With political tensions in America unusually intense, and apt to grow more so as election day approaches, the country’s Jews are hardly exempt from partisan rancor. One can just as easily hear that a vote for Donald Trump is a repudiation of everything Judaism holds sacred as that a vote against him is a betrayal of Israel and the Jewish people. Avi Shafran, in a letter cosigned by several other prominent Orthodox figures, urges Jews not to confuse “Torah values with politics”:
Moral degradation infects a broad swath of the American political spectrum. Among both liberals and conservatives, many political players are on a hyper-partisan quest for victory at all costs. Good character and benevolent governance are devalued, contrition is seen as weakness and humility is confused with humiliation. . . . None of this is good for America, and certainly not for us Jews.
Shameless dissembling and personal indecency acted out in public before the entire country are, in the end, no less morally corrosive than the embrace of abortion-on-demand or the normalization of same-sex relationships. The integrity and impact of what we convey to our children and students about holiness, modesty, truth, human dignity, and good character are rendered hollow when contradicted by our admiration for, or even absence of revulsion at, politicians and media figures whose words and deeds stand opposed to what we Jews are called upon to embrace and exemplify.
We are a people charged with modeling and teaching ethical behavior and morality to others. It should be inconceivable for us to be—or be seen as—willing disciples of deeply flawed people who are now the de-facto arbiters of what is morally acceptable. We should be ashamed when people of low character and alien values seem to have been replaced [religious] leaders as our ethical guides.
As Orthodox Jews, we live in a benevolent host society to which we have rightly given our loyalty. It is thus important that we not be regarded by the American public as turning a blind eye to the degradation of our moral climate in exchange for political support for parochial interests.
Read more on Cross-Currents: https://cross-currents.com/2020/07/29/an-open-letter