Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

Last
night I thought about what it means that the United States elected a
president named Barack Hussein Obama.  I wondered if (white) people
would go into the booth, see the name, and have one last feeling of:  This is just too strange, I can't do it.  But that didn't happen.

For
the most part, people did not cast a vote for justice, for equality,
for inclusion.  Yet those precious things, in some measure, will now be
a gift to all of us as Americans.  The results might have been the same
for Hillary — and we would have gotten the same gift — or for
Edwards, or Biden, who knows.  How fortunate we are that a vote by and
large out of personal pain, out of self-interest, will enlarge us as a
nation.

It would be idolatry to worship a
particular leader, a political party, even a political ideology.  We
also know that the election was won out of a contest of lashon hara, nasty
things said by both sides about each other, untrue and misleading
words.  Even if you are overjoyed by the results, it's important to
step back.  These are essential spiritual perspectives.  If we keep
them in mind, we can be a bridge between the left and the right,
between those who have different views on the balance of market and
government.

Even more important is to step
forward into the work that has to be done by everyone as citizens.
 It's extraordinary to come to New Hampshire and see how many people
have been out there in recent weeks, at work for something large that
they care about.  I am thinking about what I have to do to continue
that path.  There were 50 congregants who walked a week and a half ago
with other faith communities here to end hunger, and we raised a few
thousand dollars here toward some $40,000 in total from the Crop Walk.
 We will reach inside and find the energy to go further, in the way
that fits each of us.