Possibly Tabooing Trump

I’m worried by the fear that Trump
might in the future treat the Jews,
whom he’s kicked sometimes in the rump,
tabooing not toeyvah views,
like those of Putin, potentate more treyfah
than Zelensky, who’s converted,
an untranssubstantiated wafer,
pot-holed by Putin, whose perverted
taboos make all the world unsafer.
I wonder if we should be booing
a president we’re not tabooing.

This poem is responding to Ruth Shane’s suggestion during a Torah in Motion dvar Torah by Tamar Weissman, that the use of the word toeyvah in Gen. 46:34 denotes the sort of taboo that Brahmins feel towards people of a lower caste.

Gen. 46:34 states:

אַנְשֵׁ֨י מִקְנֶ֜ה הָי֤וּ עֲבָדֶ֙יךָ֙ מִנְּעוּרֵ֣ינוּ וְעַד־עַ֔תָּה גַּם־אֲנַ֖חְנוּ גַּם־אֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּ בַּעֲב֗וּר תֵּשְׁבוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ גֹּ֔שֶׁן כִּֽי־תוֹעֲבַ֥ת מִצְרַ֖יִם כׇּל־רֹ֥עֵה צֹֽאן׃

And you shall answer, ‘Your servants have been breeders of livestock from the start until now, both we and our fathers’—so that you may stay in the region of Goshen. For all shepherds are toavat mitzrayim, abhorrent to Egyptians.”

Rashi explains that the reason Joseph tells his brothers that the Egyptians regard sheep as an abomination, is because sheep are regarded by them as deities. My poem implies that Joseph is telling his brothers that sheep are taboo for the Egyptians, information that should ensure the separation of Egyptians from his Israelite family whom they treat as taboo. Indeed the use of the word toeyvah in Gen. 46:34 perhaps denotes the sort of taboo that Brahmins, who forbid the consumption of cows, hold towards people who do eat beef as being of a lower caste.

In “Russia still ‘working with US’ after Trump says he is ‘angry’ with Putin,” NYT, 3/31/25, Gabriela Pomeroy writes: 

Russia says it is still “working with the US” after President Trump said he was “angry” and “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin. In its first response to Trump’s criticism of the Russian president, the Kremlin tried to play down the tensions between the two leaders.

“We continue working with the US side, first of all, on building our relations,” spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said.