Thinking like us

The first election I remember is the 1972 Nixon vs. McGovern race. Students in my Providence Hebrew Day School class overwhelmingly voiced their support for McGovern. Too young to understand the issues and have their own opinions, my classmates simply parroted their parents’ choices.

One night I overheard my father telling someone, ‘Of course Nixon is going to win. McGovern doesn’t stand a chance.’ I was astounded! How could Nixon win when everyone I knew was for McGovern? But I was only eight years old, so how could I have understood that my class was in no way representative of the country at large. Indeed, we were a homogenous group of people. For one thing, we were all Jewish. Furthermore, at a time when only 12% of the country had a college degree, all of our fathers did and most of our mothers did, as well. Almost all of our fathers were either doctors or business owners. Our slice of the American pie certainly did not fit neatly into the rest.

Fast forward to the 2024 election. Some say that one of the reasons for Harris’ loss was her party’s inability to understand that the elites, celebrities, and media were no more indicative of the vast American diversity than my 1972 class was. It is ironic that the people who tout diversity often fail to see it in all of its forms, and assume that most of the country shares their priorities and frames of reference. Douglas Adams said, “The hardest assumption to challenge is the one you don’t even know you are making.”

Religion is another area where all too many people make assumptions all too often. Acknowledging that not everyone is Christian, many Americans now say ‘Happy Holidays’; however, most of my European colleagues do not use this more inclusive phrase and continue to wish everyone a ‘Merry Christmas’.

A French Muslim friend of mine recounted a childhood memory. After returning from the holiday break, his teacher asked the students to describe the gifts they received for Christmas. Not wanting to feel left out, my friend rattled off some fake presents. How presumptuous of the teacher to take for granted that everyone celebrates Christmas.

Then there are those who do recognize that there are religious differences and set out to foist their beliefs on others.

A colleague of mine, after finding out that I didn’t celebrate Christmas, said she would bring me a book about Jesus. Even worse, when I relayed the woman’s comment to another colleague, she said that the woman was “just trying to help me.”

Recently in Oklahoma the state superintendent proclaimed that all schools are required to include in their curriculums the Bible and the Ten Commandments. Similar laws were tried in Texas and Louisiana but were struck down. With no respect for the separation of church and state, the Texas Lt. Governor has said that he will try again in 2025. Both the Bible and the Ten Commandments differ among the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish religions, and of course, people of other faiths do not subscribe to them.

Even worse is Radical Islamism whose goal is to usurp all other religions. Unbeknownst to the Pro-Palestinian protestors, Hamas and the other Iranian proxies do not call for a Palestinian state or for the liberation of Palestine, but for the elimination of infidels. Their overarching goal is to force Sharia law on all by creating a worldwide Islamic caliphate.

Unlike people of other faiths, Jews do not proselytize. In fact, Jewish law forbids us to try to convert someone to our religion or to impose our religious practices on others. Judaism teaches us that all righteous peoples share an equal place in heaven, regardless of their faith.

Brandeis University, my alma mater, has a beautiful campus with striking architecture. One of the most inspirational aspects is the placement of the various houses of worship. The layout was strategically designed so that no building would ever cast a shadow on another, symbolizing tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

In 1972 Nixon won by a landslide, receiving 520 electoral votes while McGovern got 17. It was at that time, amidst the homogeneity of my Jewish day school, that I discovered America’s heterogeneity, and realized that the views of those in my sphere were not necessarily the views of the rest of my country. Throughout the years that I studied Torah, Talmud, and Mishnah at the school, I never heard from the rabbis one disparaging word about other faiths or the people who followed them. We had our beliefs, others had theirs, and there was no reason to consider them mutually exclusive.

How phenomenal it would be if we could all recognize and accept that not everyone thinks like us.

How magnificent it would be if we could all rejoice in our own religions, hold fast to our own beliefs, and yet, like the houses of worship at Brandeis, never cast our own shadow on another.