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Mostly Cloudy Obama misunderstands Rosh Hashana’s meaning
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As he has done every year in his Presidency, the day before Rosh Hashanah Barack Obama sent a special holiday message to the Jewish community. Again, the message ignores the meaning of the holiday and its special message to Americans: that progressive politics are antithetical to the teaching of personal responsibility embedded in Rosh Hashanah. |
It’s not that the president’s words were inappropriate, as he spoke about charity and introspection that are indeed a major part of all Jewish holidays, but he missed a key theme: The High Holiday period is all about personal responsibility.
Even the method of atoning for our sins goes against progressive values. Jews are taught that our Maker is not a big massive government that will fix everything. For earthly-type mistakes we must first approach the people we harmed to request forgiveness and, if necessary, make restitution. Then we must discover what led us to behave that way and correct the flaw catalyzing such behavior. Only then can we approach G-d for absolution.
It’s not that G-d cannot fix everything, but his direct involvement would destroy the delicate balance he set up during Creation.
The Creation narrative in Genesis explains that man is created in G-d’s image — a point that teaches us that just as G-d acts as a free being without prior restraint to do right and wrong, so does man. The rabbis explain this, saying, “All is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven” (Talmud, Berachot 33b). In other words, G-d provides our options, but it is up to man to pick between good and bad.
Free will is the divine version of limited government. G-d picks the winning direction but does not choose winners or losers. We are not divinely perfect nor are we meant to be, but we ought to be closer to that perfect divine-ness when we leave this world than when we entered it.
