Rabbi Yitzchok Bergstein helped staff a Chabad Lubavitch booth at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and some of his rabbi colleagues did the same at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee. The Oak Park rabbi, however, said no Chabad rabbi would be talking about the election in a partisan way from the pulpit, certainly not supporting one of the candidates.
In my view his behavior is an example of the proper place of religion in politics and government. First, a reminder of what the First Amendment says”
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment prohibits government from influencing or interfering with religion, but it has no problem with religion petitioning the government.
With that point in mind, what Rabbi Bergstein was trying to do at the DNC was to influence the delegates to frame what they were doing in terms of God’s purposes for the world he created.
“At the booth,” he said, “our purpose was to serve the needs of the Jewish community and to pass along a message of kindness of sharing.”
According to the Orthodox Jewish understanding of creation, on day six of creation, the rabbi said, God did not complete the work of creation. What God did was create human beings with the vocation, duty, and obligation to complete that work.
“If you look at the Hebrew text,” he said, “God created the world in its physical form and us to partner with God to perfect the world, to partner with God to bring this world to a higher state of conscious, a state of positivity, of caring, of sharing, of giving.
“When the Jewish people are referred to as the chosen people, some use it as a derogatory. The perspective of the Torah is that God chose us and gave us the responsibility of guiding and bringing light to the world. That’s the positive aspect of ego. I have an ego not to show off or belittle someone, but when I have an ego, I know that God has given me this mission.”
It’s not just about rights but also about duties. “That’s the difference between the American perspective and the religious Jewish perspective. When people in this culture talk about charity, they talk about doing it out of the kindness of their heart, which means that they don’t have to do charity if they don’t feel that way.
“But in Hebrew tzedek means justice, which is an obligation, a responsibility to ourselves, to the world and to God.”
Mindful that the High Holy Days fall on the calendar this month during the last lap of the race to the White House, Bergstein said, “On Rosh Hashanah we reflect on this concept of the mission of the human being and reflect on the idea of renewal.”
In a guidebook for keeping the Holy Days, he noted that Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the other days not only remind us of our purpose and destination but also provide fuel, if you will, for the journey.
“The seventh month [of the Jewish calendar] is replete with spiritual riches, beckoning us to tap into this extraordinary opportunity and to realize its potential. We complete the journey overflowing with mental and emotional inspiration to power us through the entire year.”
So what is the proper role of religion in politics in general and the election on Nov. 5 in particular?
When I was a boy, members of Congress from my denomination were split half and half between Democrats and Republicans. The point, I think, is that religion is about discerning the proper destination, and politics is about the practical challenge of figuring out how to get there, or at least how to work toward “a more perfect union.”
The Bible is not a spiritual GPS telling us when to turn right and when to turn left.
The Chabad rabbi talked about obligation, mission and duty, not about rights. I hear a lot of political rhetoric about rights these days but not much about responsibilities. Take the issue of gun violence. The debate centers on the right to bear arms vs. regulation, without addressing the spiritual issue of fostering a culture of nonviolence.
I hear a lot of talk about a woman’s right to choose vs. anti-abortion laws and little about fostering a culture where abortion is, in Bill Clinton’s words, “legal, safe, and rare.”
I hear a lot of whining about what leaders are not doing “for me” in the federal and state governments, all the way down to our local condominium associations. At the last meeting of my association we set a record with a turnout of 21%. Most owners were not interested in “completing the work of creation.”