What the fast of Gedaliah teaches us about today’s America

Today Jewish people observe the Fast of Gedaliah.

The fast commemorates a political murder committed by a Jew against a Jewish leader more than 2500 Years ago.

Gedaliah son of Ahikam, was appointed the governor of Judah after the sacking of the first temple and the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah.

Gedaliah was considered a righteous man, a well deserving leader who strove for his people’s wellbeing, during a tumultuous time, navigating a complicated political situation where he had to make sure to do his best to serve the interest of his people, while making sure not to anger the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, the “destroyer of nations”, who had already destroyed Judah, and was the ruler of the empire controlling the region.

Gedaliah put great effort into gathering the remnants of the Jewish refugees who were displaced by the sacking of the temple and exemplified great leadership by managing to inspire enough of the remnants of his people to return to Judah and gradually putting in motion the challenging process of rebuilding.

And yet, some people were displease with Gedaliah being the governor.

Ishmael son of Nethaniah was angry at the fact that Gedaliah was in charge. Ishmael was a captain in the dispersed and vanquished Jewish military. He had blood ties to the deposed Royal family. Ishmael did not look well upon the rule of Gedaliah. Whether he was motivated by a fanatical refusal for any form of cooperation with the ruling Babylonian empire, or by the simple motivation of believing himself to be the one who should be in power he conspired to murder Gedaliah. The fact that he was secretly sponsored by the ruler of a neighboring nation, the kingdom of Ammon, who had their own interests in the intrigue, indicates that Ishmael was mostly concerned about his own interests, and mostly he was concerned about his own wounded ego, fuming at not being the ruler himself.

Interestingly enough, the plot was exposed beforehand; Yohanan son of Kareah, learned of the plot, and tried to warn Gedaliah of the danger, and asked permission to murder the would-be assassin himself. But Gedaliah would have nothing of the sort. He did not believe nor condone murder, preemptive or otherwise, and furthermore, he did not believe that the warning was true. Naively, he could not imagine the malevolent inclinations driving Ishmael to commit such an atrocity.

And yet, reality proved Gedaliah wrong. Ishmael did indeed nurture malicious intent towards him.

“On the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah … of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and ten men with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam …with the sword and killed him, because the king of Babylon had appointed him governor in the land”

Ishmael committed this atrocity while his victim was in the midst of a feast, making the murder a despicable act of treachery. And if all of this was not enough of a crime, Ishmael added to it with the wanton slaughter of the Judeans who were with Gedaliah, the Babylonians who were with him, and then proceeded to top it all off with the slaughter of a random group of mourners who happened upon the scene shortly after the initial bloodbath.

In the aftermath of this hateful crime, the autonomy enjoyed by the Jewish survivors of the destruction of the First Temple was ended, as the remnants fled the land in fear of possible reprisals by Babylonian authorities for this act of rebellious treachery. The Nation had fallen.

It is a curious thing to fast in memory of a murder which is more than 2500 years old.

Neither drinking nor eating is allowed till the stars come out after nightfall.

Why is it so important to remember a crime that happened so long ago?

The bones of both the victims, and the criminals have long since been reduced to sand. And yet across the world Jews bother themselves by this act of lamentation. Grieving for an act of hatred long forgotten by most.

I believe that the reason we still commemorate this atrocity, is so that we do not forget its lessons.

To drive home the magnitude of evil ends stemming from a poisonous Anger, an unwillingness to accept the rule of another, for the common good. An unwillingness which while clothed in a pretense of virtuousness, is actually driven by a self-serving selfishness. This self-justification, this faux virtuousness, this manufactured feeling of righteousness can give one the motivation and the excuse (in his own eyes) to commit the gravest of betrayals.

The Jewish sages taught that the slaughter of a righteous man is equivalent to the destruction of the house of god. Or in today’s perspective, one could say to the destruction of the nation.

How is this timeless lesson reflected in today’s day and age? Though we are past the dusk of the age of kings, government and rulers are yet a fact of life. We have done our best to separate and balance the powers of government to different branches, and different people so as to limit the power of any one man of faction, but the rule of the few over the many is still very much a fact of life in a civilized, organized, law abiding society.

One major and fundamental new facet of life, however, is that today we all have a stake in our rulers. We who are fortunate enough to live in the USA, live in a federal republic and a representative democracy. Where as a matter of course, we all regularly get to elect our officials. And while as a direct result of the fact that we all have a stake, none of us have a say that is very big, we still All have a say. We still get to vote our officials into and out of office.

Now granted, this system is not perfect. Some people can exert more influence than others, spending money and time to drive public opinion in one direction or the another. And naturally the farther the governance form the local level, the less power one has to exert on it. The founding fathers understood this, and this is why they strove to limit the power of the federal government and as much as possible empower local government to affect our lives, and even that, to the minimal necessary level; Since we have founded this nation in order to serve the people, in order to protect their inalienable rights, (and though doubtless we might have fallen short time and again), we keep on moving forward, and improving.

That our system is imperfect does not by any means mean that it is without merit. The search for perfection is a process that is recursive, every time we improve something just a little bit more, we find ever more fine issues to be improved.

I would challenge anyone to look within himself and consider whether it is any different within your own life. Were you born perfect? Did you never make mistakes? Did you never think and act in ways you now consider wrong?

Life and progress is a continuous process of correction and self-improvement. And furthermore, I would posit my suspicion that no system, perfect as it might be, can compensate for the virtue, or lack thereof of its constituting elements. Thus I posit that it is our duty as citizens to prioritize the improvement of our own virtue, to evolve and cultivate our understanding, our knowledge, our mores, and our values, prior to attempting to improve “the system”.

A fundamental element of the way we have built this Nation is that every 4 years we get to elect a new ruler, a new president. And the most important aspect of that element, is that every 4 years we go and elect a president again. A president might be elected twice, but he will not continue his presidency if the people do not reelect him. Even in the midst of world war 2 we held an election where the people voted their trust in the president’s leadership.

Whatever outward influence people and organizations with outsized means can wield, they have to use it in order to influence us, the voters, the citizens of this nation. We ultimately hold the power to choose our officials, and if we do not like who we chose, then we need only to choose another 4 years later.

Granted, since all citizens get a vote, then obviously every election many citizens do not get their way. And they have to consent to being ruled by the official that was elected by their fellow citizens. And yet every 4 years we get to repeat the process. If one feels that the president who was elected is not the right president then all one has to do is to make this case to his fellow Americans so that the next time around(if he makes a compelling case), they vote the way he thinks is best.

The smooth transfer of power from one party to the other every election is one of the foundational aspects that make this system work well. You can’t always have your way, but when you’re able to convince enough of your citizens that your way is better then you will have the president you want. And then it will be the turn of your fellow Americans who disagree with you to wait patiently until they in turn, will make a compelling enough case to have their preferred candidate elected.

This acceptance of the ruler is exactly what Ishmael refused to do.

And here we come full circle; When members of our nation, driven by anger, by resentment or zeal allow themselves to refuse to accept the results of the votes of their fellow Americans the nation crumbles.

In 2016 President Trump was voted into office. Many people did not want him to win the vote, many people did. The crucial point is that he won. The people elected him.

The trouble started when after the election vast swaths of our nation refused to accept the results of the election. This pernicious Anti-democratic spirit first expressed itself in the widespread protest marches, and public wailings of upset supporters of Hillary. Which while legal, were indicative of a deep-seated problem that contains the seeds of destruction of our nation.

This refusal to accept the democratic results of the elections, quickly evolved into many different instances of attempts to bring down the president and undo the will of the people which were not legal. Starting from illegal spying and illegal entrapment of members of the Presidents cabinet, conducted by members of our intelligence apparatus, and progressing to years of false propaganda driven by displeased members of the media, culminating in an impeachment attempt by members of our Congress.

This refusal to accept the Democratic results of an election in the United states and attempts to bring the president down, ‘assassinate him’ politically are unprecedented. And they are dangerous. Those who want to bring down the president they did not want, would do well to note that their example might inspire some on the other side to try and return the favor when the pendulum swings the other way and a Democrat gets elected into office.

The system works as long as we agree that we resolve our differences in the ballot box, and accept the verdict of our fellow Americans, till that time 4 years later, when we can reverse it, in that same ballot box.

There is yet to have been an attempt on the president’s life. And yet if it happens, I’m sorry to say I would not be surprised, this poisonous refusal to accept our leader is beyond anything in living memory. When people self-justify their position, they allow themselves all manner of evil behaviour. Pretending that the ends justify the means — This is false. The way you do something matters. There are ways that are beyond redemption. Moreover dark deeds tend to lead to dark ends, whatever the false promise of false prophets.

I hope that this day of fasting will help remind some of us of the danger of taking the law into our own hands. Of tearing apart the very basis or our nation. Of refusing to accept our duly elected leader, and of taking treacherous action to bring him down because you did not want him in office.

2500 years ago, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, made that mistake, and the nation of Israel crumbled. Let us hope that today’s American’s will have learned that lesson, and that the worthy Nation of the United states of America, will stand for 2500 years more.