Are you as exhausted from talking about politics as I am? Well, that isn’t exactly right. Let me rephrase: are you as exhausted from talking about these campaigns as I am? Here we are, still over 60 days away from Election Day, and it seems that we are attacked from every angle with advertisements, lawn signs, news alerts, and more, all centering around the candidates who are declaring their intent to run our country. And yet, with all this noise, I can’t help but notice there has been shockingly little attention given to some of the most critical issues facing our country.
How are we going to fight the hunger and homelessness that are unconscionable for “the greatest country in the world”? What are we doing about the devastating impact of social media on young people and the meager and outdated laws we have to try to legislate safe practices online?
What will we do about an economy that continues to leave more and more people struggling to make ends meet, all while corporations price gouge anywhere they can get away with it? Sure, stump speeches at rallies throw around nice sound bites and pleasant tag lines, but simply putting so much of our time and attention into campaigning for a full year means the focus is pulled away from the actual work of governance.
When we think about the Torah’s frequent reminders for us not to get distracted by idol worship, we very often think about the risks of practicing another religion. But in our modern day, that isn’t what we should worry about most. Instead, the “idolatry” of today is far more likely to come in the form of the things we prioritize over our spiritual wholeness.
Idolatry involves prioritizing financial gain over human decency, indulging in the political circus at the expense of the widows and orphans who need our attention, and believing that one individual’s role in the government is bigger than our collective power and responsibility to take ownership of how we function as a nation.
We are just a few weeks away from reading the sacred words in our text, “Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof,” “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” The word justice is repeated as if shouting at us: Don’t get distracted. Don’t let the essential work of being a holy people get swept away in the minutia of daily life.
Throughout Jewish tradition, we are reminded that “Dinah de Malchuta Dina,” meaning the law of the land, is the law. This phrase invokes us to remember that we are obligated to obey the laws of the land where we find ourselves and that our Jewish identity does not preclude us but obligates us to the upkeep of the nations in which we live.
In that sense, Judaism and American ideals are a perfect match for one another; both this people and this nation center our identities around justice, hope, and communal accountability. As American Jews today, it isn’t just that we should vote (we should), nor that we should engage in politics every four years. Rather, our role in this country is to constantly remind our fellow compatriots that we have a higher obligation and can’t afford to take our eye off the ball. For every minute we spend reading the news, we owe it to ourselves, our values, and our nation to spend at least that much time looking around and finding ways to make our neighbors better places.
This country is engaging in the sacred work of asking the question: Who do we want to be moving forward? This is as Jewish a question as we’re ever going to find. So let’s remember our holy obligation to always be in pursuit of justice, and refrain from chasing after the idols that cause us to go down the wrong path.
Austin Zoot is the Rabbi Educator at Valley Temple in Wyoming, Ohio.
