(This is the fourth year that I am answering questions in the Jewish Press forum entitled “Is It Proper?” All the rabbinic responses and more can be read at Jewishpress.com)
Is Torah-true Judaism inherently aligned with conservative politics, liberal politics, a combination, or neither — or is this the wrong way to think about the Torah?
Of course the Torah is a conservative treatise!
Nonetheless, it is unequivocally wrong to evaluate the Torah along political lines. The Torah is the Dvar Hashem, the word of G-d, and thus the Torah is trivialized if we try to squeeze it into a man-made ideological construct. The Torah was not intended to strengthen conservatism or weaken liberalism, or vice versa, but rather to make us better, more moral and rational people who respond promptly and enthusiastically to G-d’s commands and propagate His ethical norms across the world.
Having said that, a cogent analysis of the question requires us to adopt some definitive framework of conservatism and liberalism. As the definitions and emphases differ, the conclusion may shift as well. But let’s take one common expression of the differences between conservatism and liberalism.
Conservatives believe in personal responsibility, limited government involvement in society, free markets, low taxes, the right to bear arms, accountability for one’s misdeeds, and traditional marriage and morality, and cherish loyalty, respect for authority, stability, and sanctity.
Liberals believe in big government that provides citizens with every conceivable need or desire, controls and regulates the economy to achieve desired social outcomes regardless of talent, effort, or fairness, individual liberty that allows even for the shattering of moral norms, high taxes to feed the government behemoth, rejection of traditional morality in favor of personal autonomy, strict gun control so that – ideally – government has a monopoly on force, and vitiating personal responsibility and excusing bad behavior by attributing it not to the criminal but to the society and community. Liberals generally reject biblical morality (at best, it is a private matter; at worst, morality is completely subjective) and perceive reason as the primary source of good conduct. Liberals inherently distrust authority and cherish openness to new experiences, diversity and change.
The Torah prizes personal responsibility (I wrote two volumes on “The Jewish Ethic of Personal Responsibility”), free markets tempered only by limitations on unfair competition and an individual’s obligation to assist the downtrodden, and obviously an objective morality that is based on G-d’s word. There are liberal elements to the Torah but it is overwhelmingly the source of conservative ideas and values.
Is it appropriate to discuss politics at the Shabbos table?
“Our speech on Shabbat should not be the same as our speech during the weekdays” (Shabbat 113b), both in terms of content and tone. To insert the tawdriness of politics onto the holiness of the Shabbat table is self-defeating and a waste of time. That includes such matters as the unseemly conduct of most politicians, their shenanigans and vanities, their deceitfulness and corruption.
Nevertheless, from a technical perspective, politics is generally defined as a set of activities associated with making decisions or distributing resources in a group, society, or nation. That is politics, which then essentially is the implementation in public affairs of the policy preferences of a particular group. Those policy preferences usually reflect the values of the decision maker or allocator of resources, which brings us to a most worthy and appropriate topic for a Shabbat table.
What are the values that society and its laws should reflect? What values are imparted by the weekly sedrah that should inform our society’s decisions? What values (and thus policies) should we seek in our elected leaders? What is the Torah’s view of the ideal society, how do we get there, and who can get us there? How does the Torah prefer we allocate society’s resources? These are edifying questions for discussions at the Shabbat table and far superior to mundane chitchat – and perhaps even Divrei Torah that children bring home from yeshiva and read (often, with less than complete comprehension).
Additionally, time should always be devoted to how a Torah society in Israel can be constructed. Throughout the two millennia of exile, Jews were often sought-after advisors to Gentile kings and rulers. That perspicacity has not always been on display in our self-governance in Israel. What is the politics of Torah? That, too, is a commendable topic for Shabbat discussion.
Should a parent encourage a child who wants to join the U.S. Army?
Throughout the exile, Jews have always served in the military of our host country (sometimes voluntarily, sometimes coerced). In its ideal expression, service in the US military repays the United States for the hospitality and graciousness it has shown to the Jewish people, particularly in allowing massive Jewish immigration at the turn of the 20th century. This provided Jews with a haven when Europe became even more threatening and inhospitable. We must always appreciate the malchut shel chesed (the kingdom of kindness) that welcomed millions of Jews in a way that other nations did not while ensuring our freedoms and rights. Contributing to its security conveys our gratitude in an honorable way.
Certainly, there will be hardships for Jews in the American military – Shabbat, Kashrut, etc. – so the recruit will need tremendous spiritual fortitude to withstand those challenges.
But young Jews who wish to become soldiers are better advised to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. Notwithstanding America’s kindnesses, why fight to prolong the exile when you can fight to defend Jewish sovereignty in our divinely ordained homeland? Indeed, the IDF soldier fulfills three mitzvot that cannot be fulfilled by the soldier in any other army: the settlement (Yishuv) of Eretz Yisrael, preserving Jewish life (Pikuach Nefesh), and Kiddush Hashem, the sanctification of G-d’s name implicit in the Jewish people exercising sovereignty over our homeland. And mitzvah observance in the IDF is much easier.
The fulfillment of those mitzvot transforms our lives. It is common today for young American Jews to enlist in the IDF, especially after their year or two learning in Israel. Parents should encourage interested children to join the Israel army if they are inclined to join a military. Nevertheless, we appreciate their service in any military that is a force for good in the world.
Is it proper to send your kids to sleepaway camp if they receive tuition assistance?
This is a loaded question that routinely comes up in tuition assistance application forms. The simple answer is that chinuch must be the number one priority of every Jewish parent. It is true that there was a time when parents did not buy homes or take vacations because their earnings were first spent on their children’s yeshivah education. That has changed, which led one of my members who was active in local schools to tell me more than once that “we don’t have a tuition crisis; we have a priorities crisis.”
There is something wrong, even immoral, with parents who rely on scholarship assistance (read: other people’s money), and yet go on vacation during yeshivah break (because they too need to relax) or have the grandparents take them to an expensive hotel for Pesach (because it’s the grandparents’ money and they have a right to spend it as they please.) They do, but still…
From this perspective, sleepaway camp for children who receive tuition assistance is an extravagance, and justly raises the ire of other parents and the scholarship committees.
Nonetheless, that is the simple answer, and reality does not always accord with the simple. There are cogent arguments to be made for sleepaway camp even in such circumstances: camp is also educational, it is important socially, and what else are working parents supposed to do with their children during the summer? They need to be supervised in a productive setting.
It is a real conundrum. Is it proper? It is a bad look, to be sure, but sometimes it is necessary. As such, it must be resolved on an individual case by case basis, with the predominant obligation always that parents are primarily responsible for their children’s tuition. That is their priority in parenting.
And, one offer, as Elul has begun. You might enjoy, and even find inspirational, my book “Repentance for Life,” available from Kodeshpress.com, at Amazon, and at fine stores. Chodesh Tov!
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