An un-Nobel way to get honor

The Children of Israel offered a lesson in proper behavior, 3,300 years ago, to today’s President of the United States.

The Torah portion of Bo, which will be read in synagogue next Shabbat, describes the reluctance of the freed slaves, who were about to leave Egypt, to request “objects of silver and gold” (Ex. 11:2) from the Egyptians who had enslaved them. G-d instructed Bnei Israel, through Moses, to ask the Egyptians for their possessions – deserved, while insufficient, restitution for the Jewish people’s long years of servitude. But, according to Torah commentators, Bnei Israel resisted, out of a desire to commence their exodus immediately, or out of a reticence to confront their former enslavers. Or, because they simply did not want to appear greedy.

Donald Trump should learn this lesson.

The President, already a very rich and powerful man, has long desired one specific, prestigious item that is not in his possession – a Nobel Peace Prize. He has dropped broad hints about this to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which so far has resisted his imploring. Last week he went one step further – according to media reports, he made clear to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won the invaluable honor last year, that he would not consider extending a White House invitation to her unless she would consider sharing, or outright giving, her Nobel Peace Prize to the President.

Machado got her White House invite, in return for which she did not receive a promise of the President’s support; and Trump got his Nobel Peace Prize.

Which sets a bad precedent.

Jewish tradition, and common sense, teach that an honor cajoled is no honor at all. A leader, who is expected to set an example for his or her people, should be the last person to expect, or accept, something to which he or she is not entitled. As the saying goes, the optics – let alone the morality – are bad.

Since the President had not won the Nobel Peace Prize, or earned it, or deserved it, he pressured Machado — who had won Venezuela’s presidency in 2024 but was denied that post by the incumbent-and-recently-deposed Nicolas Maduro — into surrendering what was rightfully hers. Still hoping to lead her country, where she had been under arrest before escaping last year, Machado gave the honored medal to Trump as “a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

In taking something that clearly in not his, the President is following in the footsteps of many other leaders. Among them: King Henry VIII, who seized Church property during his reign; Napoleon Bonaparte, who removed papal tiaras, crowns and regalia from conquered Italy; Benito Mussolini, who retained illicitly-obtained ancient Roman artifacts while serving as Italy’s fascist leader; Nazi Germany’s Hermann Goering, who amassed one of Europe’s largest stolen art collections, many items confiscated from Jewish owners; Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, who removed ancient Mesopotamian artifacts to his private palaces. And, notably, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who held onto a Super Bowl ring that Robert Kraft, the owner of the championship-winning New England Patriots, had shown the Russian leader during a Kremlin visit in 2005; Putin brazenly put the $25,000 piece of jewelry in his pocket and walked away, accompanied by three KGB thugs. Kraft was later pressured by the White House to describe the stolen ring as a “gift.”

And this disreputable list includes, to the shame of Israel, Moshe Dayan.

In his case, it was archaeological artifacts. An archaeological dilettante, the Israeli army hero and longtime political leader, who died in 1981, accumulated – illegally, experts say – a noteworthy collection of valuable artifacts during his career. “Moshe Dayan didn’t deal in archaeology. He dealt in antiquities plundering,” said Uzi Dahari, deputy director of the Israel antiquities authority. “He was a criminal. He knew he was breaking the law.”

Dayan’s thievery was a known fact in Israel, but it largely did not tarnish his reputation, which he built through his military acumen.

Sticky-fingered leaders of this ilk act in clear contradiction to a Torah principle that holds people in powerful positions to a high standard. Not only is impropriety forbidden, but the appearance of impropriety as well.

And the Torah offers several example of biblical figures whose sterling character in this area reflected true piety. There was Moses (Numbers 18:15), who, when accosted by Korach in the unsuccessful desert rebellion against the prophet’s leadership, declared “I have not taken even one donkey from them.” Moses was exonerated by G-d, and Korach was swallowed by the earth. And Abraham (Genesis 14:21-24), who, after defeating four kings, states that he had not taken even such minor spoils of war as “a thread to a sandal strap.” And the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 12:3-5), who, defending his reputation as the end of his days approached, asked, “Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded or whom have I robbed? From whom have I taken a bribe to look the other way? I will return it to you.”

Honor above all.

The Torah makes clear (Deut. 17:17) that even kings – especially kings – cannot accumulate whatever seems appealing to them: A monarch “shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess.” Similarly says the Talmud (Ketubot 105:b), citing Proverbs 29:4, “The king by justice establishes the land, but he who exacts gifts [terumot] overthrows it.”

While leadership has its privileges, it also has its limits.

Similarly, Sharia, Islamic law, holds that a ruler is a trustee, not an owner of what comes into his hands while sitting on the throne.

Putting one’s hand out for what is essentially a purloined Peace Prize may seem like a petty, inconsequential matter, but it both indicates a character fault in the world’s most powerful leader, and a weakening of prestige of the world’s most significant award.

Trump this week entered his second year in his second term in office. He has three years left in the Oval Office, and plenty of wars, or potential wars, around the world in which he can play a role as peacemaker. Conflicts at the top of the list: Israel-Hamas, and Russia-Ukraine.

Let Trump honorably bring those wars to an end. If he wants to put the Noble Peace Prize on one of his office shelves, let him earn it.