Reflections on a Bar Mitzvah Service in 2017

At b’nai mitzvah services at my synagogue, Temple Emanuel, a member of the Board of Trustees serves as the representative of the congregational leadership.  Yesterday, I was that representative.  More than 500 families are members of the Temple, and I did not know the family of Saturday’s bar mitzvah boy.  So I arrived at the Temple not entirely knowing what to expect.

I left the service uplifted.  If young Nate is any indication of his generation of Jews, there is much to be optimistic about.  He was friendly, poised, well-prepared, full of good humor -- and wisdom.   

His Torah portion included the story of the Golden Calf, found at Exodus Chapter 32:  When Moses went up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Commandments from the Eternal, his brother Aaron was left in charge.  The people became restless waiting, and, being unsure as to whether Moses would return at all, asked Aaron to make a different god for them.  Aaron did so; he told people to give him their gold, from which he himself then fashioned into a Golden Calf as the god they sought.  When Moses returned, he was outraged and asked Aaron what had happened.  Aaron said, truthfully, that the people had urged him to get them a new god.  But then Aaron lied to Moses, saying that he “cast [the gold] into the fire, and there came out this calf,” thus seeking to limit his direct involvement in the treason.

Nate used this part of the story to discuss the importance of telling the truth, noting that Aaron had given Moses “fake news.”  And Nathan then went on to stress the importance of taking responsibility for one’s errors -- to admit mistakes, to admit falsehoods.  There are many lessons one could glean from Exodus 32.  The lesson Nate drew from it in 2017 could not have been more appropriate for this time.  The more young people there are like Nate, the better our future will be.

I was also struck by the B’nai Mitzvah Service readings, that Rabbi Stone and Cantor Boxt developed a few years ago for the Temple.  They are both timeless and timely.  I want to share some of them here:

One is the fuller text of the famous except from Ann Frank’s Diary, where she wrote, “in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”  Here is the entire passage, which all of us should find useful in these particularly troubled times:

            "It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out.  Yet I keep them, because in spite of  everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.  I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.  I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us, too. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.  In the meantime, I must uphold my ideals, for the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out."

Ann was around Nate’s age when she wrote these words, when our ideals were so much more under siege than they are today. 

Another passage from the Service:  “May we cultivate the art of doing wisely, bringing head, heart, and hand together to redeem our sacred and fragile world.”

And, finally, after the Aleinu, this poem from Judy Chicago:

            And then all that has divided us will merge.

            And then compassion will be wedded to power,

            And then softness will come into a world that’s harsh and unkind,

            And then both men and women will be gentle,

            And then both women and men will be strong,

            And then no person will be subject to another’s will,

            And then all will be rich and free and varied,

            And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many,

            And then all will share equally in the earth’s abundance,

            And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old,

            And then all will nourish the young,

            And then all will cherish life’s creatures,

            And then all will live in harmony with each other and the earth,

            And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.

May we all take these words to heart and may these words help lead us to action.  For as Dr. King instructed us, while the arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice, “Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

TRANSGENDER STUDENTS IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY: YOUR RIGHTS IN MCPS HAVE NOT CHANGED.

TRANSGENDER STUDENTS IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY: YOUR RIGHTS IN MCPS HAVE NOT CHANGED.

The shoe has now dropped. The Trump Administration has rescinded the May 2016 Department of Justice/Department of Education Guidance Letter, providing protection for transgender students. For the actual Trump Administration document, click here.

This is terrible for students across the country. But, for transgender students and their families here in Montgomery County, Maryland, it is vital to know that this action by the Trump Administration CHANGES NOTHING in Montgomery County. Beginning in 2015, the policy of the Montgomery County Public Schools (and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)) has been essentially identical to what the Obama Administration issued in May 2016. Click here for the MCPS policy, click here for the MSDE policy, and click here for the now-withdrawn federal guidelines.

President Trump's Press Secretary Sean Spicer said yesterday that “Mr. Trump believes that ‘this is a states’ rights issue and not one for the federal government.” Click here Mr. Spicer thus provided an unambiguous statement that local school boards are free to do what MCPS and the State of Maryland have done.

So, MCPS students, you are protected tomorrow, just as you were protected today.

Stephen Miller proves himself to be the Trump spokesperson who best channels Trump -- and Joe Scarborough will not be able to persuade Trump otherwise.

George W. Bush looked into the eyes of Donald Trump's buddy Vladimir Putin's eyes and saw a good soul.  John McCain looked into Putin's eyes and saw a "stone cold killer." 

This past weekend on television, I looked into Trump advisor and spokesperson Stephen Miller's eyes and saw Vladimir Putin. 

And I also saw Trump's mentor, Roy Cohn.  The Roy Cohn, who, at Miller's age, was Joe McCarthy's right-hand hatchet man, later became an amoral power broker in New York City.  So it is no surprise that Donald Trump (when also around the age Miller is now) sought out Cohn's help to navigate the intersection of business and politics in New York -- and it is no surprise that Cohn accepted Trump's request to be, in effect, Cohn's apprentice.   

So much for snark, although I think my point about Stephen Miller is well-taken.  

Yesterday, Shaun King of the New York Daily News wrote a scathing and accurate piece on  Stephen Miller. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/king-stephen-miller-latest-liar-bigot-team-trump-article-1.2971639  As King demonstrates, since middle school, when the young Stephen decided to reject all his non-white friends, Miller has been an unabashed right-wing bigot, and he has now parlayed his intensity into a important position in the Trump White House.  King's piece laid out the sordid history, which is now reflected in Miller's chilling, fascistic assertion that Trump "will not be questioned."
 Fortunately, King is not the only one pointing out the chilling implications of Miller’s rise.

In noting Miller's bizarre Sunday talk show performances last weekend, Joe Scarborough announced that "It is much worse than I ever thought"  (see first video linked here).  Very good, Joe.  Thanks for confirming the reality that should be plain to anyone paying attention.  Callum Borchers of the Washington Post writes that Scarborough now “is trying to use whatever influence he has over Donald Trump to change the president's mind about Stephen Miller."

Republican MSNBC host and supposed Trump whisperer Scarborough has been presenting himself as a person of influence, since Trump watches the MSNBC Morning Joe program and has, at times, been friendly to Scarborough.  I fear, however, that Scarborough's hope that he can be a positive influence on the President is unfounded. Trump is who he is. Indeed, by late Sunday morning, Trump tweeted  "Congratulations Stephen Miller- on representing me this morning on the various Sunday morning shows. Great job!"  In the mind of Donald Trump, a star has been born. 

Thus, I doubt that Scarborough will succeed in getting Trump to drop Miller. Increasingly, it is clear that Miller is precisely what Trump wants. As I snarkily noted at the beginning of this post, just look at Miller's face, which is reminiscent of Putin's. But more to the point, Miller is, like Roy Cohn, a forceful, lying, mean-spirited demagogue. Just about every Jewish parent's nightmare. Miller is also Trump's vision of a "winner."

Still, Scarborough tries to use the Trump display of portraits of President Andrew Jackson all over the White House to convince Trump that Miller is way off base, noting that Jackson recognized the authority of the judicial branch.  It is true that at one point in his presidency, Jackson opposed southern states' tariff nullification laws which threatened to destroy the Union, and in so doing proclaimed that Supreme Court decisions are the law of the land that must be followed. See this history of Jackson and judiciary from PBS.  Jackson asserted that respect for the judiciary because it was in his political interest to assert national primacy.  But that is not the reason for the Andrew Jackson symbolism in the White House.  Indeed, there is no reason to believe that the largely historically illiterate Trump is even aware of this slice of American history.

Rather, those portraits are most assuredly there because they symbolize (certainly in Steve Bannon's view of the sweep of history) Jackson's similarities with Trump:  Jackson, like Trump, was a rich man who won election with the personna of being a voice of the every-day white man and -- and this is most significant now --  Jackson’s reported response to Chief Justice John Marshall’s Supreme Court decision prohibiting the State of Georgia from seizing Cherokee Indian land:  “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”  The decision was not enforced, and the lands were seized.   Id.  (See also Walter Russell Mead's article from The American Interest in January 2016, describing the Jacksonian resurgence, whether most people were aware of the connection or not.) 

Scarborough, in trying to use Andrew Jackson to encourage Donald Trump to respect the role of the judiciary in the American constitutional system, is most likely an example of whistling past the graveyard. There is nothing in what we have seen of Trump that would lead is to think he would have respect for the judicial branch of government.

Nice try, Joe, but you will not hear a nice thing about the courts from Trump or Miller unless and until the courts become their puppets. 

Remember the Old Post Office Building Lease That Trump Violated the Moment He Took the Oath of Office?

Lost in the storm of Trump outrages is the fact that the lease he signed a couple of years ago to take over the Old Post Office Building for his Trump International Hotel included a provision barring elected officials from being parties to the lease. Of course, now he is an elected official.  Yet, he is still on the lease. 

The headline on this article from Government Executive -- "Chaffetz Pushes GSA for Answers on Trump's Old Post Office Lease" -- is not as reflective of a supposed newly-found sense of responsibility by the Chair of the House Oversight Committee as it might appear.  Rather, if you look at the time-line set forth in the Jason Chaffetz and Elijah Cummings letters (linked to the Government Executive report), it seems clear that Rep. Cummings is forcing the hands of both Rep. Chaffetz and GSA. 

Moreover, the key information does not come until the very end:

             "In response to a previous letter, [the General Services Administration] told Cummings      officials are assessing new information to determine if the leaseholder is in compliance with the agreement's terms and conditions.

            “'Once GSA has a full and complete understanding of the tenant’s structure, GSA will determined whether the tenant remains in compliance with the contract,'” acting GSA Associate Administrator Saul Japson said." 

This statement from Mr. Japson sounds like bureaucracy speak for, “We know we will have to take guidance from whoever President Trump puts in charge of GSA.”  Senate confirmation hearings on a new GSA head will be interesting.