In the next week or so we will all be (hopefully) taking part in what has been called the most important election of our time. Hyperbole aside, this has certainly been the most interesting. And troubling.
What’s prompted me to write these words is the juxtaposition of Yom Kippur, (just coming up as these words are being written) which reminds us of how we’re supposed to treat one another, and an article I read in the paper today. A candidate for higher office has smeared another candidate. Shocking! Terrible! Unheard of! None of this is new. “Swiftboating” has become part of the political lexicon. It seems to have become acceptable to distort an individual’s background to win an election. It seems that politics as usual is defined by the ends justifying the means. So...what does this have to do with Yom Kippur?
The Rabbis of the Talmud taught us that to shame another person in public is akin to murder. Humiliating another robs that person of self - respect as well as the respect of his or her peers. It is a form, the Rabbis teach us, of spiritual murder, destroying the soul, if not the body. We are further taught that even if what is being said of a person has a measure of truth in it, we are forbidden to maliciously repeat it. It is gossip, in Hebrew LaShon ha Ra – evil speech. Yom Kippur reminds us that we are obligated to treat another as we would want to be treated. When we listen to, and repeat, slander (or an unkind truth) about another, we are violating this precept. And it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about our neighbor or a presidential candidate. Both are human beings. Both were created b’tzelem elohim – in the image of God.
So... when we go to the proverbial voting booth (or optical scanner or whatever) we need to remember that both John McCain and Barack Obama are people, just like you and me. Our vote must reflect a thought- out opinion based on the issues, not on spurious falsehoods disseminated through emails and impromptu press-conferences. The result of this election is too important for us to base our decision on lies and innuendo. After all – would you want your future to be determined by people who believe lies about you?
Peter Eckstein
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