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| Mishpacha columnist, Eytan Kobre |
The former has given the Jewish people a lot to cheer about – especially
Orthodox Jews. He has done some things for us that are unprecedented. Things the vast majority of
Orthodox Jews believed would never happen. There are, however, plenty of politically liberal Jews that will point to all of those
things and spin them very negatively. In most cases I believe that is at least in part due to
the blind hatred they have for the man – refusing to see anything he did as
good. I am convinced that no matter
what this President does, they will find some way to spin it negatively.
But when looking at the President’s personal behavior as a
human being - to say it is appalling is to say the least. His behavior is the antithesis of what Jews should strive
to be. In just about every way imaginable.
I can’t think of a single thing he
has ever said or done in office outside of policy that hasn’t disgusted me. I tried to be Dan L’Kav
Zechus – rationalizing it in some positive way.
But after 2 years of this unending behavior, doing that no longer works
for me. Whatever good his polices have done for Orthodox Jews and those of us that lean
politically conservative, it is more than undercut by his personal behavior.
I need not list examples of it. All one has to do is look at just about anything
he says on any given day that is not policy related. His present is no better
than his past. He has had a lifetime of self serving behavior that few if any in politics have had. And that's saying a lot
considering how self centered most politicians are.
The reason I bring this up again, even though I have mentioned
it in the past is because of Senator John McCain’s death. One may recall that
he was the candidate I supported for President. As someone that leans politically
conservative I believe this country would have been served much better by
McCain than the man who beat him. But that is beside the point. It was McCain’s
character and values that were on display at the funeral. All who eulogized him
recognized that - including the 2 men that beat him: George W. Bush in a
Republican primary, and Barack Obama in the general election
The elephant in the room was who didn’t speak: the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. He was in fact asked by the McCain family not to attend. But I’m not so sure he would have attended anyway.
That a sitting
president did not eulogize a man that was universally recognized as a hero – a man
whose values superseded his politics; a man that was eulogized by 2 former
Presidents was ignored by a sitting President is a testament to low level of respect he has. And for good reason. By his behavior he has dishonored the high office he was elected to.
Trump’s reaction to McCain’s death was to almost ignore it.
It was almost as though he said ‘good riddance’. What did he do while McCain was
being eulogized? He played golf. He didn’t even have the decency to stay home in
one of his many luxurious residences. He was out having a good time while the rest of the
country mourned the death of a great man.
For Trump there was no back tracking. His derision of McCain’s heroism was one of Trump’s many lows. As a naval aviator, McCain flew attack aircraft from aircraft carriers during the Vietnam War. His plane was shot down on one of his many missions and captured by the North Vietnamese. He suffered years of torture - refusing to be
released from captivity when it was offered to him because of his political connections. He thought it would be unfair to his fellow American prisoners of war that were not offered a release. The
President did not think much of that and never retracted his disparaging remarks. Not even now after McCain’s death.
This kind of behavior is just the tip of the iceberg of what makes this President unsuitable
for his job. There is no question in my
mind about it. No matter how good his policies are. You cannot ignore the man.
It is hard for me to say this but despite all of the good things he has done for the country and the Jewish people, he does not belong in that office. He should
be removed from it.
That said, I don’t know how that could be done. I still believe that
as disgusting as he is, he has not done anything impeachable. Nor do I believe that
Mueller will find enough to justify removal from office - even if he is impeached. High crimes and misdemeanors are undefined in the constitution.
But I guess - just like Justice Potter Stewart’s description of pornography, You know it
when you see it. I’m
not sure what he has done rises to that level - whatever that may be. But that does not mean he belongs in the Oval Office. He is
by far to most disgusting creature to ever occupy it.
You can’t
be happy that a man like that is your hero. What does that say about our values?
How can we – as God’s chosen people support a man whose every fiber is the
opposite of what we stand for? What kind of light unto the nations are
we when we so gleefully support such people and ignore their disgusting behavior?
Sixty percent of the American
people disapprove of the Presdient’s performance. (A new low.) By now it should
be obvious why. What does that say about the vast majority of Orthodox Jews that so strongly support him? What does it say about our values?
There is something definitely wrong with this picture. Which
brings me to an article in last week’s Mishpacha Magazine by Charedi
columnist, Eytan Kobre, a man whose
views on certain things went so against my grain that they actually angered me. But this time I completely and thoroughly agree with him. I wish he weren't an almost lone public voice on this issue.
In his weekly column, Text Messages, Kobre commented on the political events of recent weeks seeing them as very damaging to the President. I don’t know how damaging all of
that will be. But I do agree with what he said following that. Instead of
paraphrasing him I will let him speak for himself. Here is the pertinent excerpt.
I DON’T CARE ALL THAT MUCH about these statements for their relevance to the fate of this president or any other political consideration. Politics and politicians come and go. But I do care very much about those statements, and many similar ones by this president regarding the rule of law and the authority of law enforcement, for how they affect my community’s behavior, its reputation as one dedicated to living our lives as ovdei Hashem and its role in representing Him to the world.
To be sure, the vast majority of frum Jews adhere to high standards of ethical and legal propriety. But the too-frequent exceptions that land on newspaper front pages are troubling for their perceived recurrence and for the apathetic communal attitudes of some toward our societal neighbors, law enforcement, and government, which give rise to those exceptions.
A trustworthy individual recently told me that a major frum organizational leader was told by federal law enforcement officials that experience has led them to no longer regard the Orthodox Jewish community with the trust it formerly enjoyed. And before we reflexively rush to protest that characterization, we might do well to consider whether at a minimum, this isn’t an inside-out version of the well-known story of a Polish lawyer who, after the Chofetz Chaim appeared in court, told the judge a story about the tzaddik’s saintly conduct and added, “Whether it’s true, your honor, I don’t know; but about me and you they don’t tell such tales.”
With the unfolding of last week’s events, America is entering a period fraught with great danger for the very fabric of the nation’s civil society. The president’s former campaign chair, deputy campaign chair, national security adviser, and personal lawyer have all been convicted of crimes. His chief financial officer and another longtime ally have accepted immunity to testify. The list of what may yet lie in store is long: potential pardons of convicted criminals in an attempt to evade justice; possible firing of the much-humiliated attorney general and other public servants; and revelations about crimes committed or, perhaps even worse, things that aren’t technically crimes but ought to be morally unthinkable.
But for us, it is a time of spiritual nisayon. Only the Eibeshter will determine what the various players in this drama will say and do and only He knows how it will all end. But we alone decide how we will relate and respond to the coming events, and whether we will be seen, and see ourselves, as standing for emes and yashrus and support for the laws of this malchus shel chesed.
The fact that the Orthodox Jewish community is perceived as the religious group giving the second highest percentage of support to the president, after Christian evangelicals, raises the stakes of this challenge. We have to get it right, for our image in the public eye, but even more importantly, for ourselves and our families and students.Even at this point in the saga, it cannot be that in response to what has been said, not a word of dissent is written and not one voice of critique is raised in our community. I believe I speak for many in saying, “I dissent.”
