Rabbis (This Rabbi) And Politics

 This was written in, I think, mid-2022, something like that. I'm posting it here as Great Britain enters a General Election cycle.

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We lost some long-standing members this week. The problem, it seems, was me and my politics. Under my leadership, New London stands accused of being “increasingly politicised” when it came to “domestic issues around identity politics,” “national issues such as immigration” and “issues concerning Israel’s democratic government.” The couple left in search of a synagogue “that does not engage in such agendas and where we can both come and go as members without feeling that our personal views are constantly being questioned and challenged.”

 

Putting aside the question of the value of a religious approach that disdains constant question and challenge, I do have some sympathy. I understand – and deeply value – my faith as a refuge from the febrile world ‘out there.’ I deeply value the range of positions and views that will be taken by any collection of thinking human beings – and we have a lot of thinking human beings at New London. In my mind, I’ve never attempted to muzzle or limit debate on these important issues, if you feel otherwise, please accept my apology. But, but, but, but …

 

It’s another one of those weeks where the news ‘here’ is of the Illegal Immigration Bill and the news ‘there’ is of proposed judicial reforms. I find this week’s Torah portion (containing as it does the tale of the Golden Calf) fascinating, and for what it’s worth deeply political, but I can’t sit down to express a thought for this coming Shabbat without engaging with issues that, while definitely, ‘of the polis’ – political, are profoundly religious.

 

I want to share here how I – as your Rabbi – approach this tightrope walk. I also want to share a brief word about the relationship, as I understand it, of Judaism and matters of the democratic polis.

 

I allow this space, my weekly written messages, to be political than my sermons. If you want to experience New London-style Judaism experientially, as an escape from the pressures of the world, come to Shul; log on to our daily Shacharit services, enjoy our phenomenal new cantorial leadership and prepare to enjoy a newly redecorated and much beautified sanctuary. If you don’t like the message of my weekly-mailing, feel free to delete or scroll down. I don’t mind, really I don’t. If you come to Shul there’s less politics from Bimah – I think that’s correct.

 

I police my own language with great care. In fifteen years as Rabbi of New London, I have used the name of a specific British political party to make a religious point on one occasion only, and only as the result of deep reflection and (for what it’s worth) extensive consultation with the lay leadership. I am deeply committed to keeping my political-party-specific opinions to myself. I have never and can’t see how I would ever, tell anyone who to vote for. I am committed to treating any elected official with the respect due their mandate and their position. “Pray for the government,” taught Rabbi Chanina, “without its due respect a person would eat their fellow alive.” Amen to that. I have never and would never condone use of inflammatory epithets directed against anyone, member, stranger or political leader alike. I’m particularly opposed to epithets of precise historical meaning being used to tar contemporary political positions. If we disagree with a person or their position, I believe we should say so and explain why. But I am wary in the extreme of calling any person or position racist / sexist / homophobic / Apartheid / Nazi / fascist. Certainly, I am far more restrained in how I speak about political leadership today than Chazal – the Rabbis of Talmudic fame – were in the language used in the great tomes of our faith to attack political leaders of eras past.

 

But Judaism can never, in the words of our founder rabbi, Rabbi Louis Jacobs of blessed memory, be allowed to be “insipid” or “remote from the day-to-day concerns” of Jews. Judaism is not wholly or even primarily a spiritual/theological commitment. Judaism is a commitment to be part of a covenant of action. Its real-world commitment is evinced in verse after verse of the Torah and Sugya after Sugya of the Talmud. As I reflect on my own interest in matters of the polis, it’s to the Torah and the Talmud that I go, and from the Torah and the Talmud that I draw the inspiration that drives my teaching. If I’m interested in gender politics, it’s that verse in Genesis that insists the image of divinity is expressed through both male and female forms that underlies my interest. If I advocate for the dispossessed and unvoiced in society, it’s the repeated Biblical insistence to love, care for and not oppress the stranger that inspire me. If I have the temerity to speak against the political leadership of Israel – insignificant as I am - I have Samuel, Isaiah and an entire prophetic tradition to serve as models. That was the piece in the resignation note of our, now, former-members that, forgive me, annoyed me. It was suggested I function like a “see-saw,” “dashing to take up the mantle of causes that are transitory.” That’s certainly not how I experience my 25 years of rabbinic study and commitment. Ho-hum.

 

The point about democracy is this. Democracy is NOT the government by will of the majority. The majority don’t need a constitution to impose their will on the minority. Technically, the name for rule by the masses is ‘ochlocracy.’ And it’s not something I, as a Jew, have ever been excited about.  Democracy IS the CONTROL of the will of the majority. A good democrat reflects not on their own dictatorial power, but on the edges, the limits, the term-times, the checks and balances. Democracies always annoy those who think a mandate should be equated with their ability to do whatever they want. And that’s where religion comes in. Religion is and has always been a voice outside of a human-coming-together to do ‘what is right in their own eyes’ (a phrase used repeatedly in the Bible to demonstrate error is being made). Religion will, of course, make mistakes, and I, when I have the temerity to speak on behalf of our faith and how-much-the-more-so the Divine must model temerity and humility in looking to intervene in the public sphere. But the notion that religion doesn’t insist on an engagement in the political realm is absurd. I’ve shared more about this idea in a sermon here https://rabbionanarrowbridge.blogspot.com/2022/12/why-be-religious-archbishop-rowan.html. And the great lesson of the last century, and indeed the entirety of Rabbinic Jewish history, is that we should be deeply grateful to live in carefully checked and balanced democracy. ‘Ad Kan,’ as the Rabbis of the Talmud were won’t to say, ‘That will have to do for now.’

 

Shabbat Shalom