A Message from Rabbi Maurice (April, 2006)

Our country is facing a crisis of faith. No, I'm not talking about the lack of faith in traditional religious doctrines. Nor am I referring to the kind of lament that we often hear from the religious right about how we are a nation awash in secularism. Our country is facing a crisis of faith in our sacred core principles of government, and the attack on these principles is coming from our current Administration. This Administration, which often uses the language of faith, is asking the American people to give up its faith in the fundamentals of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Because we were ruthlessly attacked on 9/11, they argue that our democratic institutions make us vulnerable to terrorists and therefore can’t be trusted anymore. It's a shame, because true leadership would ask us to take risks in the name of our faith in these founding values. Faith is tested when you have to take a risk for it.

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Crisis of Faith

I have had many conversations with TBI members who are alarmed, as I am, about the pattern we are witnessing right now in our country – a pattern of the erosion of the system of checks-and-balances by the Executive branch of government. Whether it's the NSA's warrantless wire-tapping program, the use of a Presidential signing statement to brush off Congress's recent law banning torture, or the detaining of people for years without charges, the current Administration seems to refuse to acknowledge the authority of the Constitution, Congress or other instruments of government to check and balance the Executive.

From a Jewish perspective, the workings of government are sacred. When the ancient Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, among the laws Moses received from God were laws of good government, which included elements such as due process, establishing a system of courts, and establishing different branches of societal authority (the priesthood, the monarchy, the prophets). Nobody was to be above the law – not the king, not even Moses. In one instance, the Torah tells us of how Moses makes a detailed accounting of all the gifts that were donated for the portable sanctuary that the Israelites built while they were wandering in the wilderness. A detailed accounting? What a lot of extra work for Moses! He could have said, "Trust me – I'm Moses. I talk with God. I don't need to account for my honesty. You just do what I tell you." But he didn't. He gave a full and clean accounting, and in doing so established a healthy system of governance for future generations.

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1881 - 1983), the founder of Reconstructionism, taught that, throughout the many eras of Jewish history, Judaism's ability to absorb and incorporate important values and ideas from other cultures helped keep it vital and relevant. In his vision of a healthy American Judaism, Judaism would integrate the best values and ideas of American society. The loss of the American foundation of checks-and-balances and the Bill of Rights would also be a loss to Judaism. Judaism has evolved in some wonderful ways thanks to its encounter with American democracy. Egalitarianism, the rise of independent Havurot, the flourishing of different approaches to Judaism, and the recognition of the spiritual equality of other religions are only a few of the ways that American values have helped shape Judaism on these shores. An America that stays true to its ideals provides American Judaism with a healthy and I would even say holy environment in which to continue to evolve.

So if you're worried about the future of American democracy, please know that this is as much a Jewish concern as an American one. Passover – the holiday that celebrates the end of tyranny and the beginning of freedom – is a great time to make your voice heard to preserve one of our most sacred texts – the one that begins, "We the people…"

Shalom,
Rabbi Maurice