It’s time for liberal Jews to shake off the dust, arise, and save democracy
Everything has its season; this is not the season for despair
The Republican National Convention, 2024. Photo by Getty Images
Contributing Columnist Jay Michaelson July 16, 2024
As a journalist, I don’t turn away from the news often. But I have this week.
For liberals – and, in this column, I’m mostly going to be speaking to those left of center – it’s been a really difficult month. Just a selection (and I’m leaving a lot out), we’ve witnessed Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the Supreme Court’s granting President Trump unprecedented immunity from criminal prosecution, an assassination attempt against Trump which seems to have further strengthened his position, the outrageous dismissal of the classified documents case against him, the nomination of a fellow MAGA right-winger to be vice-president, setbacks in negotiations to end the Gaza war, and the troubling revelations about Project 2025 that make a Trump victory all the more worrisome for the vast majority of American Jews.
So, yes, it’s been a lot. Fortunately, I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. Social media and mainstream media are full of similar laments. Misery loves company, and I’ve got plenty.
At some point, though, probably quite soon, we’ll need to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps and get back to the business of saving American democracy from Christian Nationalism. (Yes, even if we think Biden is too right-wing or too left-wing on Israel.) How do we do that? Jewish wisdom has some suggestions.
1) Self-Care is Sacred
First, there’s Ecclesiastes’ teaching that everything has its season, which is Jewish communal life operationalized in many ways. Take, for example, the sequence of Jewish grief. Many centuries before Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s famous model, Jewish tradition understood that grief is a long, non-linear process. First, we need time to sit in shock. Then, we gradually come back to the world, but still mindful (in the “shloshim” period) of the fact that we’re not back to normal. Eventually, we mostly return to normalcy, though still saying kaddish and perhaps limiting how much levity we try to enjoy.
In other words: it’s fine to take a break from this news cycle.
Personally, I’m not watching the Republican National Convention. Nor am I reading more takes about why Joe Biden should or shouldn’t step down. I’m not sticking my head in the sand, but I’m not digging in the dirt either.
Now, like the mourner returning to the world, you do need to come back: people more vulnerable than you are need your time, head, and money in the game. But don’t feel guilty about unplugging a little. As long as your intention is to eventually return to the work of tikkun olam, of improving the world, then as the radical Black activist Audre Lorde memorably put it, “caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
2) Political Winds Shift Quickly
Remember that, for non-political people, the campaign has just barely gotten going. I know this can seem inconceivable to some of you, but it’s true. Mike Dukakis was ahead of George Bush by 17 points at this time in the now-ancient 1988 presidential campaign; his victory was seen at inevitable. More recently, Hillary Clinton was up by 12 points against Donald Trump in October, 2016. Poll numbers change.
For me, the resonant Jewish tradition on this subject is the most political Jewish holiday of the calendar, Purim. Consider the moment before Queen Esther risked her life by daring to approach the king without an invitation. His most trusted advisor held all the power of Persia in his hands, and had a sealed edict to use that power against the Jewish population. (For the record, I’m not claiming any politician is Haman or Esther here – though in 2016 I did say that Trump was like Ahasuerus.) What hope could Esther possibly have?
And yet, we know how the story ended up.
Of course, the flip-side of Purim – which means lottery – is that there’s often a lot of randomness in play as well. It’s not just Esther’s determination; it’s also the fact that Mordechai happened to overhear a plot against the king, plus the king’s own unpredictable whims. Otherwise, Purim might have turned out like the 17th of Tammuz, the fast day Jews observe next week, commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Purim isn’t about sunny optimism. Nor is it about God always saving the day, because sometimes that doesn’t happen. But it is about the unpredictability of politics, and how a combination of activism and luck can change history.
3) Resilience
Finally, let’s say Trump does win. Some in our tribe will rejoice, of course, though I question whether placing Israel’s needs among America’s is an ethical course of action. But for liberals, it would indeed be a disaster. Four more years of stacking the courts, with the likely end of legal same-sex marriage, the further erosion of women’s legal autonomy as human beings, the weakening of voting rights, and more guns everywhere. Ecological suicide so that already-rich oil companies can make even more money. Christian Nationalism, with everyone else becoming second-class citizens in a “Christian Nation.” More tax breaks for the top 0.1% of Americans, like Trump’s new mega-donor, Elon Musk, paid for (according to Project 2025) by cutting social security, medicare, and the social safety net.
And, for Jews in particular, we’ll see an unprecedented empowerment of right-wing antisemites, from North Carolina gubernatorial nominee (and RNC speaker) Mark Robinson down to the angry, young, male, white “lone wolves” who massacre Jews while they pray in synagogues.
But we will survive. We won’t have it as bad as suspected undocumented immigrants rounded up and put into “deportation camps.” We will still have our communities to support us. And we’ve had it worse in the past.
Yes, liberal Jews, journalists, coastal elites, and queer people – I am all four – will be in the figurative crosshairs of MAGA rage and, I predict, the literal crosshairs of their guns. Yes, Jews of color will experience micro- and macro-aggressions as their very histories are slandered as “woke” and censored from history books. We will, as a country, take a step backward toward some past “greatness” that was, of course, only great for some of us.
But American Jews will survive. The tide of history will turn again. And we have tools for resilience: strong communities, powerful rituals, a rich culture, and real-world power as well. As we did from 2016 to 2020, we will not cower in fear; we will resist the erosion of our democracy, and even if we lose that battle, we will know that we fought on the right side of history and our lives had meaning and purpose.
And if the promises of Jewish messianic yearning mean anything at all, they mean, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, that the long arc of history bends toward justice, peace, and freedom. Even if right now, it may seem to be bending the other way.
So, says Isaiah, shake off the dust. Arise, Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, daughter of Zion. We have work to do.
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