Donald Trump doesn't want to be pigeonholed. He is the ultimate gamesman and poker player. He won't reveal his position until he has to. He has a daughter converted to kosher Orthodox Judaism. I am not very concerned about the positions of candidates on Israel because I expect very little of them. Every US president since Israel has been an independent nation has sought to crown himself with the glory of making peace in the Middle East, and each has been a failure. I would just love to see an American leader say he or she is not better than any of those other guys who failed and hence they won't waste the time, energy and political capital on it, and anyway it should be the problem of the parties to the conflict. But I don't expect it to happen.
In the second chapter of Esther we are told, twice for emphasis, that Esther refrained from divulging her national origin to anyone in the palace. The Sages refer to this silence as reflecting on Esther's modesty. We can unanimously agree that no one is ever going to accuse the Donald of modesty. But I want to learn another lesson from Trump in the context of Esther.
At the moment I can't recall where I saw it, but the divine behind-the-scenes message to be gathered from Esther's silence was that the Jews had to pray with everything they had because they were not aware that they had a friend in the castle. Moshe Feiglin has recently said something along similar lines to the effect that he was not very concerned about the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election. What the Jews do in Eretz Yisrael, and not what the Americans do across the sea, is what is really important.
4 comments:
'What the Jews do in Eretz Yisrael, and not what the Americans do across the sea, is what is really important'
You said it well, That is it.
Someone who thinks like that needs to lead Israel.
Who needs to lean on a rotting, tottering, undependable stick when the Creator of the Universe is watching over those in Israel who look to Him alone, especially when unlike the Donald, He never sleeps or slumbers!
Absolutely right. Rely only on Hashem! That is what HE demands of us. Relying on princes and men never work and is against everything that is Torah!
It is exactly what I have been saying for years........when we will have the right leader(s) in Israel, it won't matter who sits in the White House.
I'm still waiting.
Goyish, thanks for the post. Well said.
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