I guess we should have seen this coming; the number of Covid cases has risen sharply again in the US. One of the most infuriating things about this latest surge is how preventable it was. Our country was never able to bring the vaccination rate above ~50% - nowhere near the 70-80% needed to possibly achieve herd immunity - and so this awful pandemic wears on. I think a major hurdle that we cannot seem to overcome is a pervasive mistrust of government. It isn’t *every* American, or all the time, but it’s probably been grafted onto the American psyche since we broke away from British rule. It hasn't improved much over the centuries; take, for example, Ronald Reagan's famous quote about the nine scariest words in the English language being, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." I don't know that I have any great solutions to this problem in my back pocket, but I definitely appreciate how the Torah proposes at least ONE way that our authority figures can try to earn our trust. Lord knows, they (and we) need all the help they can get...
This week's
parashah, Shoftim, includes some best practices for selecting a monarch. Interestingly, choosing an earthly leader is not a
mitzvah, a commandment, or even something the Torah encourages. It is more like an acquiescence to the human desire to have a regent: "If, after you have entered the land that Adonai, your God, has assigned to you..., you decide, 'I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,' you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by Adonai, your God." (Deut. 17:1-15). The Torah goes on to say, if you *must* have a royal ruler, then here are the rules s/he must follow: They can't amass too much wealth, keep too large a harem of wives, or stockpile tons of weapons (foreshadowing postscript: "try as they might..."). So there are several restrictions and boundaries for said regent, but interestingly, the text only commands *one* obligation, something our new ruler MUST do. We read: "When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall write a copy of this Teaching (the Torah) for himself... Let it remain with him and let him read from it every day of his life, so that he may learn to fear Adonai, his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Torah, as well as these laws." (v. 18-19)
I find it fascinating that it isn't enough to keep a copy of the Torah, but *each* new leader must physically write (though pretty quickly they added a loophole that it could be commissioned instead) her/his own copy... and then lug it around everywhere they go! Talk about a physical reminder of the 'burden' of leadership... The Torah also greatly values humility, suggesting that the higher your office, the more humility you'll need... and maybe the increase should be exponential! The emphasis is also squarely placed on service, on the idea that our leaders must never forget that they serve the people, and their first priority has to be the good of the broader population. If nothing else, our regents - then and now - desperately need to learn, repeat, and commit to memory the Golden Rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Lev. 19:18)
Sadly, the Biblical kings and queens more often proved how right the Torah text was to be concerned. They mainly served their own interests, and went out of their way to hoard wealth, power, and weaponry. Sounds painfully familiar, doesn't it? Yet to this day, leaders remain essential, especially when we need a centralized authority to help *everyone* survive and rebuild after a catastrophe or a pandemic. Millennia ago, it was hard to impress upon someone that they would be given tons of power... yet would remain beholden to their constituents. Finding that complicated balance hasn't gotten any easier. But perhaps encouraging our leaders to carry around constant reminders of their obligations could be a good start? And not just a small booklet to keep stashed at the bottom of a bag, but something more like a massive scroll, impossible to ignore. It wouldn't solve the whole problem of people not trusting their own governments, but maybe it would be a start? Next time there's a major gathering of world leaders, remind me to send them a few quills and a TON of parchment paper...
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