Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

where i stand:

Demanding higher standards isn’t politically correct; it’s just correct

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Rabbi Sanford Akselrad

Given the vitriol that has come to characterize this election season, I was particularly moved by the remarks offered Rosh Hashana morning by Rabbi Sanford Akselrad at Congregation Ner Tamid. Rosh Hashana begins the celebration of the Jewish new year, which ends this week with Yom Kippur, when Jews pray for forgiveness and to be inscribed in the book of life for another year. I invite you to read excerpts from the rabbi’s sermon, in which he suggests how we can better live our lives as citizens.

— Brian Greenspun

As in all presidential election cycles, the nation is confronting some pretty heady issues: immigration reform, racism, rights to privacy and income inequality, to name a few. And yes, these incredibly important issues deserve a vigorous debate.

But I can’t recall when the tenor of debate has gotten this vicious or personal, to the point of encouraging unacceptable behavior. How we express ourselves leads to how we define ourselves, and how we understand one another. Communication is the most basic of human skills. And we Jews of all people know what it is like when others define us by racial, ethnic and religious slurs. We of all people know what it is like when political speech is unleashed in such a way that the unthinkable and unacceptable are given freedom to rear their ugly head.

Our political debate has seen such words bandied about as crooked, racist, anti-Semitic, sociopath and con artist. We have seen fear mongering and hate mongering. Each candidate is trying to define the other not over issues but by insults. Is it any wonder that our two major candidates are the least popular in recent memory? Never has so much been said, with so little answers to our future given.

In teaching my 10th-grade confirmation class this year, we reflected on hateful speech and politics. I asked who had run for student council. A few raised their hands. I asked whether they were allowed to engage in hateful speech, and each said the school doesn’t allow it. “Why not?“ I wondered. After all, this would prepare students for the real world.

“Well, when you do that you only hurt the school,” one student said.

And another: “You don’t learn anything about what they believe.” But the most telling was the student who said, “I think school doesn’t just prepare us for the real world. It prepares us for how the world should be even if at times it doesn’t measure up. If we are going to prepare ourselves for the ‘real world’ then we need to prepare ourselves to create a better world.”

In the prayer book read by millions of Jews during these holy days it states very clearly:

… for the sin which we have committed before You with an utterance of the lips.

And for the sin which we have committed before You through speech.

For the sin which we have committed before You by deceiving a fellowman.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by verbal (insincere) confession.

For the sin which we have committed before You by impurity of speech.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by foolish talk.

For the sin which we have committed before You by false denial and lying.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by tale-bearing.

For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

(High Holyday Machzor, Mishkan HaNefesh)

Yes, it is wrong to simply look away. It is a wrong to accept speech that degrades and destroys. And as we look into the book of life we must ask ourselves, What can we do to change this destiny? We may be tempted to simply turn off the TV. Say a pox on both their houses; argue weakly that all politicians are corrupt. But that is a cop-out. We must rise up and tell our leaders — no matter what party we affiliate with — that we do care what is said, just as much as what is done; that we do not want to live in a world where we must shield our children from our television for fear of what our leaders might say; we do not want to live in a world in which anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-Hispanic, anti-gay speech is acceptable.

We deserve better. And we must demand more from our leaders. And quite frankly, if one spends time on the wide variety of social media platforms, we must hold others accountable. This is not political correctness; this is simply correctness. Our dignity and ability to pursue happiness and the basic joys of human life are what define our great nation.. Our values as Jews have prospered because of these values, and have been devalued anytime and every time these values have been debased.

Words have the power to break down and to build up, to hurt and to heal, to divide and to unite. What’s more, the impact of our words outlives the moment we speak them, traveling upon the lips and ears of others, irretrievable, spreading like a cancer that damages body and soul.

No, it is not the debate that is the problem, nor even the volume of the debate. The problem has been the debate’s tone. When we make our case by deriding and demeaning those on the other side, we damage our own cause as well as those of our opponents.

What we can do is engage in dialogue, propose legislation and support candidates, officials, clergy, writers and change-makers of all kinds whose words and actions help lead to a more just society.

Beyond these basics, there are also specific facets to this debate that we can take on more closely. We should advocate for all people — all races, nations, religions, gender identities and sexual orientations — to have equal treatment under the law. We should advocate for equal access to education, equal access to voting, equal protection by our courts and an equal assumption of innocence by law enforcement agents. We can bring attention to racism and demand that new practices be instituted to determine who is truly qualified to keep the peace.

But as we make our voices and votes heard on such topics, we must not villainize individuals or certain classes of workers. Rather we must take on our policies, practices and society in a more systemic way. If we do not approach our problems globally but instead turn in anger toward a few, we, too, will become perpetrators of hate before long.

Rabbi Robert I. Kahn was prescient when he wrote the following for his “Weep America Weep” sermon in 1963 after the assassination of John F. Kennedy:

God have mercy on those who would build walls.

Who would jeer speakers to silence.

Jostle and strike those with whom they disagree.

And create a climate of such fierce intolerance,

Of such ideological fanaticism

Of such lunatic fringes

That to hate becomes a way of life

And to kill the inevitable result.

God have mercy on those who would turn their backs on democracy.

Turn their backs on reasonable debate and discussion and thoughtful compromise.

And create a climate in which violence flowers.

Rabbi Kahn’s words rise from the grave to capture the tenor of our times. May we stand firm in our resolve to demand more from our leaders and more from ourselves. For our words do matter. And our actions matter most of all.

Rabbi Sanford Akselrad has been the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson for 28 years.