The Real Choice for Jews?  Faith or Politics – Not Both

Last month, Donald Trump's local campaign director of Jewish Outreach wrote an op-ed article in the Newton TAB titled "The Choice: Jewish Liberalism or the Jewish State."  With Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Torah) coming up, I would like to respond by saying the real choice for Jews is not between the Jewish state or Jewish leftism, or between the GOP and the Democrats. The real choice is between Torah Judaism and political tribalism. For the first 36 years of my life, I made the mistake of prioritizing the latter instead of the former. At least for the last 14 months, I have had the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to prioritize the former.

Simchat Torah is a Jewish Holiday that commemorates the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings and when we start reading the first Torah reading in the new annual Torah cycle.  Each Torah scroll is taken out of the Aron Kodesh (Holy Ark) and all the men carry the scrolls around the sanctuary in a series of seven hakafot (circuits).  On a personal level, I gave four D'Var Torahs at my local synagogue during the last year while we were in the process of hiring our new permanent rabbi and wrote a column for New Boston Post discussing my views of kingship in Judaism and in contemporary American civics.  In addition, I will be finished reading the Hertz Chumash (Torah Commentaries of Rabbi Joseph Hertz) this week and from there I will start reading the Soncino Chumash (Torah Commentaries of the Soncino Press).