CBI Blogs

A Passover Seder with family can feel like Thanksgiving dinner with higher stakes. The seder is full of themes of freedom and standing up for the oppressed. It invites us to respond in ways that others at the table might vehemently disagree. Many of us feel very strongly about the issues that are in the news today, and we tend to assume that others will agree with us, but that is largely due to the echo chambers of social media through which so many of us get information.

Very often we are encouraged to avoid politics in public as the tenor can quickly get out of control. The weird thing about this is that the word “politics” comes from the Greek politikos, meaning “of the people.” Why would we want to avoid talking about what concerns the people? Usually when people say they do not want to hear about politics, what they really mean is that they do not want to hear partisanship. Being partisan means we favor one political party over another (which is exactly how modern discourse is designed, because when one party is intensely against the other, both parties win).

So where do we go from there? Do we avoid all discourse about the state of our nation, state city, and community? Of course not! Do we kowtow to the whims of the leadership that has been elected? No way! Pirkei Avot 1:10 warns us “Do not become bedfellows with the government,” which serves to remind us that we are loyal only to one master (meaning God), and government officials typically serve only themselves.

At the same time, yelling at officials and threatening public officers will do nothing but get the yellers/threateners at best ignored, at worst imprisoned (depending on the level and seriousness of a threat). Angry words make us dig in, and we are so susceptible to misinformation thanks to the internet, we can find evidence for just about anything we want to believe, and we favor information that supports the beliefs we already have (it’s called confirmation bias). And yet, we still need to have our voices heard.

The world for an argument in Hebrew is makhloket. It is the method through which most of rabbinic discourse is accomplished. They argue. They argue about what ovens are kosher, about how far a person can walk with a meal on Shabbat, about when to say the evening Shema, about the order one should light the chanukiah and where one should display it. The entire Talmud is makhloket after makhloket, argument after argument. They do what is referred to as makhloket b’shem shamayim, argument for the sake of Heaven, and they lift up two of the rabbis who argue with each other the most, Hillel and Shammai, as exemplars of this, because when one of them wins an argument, he would teach the other’s opinion first. This could only be done if they listened to each other well enough to teach the opposing point of view. This could only be done if they respected the other as an intelligent, wise, and valuable teacher. This could only be done if they were willing to share time with each other, face to face, share words of Torah, and allow the other to have his part.

Next Saturday afternoon, April 26, at 4PM, we will gather for a seudah shlishit (“third meal,” referring to a late afternoon gathering before Shabbat officially ends) and a discussion about makhloket. We will meet in the Board Room, enjoy some snacks and tasty beverages, and learn about how to frame our arguments in a way that is productive, face to face, and b’shem shamayim.

Please join us for this important lesson that we will be able to take into the public discourse in a way that can truly change ourselves and our leaders for the good.