On One Foot: Joshua Hammerman's Blog

Author of "Embracing Auschwitz" and "Mensch•Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi - Wisdom for Untethered Times." Winner of the Rockower Award, the highest honor in Jewish journalism and 2019 Religion News Association Award for Excellence in Commentary. Musings of a rabbi, journalist, father, husband, poodle-owner, Red Sox fan and self-proclaimed mensch, taken from essays, columns, sermons and thin air. Writes regularly in the New York Jewish Week and Times of Israel.

Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2022

In This Moment, June 17: Watergate's "Jewish Thing" and Nixon's Thing for the Jews

In This Moment

The Shabbat-O-Gram is sponsored

by Naomi Marks and Jonathan Marks

in honor of their son, Xavier, becoming a Bar Mitzvah.

MAZAL TOV!

In Sept. 1973, the Boston Globe created a dummy front page for June 18, 1972,

had we known then what the break-in would eventually lead to. The article that actually ran on June 18, was tiny, and on page 50. Below the Globe's coverage, you can see the first New York Times article about the break-in, which occupied a sliver of the front page, and not until the following day, June 19.

Here is the actual New York Times front page story that ran on June 19, 1972. See the rest of that initial article on the bottom of this email.

Note especially the statement of John Mitchell in the Times piece, denying any connection between the break-in and the campaign. "We want to emphasize that this man (McCord) and other people involved were not operating either on our behalf or with our consent," Mitchell said. "I am surprised and dismayed at these reports." He was likely also dismayed at the two years of prison time he would have to serve for conspiring to plan the break in, obstruction of justice and perjury.

Watergate's "Jewish Thing"

(and Nixon's "Thing" for Jews)

Fifty years ago, on June 17, 1972, the Watergate break-in changed the world. Little did we know it at the time, or for months after, that this seemingly innocuous, two-bit trespass would transform how Americans would view the venerated institutions of our civic life. Many were tainted by the stench of the scandal, from the FBI to the CIA to the presidency itself. Other institutions, most notably the press, acquitted themselves quite well.

But what about the Jews - or as Nixon liked to call us, the Jewboys? Was Nixon the most antisemitic president ever? An argument can be made for that, but having had so many private conversations recorded probably gives him an unfair "advantage." It's hard to quantify such things, but it's also hard to imagine American Jewry surviving someone who hated Jews more than Nixon did. Even before Watergate, there was Nixon's "Jew Count." discussed by Woodward and Bernstein in The Final Days. Nixon was convinced that Jews in the Labor Department were deliberately undermining his efforts by altering labor numbers, so he had some people with Jewish last names demoted. The plan has been called "the last known act of official anti-Semitism conducted by the United States government." And wait, there's more. President Nixon also pushed for tax audits of wealthy Jewish contributors to his Democratic rivals.

During Watergate, perhaps Nixon's most vociferous defender was not only Jewish but a rabbi, Baruch Korff, whom Nixon introduced as "my rabbi." Nixon's speechwriter, William Safire, was also Jewish (Safire compared Nixon to a "layer cake"). They were not Nixon's sole Jewish defenders - we can't forget that many Jews considered Nixon heroic for airlifting assistance to Israel during those first precarious days of the Yom Kippur War. And there was Henry Kissinger, whose Jewish background was the source of some unease in the Oval Office suspicious of Jews. In one tape, Nixon blurts out to H.R. Haldeman, "The Jews are all over this government." Nixon said the Jews needed to be brought under control by putting someone "in charge who is not Jewish" in key agencies. Washington "is full of Jews," the president stated. "Most Jews are disloyal." But he made exceptions, and for the most part, Kissinger was one of them. He even prayed with him as the walls closed in.

It's clear that Nixon's antisemitic proclivities went way beyond "Jewboy," tax audits and labor statistics. He considered Jews to be "born spies.". For anyone who might doubt the virulence of this man's bigotry - and not just toward Jews - read this excerpt from the tapes.

Nixon conjured up Jewish demons even where there were none; his paranoia extended to non-Jews who seemed Jewish to him. His original enemies list and expanded master list of political opponents had plenty of Jewish sounding names. In the tapes, his response to the Pentagon Papers leak was to consider reviving the House Committee on Un-American Activities to investigate government whistleblowers—or in his words, “going after all these Jews. Just find one that is a Jew, will you.” But Daniel Ellsberg was not Jewish - he was raised as a Christian Scientist, though his parents were born Ashkenazi Jews.

Mark Felt, the great Watergate whistleblower of "Deep Throat" fame, was also not Jewish; nonetheless the Watergate tapes disclosed that Nixon was suspicious of him as he asked H.R. Haldeman, "Is he a Catholic?" Haldeman replied that Felt, who was of Irish descent, was Jewish, and Nixon replied: "It could be the Jewish thing. I don't know. It's always a possibility."

What exactly is this "Jewish thing?" What is it that caused Nixon to assume that whistleblowers like Deep Throat and Ellsberg were Jewish?

Nixon would undoubtedly have invoked the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and spoken of dual loyalty, but I'd define the "Jewish Thing" as the prophetic instinct to speak truth to power, to seek justice and pursue it, following the calls of elders who speak on the pages of Isaiah 1:17, Deuteronomy 16:20, Micah 6:8 and Psalms 34:15 - and so many more ancient passages. We are obsessed with justice. The word for justice, tzedek, appears no fewer than 118 times in the Hebrew Bible. Click here to see over 4,000 usages of the term "justice" in the Sefaria database of Jewish sources.

We won't accept a society where bad presidents happen to good people. We are obsessed with getting it right. We are maniacal for justice - and we're seeing it again this week with the January 6 investigation. That's the Jewish Thing.

Any nation can have kings and emperors. We have them too, but we also have prophets. Yes, we have our share of corrupt politicians, including two Israeli former prime ministers who are currently suing each other for slander in one of the most absurd trials of all time. We've had Olmert, who went to jail, and Bibi, who might, and King Ahab, who robbed a poor man of his livelihood and his life. We had a whole slew of corrupt Hasmonean rulers. But we also had Jeremiah. We had Nathan. We had Spinoza and Kafka and Reb Nachman. We are the people of Mike Wallace and Philip Roth and Arthur Miller and Boris Pasternak. We are the people of Carl Bernstein, along with a slew of great journalists and other truth tellers, and at least in H.R. Haldeman's estimation, we are the people of "Deep Throat" too.

Yes, it’s nice to know that, to Richard Nixon, Jews were a “thing.” We are "thing" that stands up to corruption. We are a “thing” that believes in an old fashioned concept called integrity and honesty. We have a sense of shame. We speak truth to power. Even when there are political differences, how could a Jew not admire someone who stands up to power even at the risk of their political future. That happened so often in Watergate - it has rarely happened after January 6. Our "thing" is why he feared us - and why extremists, liars and cheats continue to today.

Fifty years later, Nixon and Deep Throat and many of the other key players are gone. Nixon never went to jail but neither did he get away with it. Meanwhile, the Jewish Thing lives on and on.

May it - and we - continue to spread the light of justice throughout the world.

Have a good Shabbat!

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

Menorah poster below from the Jews Allied for Social Justice Facebook page

Sunday, February 16, 2020

The Moses Primary (Times of Israel)

The Moses Primary

Which Democratic presidential hopeful would the Torah pick to run against Trump? The one with money...and the one no money

With the primary season upon us, people naturally are asking who among the Democrats running the Torah would pick to contest Trump for the presidency. Well, in this week’s portion of Yitro, Moses makes his choice. And it’s…. (drumroll, please)…well, everyone.

You see, Moses’ father in law Jethro (not the guy from “Beverly Hillbillies”) suggests to Moses that he delegate some of his leadership responsibilities, so that he won’t continue to be overwhelmed by the many cases being brought to him by the rank and file. The criteria they establish for choosing these new leaders is illustrative. If you take a look at this page of commentaries from the portion, you will see that one of the qualifiers is that the nominees be “capable people,” (“Anshei Hayil,” in Hebrew).

What does that expression mean?

Well, pick a commentator and you get a current candidate. Rashi says, “Rich men,” who are beholden to no one. He would clearly be a Bloomberg supporter. Rashbam focuses on the quality of fearlessness, one we can certainly ascribe to Joe Biden, who has never backed down from a fight. Ibn Ezra looks for physical endurance – think of Klobuchar in that blizzard. Nachmanides is looking for wisdom and honesty, which frankly, means he is possibly thinking about writing in Larry David, but these qualities could define any number of candidates, including Buttigieg, whose birth chart reveals that he is “wise beyond his years.” And then there’s the next line in the Torah, the next qualification, “who spurns ill-gotten gain,” which Ibn Ezra immediately defines in one word: “money.” So he would be the Sanders or Warren delegate.

All of which goes to show us that political eligibility is in the eye of the beholder. And Moses will probably wait until at least Super Tuesday before deciding.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Shabbat-O-Gram for January 29 - The Moses Caucus and the Old Jewish Guy

Shabbat Shalom

Join us tonight as we welcome Shulem Deen, who will speak about his riveting and heartbreaking book, National Jewish Book Award winner, "All Who Go Do Not Return."

Katie Kaplan will be co-leading the service with me tonight at 7:30, in Cantor Fishman's absence.

Tomorrow we will discuss the portion Yitro and the Ten Commandments, with some of our Hebrew School students joining us, in another of our successful "Shabbat School" weekends.

If you missed my photo essays from Israel last week, they've been revised and are now both featured on the Times of Israel site: Jerusalem After Dark and The Scribbles on the Wall. Check them both out (and if you like 'em, share 'em!). You'll get a real feel for what I experienced on my recent visit to Israel.

Speaking of visits... our website for this summer's Jewish Heritage Tour of Central Europe is now live and we are taking reservations. Click here to check out the itinerary and other details. You know, even the Pope will be joining us...sort of. He'll be in Krakow (and Auschwitz) about a week after our visit this summer. I've heard from more than enough people to warrant moving forward, so now is the time to put down deposits. Please know that if the trip is cancelled because of low registration, the deposits will be refunded in full. (If the trip is a "go" and you pull out for other reasons, the cancellation policy is explained on the site). We are exploring air options - and there are several good ones - but flights should not be booked until we are 100% good to go. So now is the time to sign up - and tell your friends. Reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. As a little teaser, take this virtual journey of the brand new Polin Museum in Warsaw, which we'll be visiting. The museum traces the fascinating history of Polish Jewry.

Relationships

This Sunday, our temple leadership will be engaged in a retreat about engagement; our focus will be on nurturing relationships. We've been reading Ron Wolfson's thought provoking book, "Relational Judaism," and we'll be discussing its treasure trove of ideas, all with the goal of weaving deeper connections between one another, and between ourselves and our families, community, our Jewish traditions and God.

Check out this article, which lays out Wolfson's thesis in great detail.

Ultimately, in order to grow our community - and to ensure our own spiritual growth - we need to encounter one another with honesty, selfless love and humility. At a time when surveys show that younger people leaving religion in droves (see chart below), we need to demonstrate to them - and to everyone - how indispensable it can be to develop deep connections with your religious community.

It is my hope that as we all move forward, we will work together to develop relationships that can in turn foster the qualities of menschlichkeit revealed in this chart below (click here for a clear version of it).

The Progeny Page

Our TBE family includes some remarkable young people doing some remarkable things. I highlight two of them today:

Josh Pickel, one of our teens, is on his way to movie immortality - and we can help him get there! Part of his new zombie film, "E-19 Virus" was actually filmed at Beth El (no actual viruses were harmed in the making of this movie) and if you click hereand check the end of the trailer, you will see that Steve Lander, TBE and I are mentioned! (I'd like to thank the Academy...). You can order tickets to the one-night-only Connecticut premiere on Feb. 18. The movie is also being shown at AMC Theaters in Los Angeles & Sacramento. Los Angeles is "SOLD OUT" and Sacramento is close to being sold out, and Connecticut is on the way. If the film sells out in all 3 locations, AMC will add 6 additional theaters nationwide. If those 6 theaters sell out then they will add 12 additional and if that sells out it GOES NATIONWIDE to all AMC Theaters. So here's our chance to help lift Josh to stardom.

Alex Weinberg, a TBE college student, sends a more sobering request. Here it is, below:

"My name is Alex Weinberg and last year I had the privilege of studying in Israel at Yeshivat Maale Gilboa. While I have begun my freshman year in college, my Israeli friends have gone on to join the army, risking their lives for the Jewish State. One friend, Eldar, is currently in the Nachal brigade, 50th Battalion, 9th Company. He and the rest of his unit are raising money to buy socks, coats, and other essentials. If you would like to take part in this fundraising, please be in touch with him atEldar27p@gmail.com."

Thank you to Alex, for letting us know about this worthy cause.

The Moses Caucus and the Old Jewish Guy

So, with the caucus and primary season at last upon us, we naturally are asking, who would the Torah pick for President? Well, in fact, in this week's portion Moses makes his choice. And it's.... (drumroll, please)...Trump! Oh, and Sanders! Oh, and everyone in between....

We actually discussed this at our "Hot Topics for Cold Months" class last Tuesday, which drew a large and extremely diverse group of learners, something that I really appreciated.

In this week's portion, Moses' father in law Yitro (Jethro, but not the guy from the Beverly Hillbillies) suggests to Moses that he delegate some of his leadership responsibilities, so that he won't continue to be overwhelmed by the many cases being brought to him by the rank and file. The criteria they establish for choosing these new leaders is illustrative. If you take a look at this page of commentaries from the portion, you will see that one of the qualifiers is that the nominees be "capable men," ("Anshei Hayil," in Hebrew). What does that expression mean?

Well, pick a commentator and you get a current candidate. Rashi says, "Rich men," who are beholden to no one. He would clearly be a Trump or Bloomberg supporter. Rashbam focuses on the quality of fearlessness. Ibn Ezra looks for physical endurance, and one might say that Hillary has been around the political bock enough times to qualify. Nachmanides is looking for wisdom and honesty, which frankly, means he is possibly thinking about writing in Larry David. But then there's the next line in the Torah, the next qualification, "who spurns ill gotten gain," which Ibn Ezra immediately defines in one word: "money." So he would be the Sanders delegate.

All of which goes to show us that political eligibility is in the eye of the beholder. We'll see how the people of Iowa choose on Monday.

Two other points to make:

1) The Torah is very committed to the idea that our leaders should be incorruptibly independent, owing nothing to anyone. Peruse our packet from the Hot Topics classand you will see that the Talmud - and the Reform and Conservative movements - come down squarely Campaign Finance Reform and against the "Citizens United" decision. See the Rabbinical Assembly's resolution.

2) A word about the Old Jewish Guy. I may or may not support Bernie Sanders politically, but I LOVE the two unspoken messages coming out of his campaign: IT'S OK TO BE JEWISH AND IT'S COOL TO BE OLD.

Sanders is overtly Jewish in precisely the opposite way Joe Lieberman was. His Jewishness pours forth in an ethnic tribal sense, and Lieberman's was expressed in terms of religious observance. Both are legitimate. The fact that Jewish identity been not been seen as a political detriment in either case is both highly significant - and profoundly reassuring. They love us! They really love us!

But it's the "old" part - that's the real revelation. I'm not just talking about the fact that he is older - so was Ronald Reagan and so are other current candidates - or that if elected he would become the oldest president. What's telling is that he doesn't feel a need to hide it and in fact seems very comfortable beneath his Ben Gurion bushel of gray. And despite his visible senior-ness, or maybe even because of that, he is a rock star on campuses and is adored in almost Obama-like fashion by millennials and younger siblings.

This is really important, I think, and a reversion to an era long before old people were derided as irrelevant, out of touch, or worse (anyone recall "Where's the Beef?" - and John McCain wandering about the debate stage?), back to a time when the Torah could state, "Rise before the aged," and the mitzvah of honoring the elderly drew more than lip service at retirement dinners.

I've seen it in the rabbinate and so many other professions, where wisdom and experience have been cast aside as congregations and corporations have sought to grow ever younger. Even when I was a young rabbi, reaping the benefits of these distorted priorities, I questioned the logic of idolizing youth. As I've grown and grayed, I've seen a dismaying acceleration of this trend, to the point where, from what I hear, prestigious synagogues that once waited for candidates to turn 50 before even considering them for top rabbinic positions, now immediately filter out those who dwell in the valley of the shadow of 38.

But now we've ushered in the era of grandpa-chic, and Bernie is a rock star on campus. Maybe the kids themselves are telling us to "chill" about aging. It's not unusual for young people to emulate the ways of their grandparents' generation - hence the return to electric typewriters, vinyl and Brooklyn. I also understand that there may well be an unfair double standard when it comes to women. But for an Old Jewish Guy to be rockin' like Bernie is, it's got to be reassuring for people of all ages and hairy hues.

And kids, GET OFF MY LAWN!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman