When Jews Come Together: A Difficult Dinner Conversation

I just returned from a depressing evening, where our monthly dinner group seemed to be unable to break our focus on the forthcoming election, now just twenty days away. Normally, our “Old Men’s Group” (OMG) takes up a fascinating discussion around a shared interest or issue that in some measure has shaped our lives and perspectives.

Not this time, as the scope of our discussion seemed to center on the “day after”, as we collectively imagined the possible fallouts following November 5th. We almost seemed less concerned at this moment over who would win, being far more focused on the reactions and behaviors of our fellow citizens.  The “what ifs” appear to continue unabated, each more depressing and scarier than the next, as our evening moved haltingly forward.

At moments, some within our group in seeking to offer assurances in an effort to restabilize the train wreck of despair that dominated our dinner discussion would propose an alternative scenario, suggesting that the wounded and weakened combatants following this long political contest will simply walk away, too exhausted to carry their case forward.

One can imagine that such discussions are happening in more frequent numbers, as each day moves us closer to this uncertain outcome.  There is a real anxiety out there, as one feels the political tensions impacting one’s family and friends. The underlying question, whether ever formally considered, is whether this country and its democracy will survive this moment? There is a residual pain that sits with us, as we focus on the possibilities of civil unrest, political retribution, and worse, efforts to identify and bring “to justice” one’s political enemies.

There is a deeper level of anxiety, as it impacts Jews. Maybe our DNA stirs us to consider in the deep recesses of our being and the specific implications and possibilities of how as Jewish Americans all of this may play out. Already effected by what has transpired since last October 7^th, now to feel a new wave of concern in light of the political chaos that may be our next threat.

There always lies below the surface with such moments a certain type of Jewish sensory response. We are experienced as a people when it comes to worrying. The burden of our historical journey forces us to be vigilant. With the rawness of hate particularly alive in the United States, what might election doubt and chaos mean for Jews, and for others as well?

These haunting concerns immediately take us back to how our parents and grandparents, and how they responded to the events of the 1930’s with Hitler’s rise to power and the decisions that had to be made regarding their fate.  At our dinner table, and for sure at so many more tables, the conversations go to such unimaginable considerations, “so where will you go, if things get really bad here?”

 There is real but essential pain here, as we fear and feel the possible unraveling of our American experience.