On This Election Day …
In the Pirke Avot, Hillel teaches, “Do not separate yourself from the community.”
America is a country founded on a dream – a dream defined by Thomas Jefferson’s immortal words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted … deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Enshrined in the first Amendments to the United States Constitution were guarantees that we should be free to say what we think, to print what we believe, to worship as our conscience dictates, and to gather peaceably whenever, and with whomever, we choose.
Cast on the base of the Statue of Liberty are Emma Lazarus’ exhortation of America’s aspirations and promise:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
For four hundred years since the founding of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts Bay, this promise of freedom and opportunity has been the beacon that has steered the ships and dreams of millions to make this land their home.
And yet from its inception, America struggled with its founding ethos. Colonial leaders preached intolerance and persecution. Native American tribes were shunted aside, excised and exiled and slaughtered. Nearly half a million African people were brought to this country in chains. We discriminated and oppressed and murdered each other over the most ridiculous of considerations: race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and religion.
Today we live in a nation divided. We question each other’s patriotism, each other’s loyalty. We wonder if the greatest experiment in democracy in the history of the world is imperiled.
But we remember that our country’s original motto is E Pluribus Unum – out of the many, we are one. This is the core of what we aspire to as Americans. This is the core of what we aspire to as Jews.
A mixed-multitude gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai and in coming together as one, they revealed the essential moral truths that create the foundation of a holy and good society. They learned to respect the infinite value of every human soul. They realized it was their duty to protect the vulnerable and the weak. They were taught to seek peace and pursue it, to love their neighbor, and to love the stranger. They were taught never to worship another human being, but to champion liberty and justice for all.
Even in our country’s darkest moments, Abraham Lincoln closed his first inaugural address in a plea to America as resonant today as it was then: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
As Jews, as Americans, we must renew our commitment to the ever-expanding circles of community to which we belong and owe our duty and loyalty – our city, our county, our state, our country. It is not simply a privilege for us as Americans to cast our ballots – it is our fundamental obligation.
We must insist that all respect the outcome of the election, irrespective of who is elected. In a free society, it must be the truthful and honest exchange of ideas that determines our future. We must denounce those who traffic in conspiracy theories, who wantonly spread misinformation and falsehood, and categorically reject those who would resort to violence.
Take a moment this Election Day to offer gratitude and thanksgiving for all the abundant blessings that American citizenship bestows. Take a moment to honor the millions who gave their lives to secure the blessings of liberty and freedom we ought never take for granted.
Let us pray that every leader elected today will be called “by the better angels of our nature” to lead with integrity, compassion, and humility. And let us resolve to come together, to heal the fractures of our broken world, and preserve the blessings of this remarkable nation.
Rabbi Dan Levin
Temple Beth El of Boca Raton
