way He wishes He will turn it” (Mishlei 21:1). The Malbim comments “Although a private individual’s heart is under his own authority and free choice this is not true of the king’s heart. For the happiness of the multitude depends on his choices and if he chooses a bad path he will bring disaster to them all. And therefore his heart as it pertains to the lives of the multitude is in the hand of Hashem and when it comes to their interests he is deprived of freedom of choice.”
(Incidentally the oft-repeated saying “Lev melachim v’sarim b’yad Hashem — The heart of kings and powerful administrators is in the hand of Hashem” has no source in the Torah and the correct version of this albeit true statement is the pasuk quoted above.)
These words of Shlomo Hamelech and the Malbim are what we ought to keep in mind when we find ourselves excitedly analyzing the election results and forecasting the events of the next four years. WhetherClintonhad been elected or the victory went to Trump as in fact occurred the new president would equally have been deprived of full freedom of choice regarding public matters. Donald Trump himself will have no control over what happens in the lives of the people whose government he leads or the nations that interact with his government just as his predecessors were not allowed free rein with decisions affecting the multitudes and Klal Yisrael in particular. His free choice will be restricted to the decisions of his private life for better or for worse. So let’s all calm down put more trust in HaKadosh Baruch Hu and rest assured that the majority vote from Ohio Michigan Nevada or Florida is not what determines American policy but our own daily choices to do what is good in the eyes of Hashem. This is what will bring Divine influence for good on the decisions of the country’s leadership. In other words from now on Donald Trump depends on us. And when we internalize this truth we enjoy greater peace of mind as an added benefit.
Rav Eliayhu Eliezer Dessler writes in Michtav MeEliyahu that people who sit and solemnly analyze political and other current events might as well be saying “Let’s sit down and talk in the Language of Crazy People.” So often we get so caught up in that atmosphere of delusion that we don’t even notice it. When we start analyzing the election results this way or that way or when we find ourselves debating in order to “decide” what the White House’s policy will be toward building new housing in Jerusalem or toward Obamacare let us at least recall for a fleeting moment that we are actually speaking the Language of Crazy People and not a word of what we’re saying will determine the future. For Hashem will turn the king’s heart whichever way He wishes.
In Jewish folklore there’s a story said to have taken place during the Russo-Japanese War over a hundred years ago. A beis medrash in one of the Russian shtetls was divided into two camps: some of the mispallelim supportedRussiain the war while the others hoped for a Japanese victory. The debates were loud and fiery. Every bit of news that trickled in from the battlefield was painstakingly analyzed. One day between Minchah and Maariv a weary participant onJapan’s side of the argument dozed off in the middle of the daily debate. While he was napping a report came in thatRussiahad won the latest battle. The sleeper woke up and upon hearing the news he grumbled “You can’t even take a nap for half an hour… I doze off and already we lose.”
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