Acute Angles: Praying for a Trump victory?

Dear Rabbi. Shouldn’t we be praying for a Trump victory?  N.S.

Dear N.S,

Firstly, kudos for acknowledging that tefila (prayer) can make a difference! And inasmuch as the result of the upcoming US election could impact the world in ways even more far-reaching than we can imagine, prayers for a good outcome should be a weapon of mass construction to be used by us all. Of course there will, no doubt, be some reading this who will protest that we should be praying for a Harris victory, maintaining that Trump is a loose cannon posing a danger to the stability of the world. They are fully entitled to their opinion!

King Solomon in Sefer Mishlei (Proverbs 21:1) famously declares the heart/mind (the Hebrew word leiv can mean either) of a ruler to be “in the hand of G-D; wherever He wishes, so does He direct it!” G-D has the future destiny of the world and its rulership mapped out in broad terms. Whether Trump, whether Harris, G-D runs the show! So maybe it would be more appropriate for a person of pure faith to simply recite a general prayer along the lines of “may You guide the world in accordance with Your will and may all Israel witness Your salvation!”

Yet we are also told that our tefilot as well as of course our actions, can make a big difference in the detail.

USA Jewry, of course, will be able to make a practical difference in the way it votes. Just as I believe Diaspora Jewry has no right to interfere in domestic Israeli politics, I would not presume to preach to the 7.5 million Jews of the USA on how to cast their ballots.  Many will decide based on how they perceive the outcome will affect them and their families economically. Others will decide on social issues. Hopefully few will have been seduced by the canard promulgated by J Street and other left-wing Jewish groups that Trump is a closet (or not-so-closet) antisemite. With a committed Jewish daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, and given his cast-iron, consistent support for Israel, that notion is risible.  Perusing the latest news outlets, indications are that some lifelong Jewish Democrats are turning to Trump at this watershed time on the basis of his record as a staunch friend and defender of the Jewish State.

As for the 8.3 million Jews outside of the USA, there is, in my opinion only one basis on which to direct our prayers, namely that cast-iron record.  An ex-President who has shown his support for Israel, not just with words but with actions, notably of course the moving of the US Embassy to Jerusalem and overseeing the signing of the Abraham Accords, deserves at least a word or two prayerfully catapulted above, entreating that he won’t be an ex-President for much longer.

I have made no secret of the fact that Donald Trump has disappointed me profoundly. particularly since his undignified refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election. His hyper-aggressive language, his ugly rhetoric, his ad-hominem attacks, his gratuitous insults do not and cannot command respect. (See my Acute Angles essay #40 Re-Evaluating Ex-President Trump)

At the same time, man is a complex creature, made up of  both good and bad. (That is how Rabbi Eliahu Dessler understands the eits daa’at tov-ve-ra in Gan Eden – the tree whose fruit caused Adam and Eve to merge both good and evil into their psyches.)  Trump’s good actions have spoken louder than his bad words,. He has been the greatest friend Israel and World Jewry have ever had in the White House.  I  pray that he will be given another opportunity to reside there. If so, I will view the four years ahead with hope in my heart that by 2028, at very least, both Israel and the world will be a safer place – and indeed a better place – for Jews and for upholders of the Torah’s moral values.

And maybe – just maybe – as he approaches his four-score years, Donald Trump will at last master the art of statesmanship and heal the rifts in his country and beyond.  For this little miracle too we can pray!