Jefferson, Talmud, and a diverse group of rabbis

Among historic personalities I would love to meet, Thomas Jefferson is high on the list. I had the good fortune to explore one of my favorite “Framers” this past September in an unlikely setting. I attended a rabbinic symposium sponsored by the Tikvah Fund in order to explore “Faith, Morality, and the Marketplace.” We were Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Haredi rabbis. We were largely American with a few Israeli among us. Our teachers were Jewish though not exclusively. Our course reader was dense with primary and secondary sources, which took me right back to when I was a graduate student of American history which led to a life-long admiration and appreciation for the intellectual history of the United States of America. 

In our study, we reviewed Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address, in which certain key statements, at their core, land quite easily on Jewish ears:

“… bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, … the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having vanished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, as capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions.” 

Jefferson’s words were foundational to the founding of the United States. I cherish his writing even though I know that he accepted slavery, the maltreatment of Native Americans, and the subjugation of women’s rights. The fight for corrective action would await later generations. Fulfilling those high-minded ideals took centuries.Thankfully, the aspirational values of our Founders’  have been and continue to be realized. Sustaining the Enlightenment’s benefits requires constant attention and vigilance. Democracy and modernity demand that we fight all forms of extremism that threaten the aspirations and structures on which America was built. A liberal society, such as ours in the West, must uphold diversity of viewpoints, rule of law, pursuit of truth, the use of and belief in scientific progress, equality of access, and freedom from despots and single- or narrow-minded thinking.

While I have often felt that Jefferson would have made a great Talmudic scholar (and teacher), the above text proves a point of respecting the minority opinion and those individuals who hold it.  As in Jewish law, the will and decision of the majority must and do prevail, but the minority continue to possess rights of protection.

Our nation was founded on the idea of e pluribus unum – from the many, one –  a motto  reminding us that from thirteen colonies, we came to be one nation. Over the last 250 years, that idea refers not only to the historic reality but to the ideological necessity of best governance. It feels particularly Jewish to operate similarly – Our ritual items of tefillin embody this beautifully: the “shel rosh” with divided sections while the “shel yad” is a smooth box. I was taught the rationale for this difference was that Jews carry many voices and respecting viewpoint diversity while ultimately embracing a oneness of peoplehood and action.  

Would that we could arise from the divisiveness in our nation to remember that from the many voices and opinions, we can and must find common ground to advance. And here I am speaking about the Jewish community and our nation. That is why spending three days with thirty rabbis who represented a variety of American Jewish communal experiences was so powerful. We ate, studied, and davvened together. We shared stories of our communities, Jewish humor, worries about Israel, pride for Israel, pictures of our families, hopes for America. 

When I reviewed my notes, I saw a line I had highlighted in Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address:  “…but every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.”

This idea can serve the Jewish community well at a time when we struggle over matters related to everything from religious practice to politics in both America and Israel. I believe that for the majority of us our principles are in line. Our opinions about how to fulfill those principles may differ, requiring us to find shared ground, compromise, and paths forward. The majority of Jews and Americans live within a framework that embraces our foundational documents and principles. 

As we celebrate Hanukkah and a US presidential transition approaches, I pray that we remember that our Jewish community is diverse. Our Hanukkah lights will glow and we will increase one candle each night based on the House of Hillel’s teaching in the Talmud. The minority opinion of the House of Shammai, which was the opposite of Hillel, has been preserved and is still taught. Shammai and Hillel shared the principle of lighting a menorah for Hanukkah. They disagreed about how to light the Menorah. As we all know, in order to keep our practice united, Jewish law had to follow one path and settled on that of Hillel. As we read in the Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, it is because we “ma’alin bakodesh – we rise in holiness.” 

May we, as Jews and as Americans, rise in holiness, embodying the highest ideals set forth by both Thomas Jefferson and the Sages of the Talmud. We can – and at times must – disagree. But not every difference of opinion is a difference of principle. Sages from sacred pages of Jewish and American texts advocate for us to unite and rise in holiness and greatness. We, literally, have the best of both worlds.