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| Chicago Jewish News editor and publisher, Joseph Aaron |
What Joe Aaron said in that particular column is consistent with his constant barrage of anti Trump commentary. Almost all of his columns are dedicated to two themes: Bashing the President or bashing Israel’s Prime Mister Benjamin Netanyahu. Often those themes are intertwined or combined in the same column.
This time he is fascinated by the response of a Trump supporter to the Mueller report. Which he seemed to concede is becoming a more common approach to the President. From the column:
“Trump is a despicable human being, but he’s done great things for the country.”
Referring to him as a despicable human being.... didn’t bother him at all, because “he’s done great things for the country.”
… Jews who see themselves as the most religious among us, Jews who see themselves as the most Zionistic among us, give Trump a total pass on his behavior, on the kind of person he is…
That really bothers me. To me the very essence of Judaism, the very essence of the Torah, the very essence of Jewish teachings and traditions, is that G-d expects each of us to be a good person. That is our collective mission, to be a light unto the nations, to show the world how people are to be… The Torah teaches us to be a good, truthful, kind, compassionate human being, not a despicable one.
And yet so many Jews don’t seem to care about that. He has done things they like and so it’s cool if he’s despicable. To me it is despicable that so many Jews who hold themselves up as… the most righteous and Israel loving of us, find his behavior, which they themselves will admit violates every teaching of the Torah, is just fine because he has done great things for Israel.
This is where he gets things wrong. No Orthodox Jew thinks that a man who is so obviously despicable is cool. Or that he should be some sort of role model. Not a single Jewish leader that I am aware of has said anything of the kind. Joe is in fact right in suggesting that Trump might be a role model for everything we ought notto be.
We should indeed be seeking better role models to fill the highest office in the land. We definitely ought to consider it a high priority that the man we choose as our leader is one of high moral character. But character alone is not enough. He must bring to the table policies that benefit us. And by ‘us’ I don’t just mean Orthodox Jews – or even Jews in general. I mean all of us - the entire populace.
The question then becomes, what if the policies are exactly what we seek but the character is the opposite of what we should support? What should be prioritized? Given this contradiction - do we vote character or policy?
Joe seems to be saying that character matters more than policy. That might be true when polices are not that far apart. So that a candidate whose character is impeccable and whose polices are close – but not as good as the polices of the man with a despicable character, I would opt for the man with the better character.
But what if the policies of the morally superior candidate are seen as highly detrimental to our values? Whereas the candidate with a despicable character has policies seen as highly beneficial to our values?
I don’t think that the decision about who to support is even arguable. The clear choice is to vote for the candidate whose polices are seen as beneficial.
Of course a lot depends on one’s political perspective. That influences how one views those policies. Polices that are seen as beneficial by one political perspective might be seen as harmful by another political perspective.
With respect to the current President, Joe Aaron is clearly of the latter persuasion. Joe is an observant Jew who has an uncharacteristically liberal political perspective. It is therefore not surprising that he views the conservative policies of the President unfavorably. That makes it understandable why he focuses on the importance of character. In Joe’s view the President’s character is the not just the more important thing to consider. It is the only thing to consider since his policies aren’t all that supportable - if at all. By contrast, the character of just about all the announced Democrats running (so far) is superior to his
For reasons beyond the scope of this post, most Orthodox Jews are politically conservative. They see just about all the President’s policies in beneficial terms. (Modern Orthodox Jews are no exception, it appears. I'm told that the 80% of the predominantly Modern Orthodox community of Teaneck, New Jersey support the President.)
I therefore totally reject Joe’s premise. Orthodox Jews do not view the President’s character with favor at all. They are just as upset by it as he is. That they support a man with despicable character is not a moral failing. They simply prioritize substance over image. Policy over personality. Suggesting that Orthodox Jews have a moral failing because of that - is in and of itself despicable. Yes, image matters. But policy - when differences are substantial - matters more. Sometimes you just have to play the cards your dealt.