November 9, 2016
Dear Friends,
Like many of you, I was up late last night, and I got up early this morning. In the wake of yesterday's unexpected election results, some people were pleased, but many others were upset. A number of people have shared with me their shock and dismay, and their fears.
People have been asking me: Where do we go from here? Is this the end of democracy as we know it?
I don't believe so. It is only in a democratic regime, after all, that what happened yesterday -- a free and fair election -- could possibly occur. But the question is a reasonable one, because, as we all know, democracy is fragile.
It's an eerie, uncomfortable coincidence that today is the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. On November 9, 1938, Nazi storm troopers and their sympathizers set fire to over a thousand synagogues in Germany and Austria. Hundreds of Jews were killed and tens of thousands taken away to concentration camps. As many as 8,000 Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed. Through it all, ordinary citizens exulted in the violence. As a British journalist reporting from Berlin put it:
Mob law ruled in Berlin throughout the afternoon and evening and hordes of hooligans indulged in an orgy of destruction. I have seen several anti-Jewish outbreaks in Germany during the last five years, but never anything as nauseating as this. Racial hatred and hysteria seemed to have taken complete hold of otherwise decent people. I saw fashionably dressed women clapping their hands and screaming with glee, while respectable middle-class mothers held up their babies to see the "fun".
Is 2016 America on the verge of looking like 1938 Germany? I don't think so. But I don't dismiss the concerns of some that it might be.
America, it's often been said, is governed by laws, not men, and those laws protect us. (Apparently, John Adams was among the first to state this principle.) Will the mean-spirited rhetoric of the recent campaign surface in the White House and other governmental institutions in the weeks and months ahead? If so, who will be the victims? People of Mexican origin? Muslims? Jews? Will efforts be made to enshrine such dangerous rhetoric into law? No one, of course, knows, but my response is this: If any steps are taken to try to accomplish that, it will be up to all of us to express our opinions and to respond accordingly. In a democracy, that's our right -- and also our responsibility.
I feel hopeful.
I felt hopeful when I heard Mr. Trump, Mrs. Clinton, and President Obama address the nation. They all struck gracious, conciliatory notes. Time will tell how long this conciliation will last. As the President noted, Americans differ widely in their vision for our country. Some of us want certain aspects of the American dream to be emphasized; others are focusing elsewhere.
But all of us -- including, I imagine, the candidates themselves -- are still taking it all in. Let's give ourselves time to process all of this.
In the meantime, let's be hopeful. Let's remain committed to the values we hold dear -- among them, fairness, decency, and respect for the dignity of all human beings -- and let us resolve to try to promote them. I think we can all agree that we all have a stake in the kind of country America will become, and we should all become involved to the best of our ability.
I look forward to talking about this further in the days and weeks ahead.
In the meantime, be well, and
shalom,
