OpEd: Democrats should do tshuvah

LOS ANGELES – It has always been accepted that this nation was founded on a code of Judeo-Christian ethics and that our founding fathers recognized the importance of spiritual practices as a basis for moral behavior. But it sadly seems that the current leadership of the Democratic Party needs a reminder in basic ethical behavior. They especially need a reminder about the ancient concept of “tshuvah”, a form of reconciliation that Jews are obligated to perform when committing sins against other people (and that all people should perform on a regular basis after hurting another).

“Tshuvah”, which means return or reconciliation, is to take place after you hurt someone else, either accidentally or purposefully. It is more than just apologizing to someone, although it includes that as well. If we have hurt someone, we are to follow a few basic steps. A: Recognize what we have done and apologize. B: Fix the hurt that we caused. C: Commit to not do the same error again. And D: When the opportunity comes around, to not make the same mistake. More than just apologizing, this process (which every Jew is to go through especially during the holidays of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur) is based in action even more than words. Like the 9^th of the 12 steps of Alcoholic Anonymous, not only apologies but amends must be made. It doesn’t matter if someone is religious or not, the reality is that this process of making amends ends up creating a healthier world of better relationships. It not only helps the person who was hurt, but it creates a healing and balance in the soul of the person who makes the amends.

Sadly, our Democratic leadership has chosen to entirely ignore this process in favor of hypocrisy and arrogance.

Although gossip is considered one of the greatest possible sins by almost every religion in the world, Democratic leadership, in conjunction with much of the media, has had no issue gossiping about President Trump/Russian collusion for almost two years. They have repeatedly emphasized how Robert Mueller’s investigation would verify Mr. Trump’s guilt. After interviewing thousands of people and spending over 25 million dollars, Mr. Mueller established conclusively that there was no collusion between President Trump and Russia. Whether based on tshuvah or the 9th step, media outlets and Democratic Leadership who gossiped about the President have an ethical and religious obligation to apologize, to commit to not gossip again, and to try to live more honestly and without making the same mistake again.

But instead, most of the Democratic leadership and media have done the exact opposite. They have not recognized publicly that they were wrong to condemn the President. They have not apologized, and they certainly have not made amends. Rather, they have in many cases committed themselves even further to continue with their gossip and expressing hatred.

If this were the only case of Democratic leadership succumbing to their worst instincts and not making amends for wrongs they have made, it would still be inexcusable, but at least it would be understandable. Many of them are still upset about the close 2016 Presidential race, or are unable to separate themselves from their personal feelings about the President, or Conservative values.

But this pattern of hypocrisy and arrogance is not an isolated incident.

It can be found throughout the relationship between Democratic leadership and Israel/Jews since the 2018 election. Since its inception in 1948, America, and especially the Democratic party has been allied with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. But with the new media popularity of Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Omar; the leadership of the Democratic party has surrendered their values in favor of making these three freshmen representatives happy. Although all three have clearly and repeatedly demonstrated anti-Semitic behavior, especially Omar, the Democratic leadership has turned over the persona of the party to them in hopes of acquiring a younger base of voters.

These three women have defined Israel as “evil” and an “apartheid regime”, compared Gaza terrorists to civil rights activists, and idolized Louis Farrakhan, one of the most vocal and horrific anti-Semites of the last forty years. And yet, instead of apologizing for their behavior and making it clear that their words and actions are not representative of the traditional values of the Democratic party, the leadership has done the exact opposite. Instead of making amends, they have embraced these freshmen, even putting the most vocally anti-Semitic Omar on the House Committee on Foreign Relations. Speaker Pelosi poses proudly with them on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and Senator Schumer pulled back support of an anti-BDS bill in January that would have supported Israel as a result of their pressure. When a bill was proposed to condemn anti-Semitism and the hatred espoused by especially Omar, the bill was watered down to include all hatred without taking Omar to task personally.

It is not only the actions that are sad, but even sadder is how the Democratic leaders, who have traditionally been good people even in disagreements, have cowered and surrendered to the worst of their instincts. Rather than making amends for the hatred of their colleagues, or being honest in saying that this anti-Semitic attitude is now the real position of the current Democratic party, the leadership continues with an astounding amount of hypocrisy.

Nancy Pelosi half apologized for Omar’s vicious anti-Semitic spewing, but also said that Omar’s comments were not really anti-Semitic. Her hubris is amazing, and for her to even begin to define for Jews what is or is not anti-Semitism demonstrates an arrogance that is astounding. But she still wants to court the Jewish vote and donors, and so on Tuesday morning she spoke before the AIPAC conference (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). There, she spent the majority of her time talking about how her family and friends have an old relationship with Jews, and how she supports Israel fully. Her words sounded like a Archie Bunker saying that he is not racist because he knows black people. In the same way, her words are hollow, and echo the sounds of many racists and anti-Semites of the past who rationalize their behavior by saying that they have Jewish friends. While she boldly talked about her father knowing some Yiddish, she consciously avoided discussing any of the three freshmen representatives’ anti-Semitism.

Senator Schumer, who has long called himself the “guardian of Israel”, is in many ways an even sadder case of hypocrisy. He not only backed off the anti-BDS bill proposed by Senator Rubio, but has refused to take these Congressional anti-Semites to task and hold them responsible for their words. A man who is proud of his Jewish knowledge and education, he, more than almost any other politician knows what needs to be done as tshuvah for the anti-Semitic hatred coming from the Democratic party. Speaking at AIPAC on Monday, he had an opportunity to publicly rebuke Omar and company. Instead, he dealt with the anti-Semitism for a total of two sentences, and the most he could say was “when someone says…” Although he stated that we need to “call out” anti-Semites, he refused to do so himself. He spent minutes speaking about the horrible BDS movement and how it needs to be stopped, but he failed to mention that he personally led the Democratic bloc in January that stopped the anti-BDS legislation proposed by Senator Marco Rubio from coming to a Senate vote.

As much or more than anyone, Senator Schumer has betrayed his own values, himself, and his Jewish ancestors with his hypocrisy. Senator, you have been a great man and a true model of a tzaddik (righteous man) in many ways for many years. I implore you and pray that you find yourself and redeem your own soul by coming back to the teachings you know so well, standing up for the values that are truly in your heart, and taking a clear stand against the anti-Semites in the Democratic party. Please…for the sake of the world and for the benefit of your own soul.

But the hypocrisy is not only visible here. In the past, Presidential candidates have always come to AIPAC in order to express their views about Israel in a forum that is truly bi-partisan, and if anything, has leaned to the left politically. But this year, not a single Presidential candidate came to speak before AIPAC. They so want to make the bigoted freshmen trio of Omar, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez happy that not one of them was willing to speak before a Jewish audience. (And yet, ironically the majority of Jews still vote Democratic…even though their values and importance are ignored and even disrespected by Democratic leaders.) We can be assured that they will reach out to the “Jewish vote” and donations, but not one of them wanted to take a stand and speak publicly. Most hypocritically and disgustingly, Kamala Harris refused to come speak at AIPAC, but took a public photo of herself with AIPAC representatives at her office and proudly tweeted it. Although she refused to actually speak at AIPAC, she made it a point to tweet a posed photo with the intention to make her seem like a supporter of Israel to potential Jewish donors.

In all of these cases, each of these leaders has done hurt to not only every American Jew, but to the entire nation. Anti-Semitism can never be tolerated in any form, and a hatred for Israel is simply the 21^st century version of ancient anti-Semitism. (Since the Holocaust, it is less politically correct to express anti-Semitism as hatred for Jews, and has morphed into anti-Israel behavior as a way of expressing anti-Semitic bigotry.) The words of the freshmen representatives should have already been condemned. Pelosi, the Presidential candidates, and especially Senator Schumer all realize that America needs the democracy of Israel nearly as much as Israel needs American support; and they are all conscious about how disgusting anti-Semitism is. Yet not one of these Democratic party leaders has even apologized for what the party has been doing, how their colleagues are acting, or even started to make amends for the vitriol that has been coming from the party towards Jews and Israel.

Perhaps there is another biblical teaching besides that of making amends and tshuvah that Democratic leadership needs to embrace. Throughout the Bible we hear the term “Hineni”. It means “I am present” or “Here I am”. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses…the list of Sages who respond with this statement goes on and on. Often it is prefaced by God asking the question “Where are you?” (Ayecha?) Each time a leader is tested by circumstances or by God, these leaders say “Hineni, I am Present!”.

I contend that every human being, and especially our leaders, are asked by Life and God every moment, “Where are you?” And the people we remember as having made a real difference in the world, the people who made the world a more holy and healthy place, were the leaders who had the courage, willingness, and ability to say “Here I am!”

My prayer for our Democratic leaders, and for all of us, is that we look deeply and make amends…make tshuvah…for those hurts we have caused, especially through bigotry and hatred. May we all redeem ourselves and each other through this process, and may we all proudly stand with courage and awareness as we fight anti-Semitism, hatred, and hypocrisy by being fully present.
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Rabbi Michael Barclay is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Ner Simcha in Westlake Village, CA (www.NerSimcha.org), and the author of “Sacred Relationships: Biblical Wisdom for Deepening Our Lives Together” (Liturgical Press).