A Biblical Response to the Election: Lech Lecha 5785

A Biblical Response to the Election 

Lech Lecha 5785

Supporters of Donald Trump who are grounded in the Torah may be quick to crow that the election results were a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you… all the families of the earth shall bless themselves through you.” This is because that, despite the fact that Trump has repeatedly appeared in the company of antisemites, a substantive case can be made that his presidency was the most pro-Israel in history. 

However, despite President Trump’s positive track record on Israel, such triumphalism is at best premature. Notice that God not only foretells “I will bless those who bless you” but continues, “all the families of the earth shall bless themselves through you.” How does a nation “bless themselves through you” [Abraham]? The answer is that the nations will bless themselves by walking in his footsteps. In other words, it is not sufficient to simply bless the descendants of Judaism’s first patriarch but to also to walk in his footsteps by embracing the tenants of Abraham’s ethical monotheism. America has flourished because it has been built on such tenants. Elizabeth Lazarus’ famous words welcoming the “poor huddled masses,” located by the Statue of Liberty, are reminiscent of her patriarch, Abraham’s kindness to strangers. The “inalienable rights” mentioned in the Declaration of Independence are based on the biblical notion that all of humanity is created in the image of God. Americans have toiled and must continue to toil to ensure that all Americans regardless of ethnicity or creed, benefit from the lofty ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. 

The Constitution of the United States, along with subsequent case law, represents an attempt to ensure that all benefit from these protections. It does so in part through a system of checks and balances which are to ensure that one branch of government or one segment of the population does not amass too much power at the expense of another. 

The concept of a separation of powers was not created at the Constitutional Convention but rather harkens back to the Torah. Moses was the greatest prophet, but did not serve as the high priest. In fact, the Torah calls for three distinct offices, the king, the prophet and the priest. Israel’s kings, the heads of state, were commanded to write two copies of the Torah as a reminder that they serve at God’s pleasure and that their power was limited by his law. When kings forgot they were bound by the Torah’s heavenly dictates and abused their authority, they were severely admonished by God’s spokesmen, the prophets. Saul’s failure to follow God’s command, cost him his house and the throne. Solomon’s failure caused his kingdom to fracture into two. The priests were in a sense religious civil servants who functioned as technocrats performing sacrificial rituals. 

The United States will remain blessed by not only continuing to stand with the Jewish state in its struggle against an evil which threatens both nations, but by continuing to follow the Torah’s prescription for governance by respecting the separation of powers. By doing so, we will remain strong as a collective while ensuring that individuals maintain their dignity.