We are on the cusp of a contentious midterm election. Everyone is watching this election as if it were a crystal ball that will predict what might be on the horizon for the 2024 election cycle. Whoever it is that you will choose to vote for, I hope that you execute your right as an American citizen to vote. For our multi-millennium history on this planet, very rarely have Jews been able to have a hand guiding their own determination and mostly we have been held at the whim of Emperors, Caesars, Czars, and Monarchs who weren’t always fans of Jews. So to have an opportunity, especially with the hindsight of our long history, to be able to vote for candidates who embody our Jewish values, is incredibly important and a right we shouldn’t take for granted.
I think what matters just as much as the elections, is what happens immediately after. As Jews we recognize the value and practice of holding multiple tensions in balance. That ideals that conflict with one another is not a negative thing that should be avoided, but instead should be wrestled with and held in balance. How is it we will come together as a community and move forward together, not as enemies, but as partners, working together to make a sacred community? No political party holds all the answers, but Judaism shows us a path forward of how to lead with integrity and make decisions not based in hubris, but out of a humility that helps guide its leaders to protect the most vulnerable and make shalom, harmony, amongst the nations.
May we all live as a testament to the value of fostering harmony around us.
