15 Cheshvan 5769
November 13, 2008
Throughout the long years of our Golus, Jews have always been loyal citizens of the countries in which they have resided. Gedolei Yisroel through the generations have emphasized the importance of showing hakoras hatov to our host nations and according honor to their leaders. This is particularly so when those nations have provided a hospitable environment for the growth and development of the Jewish community.
Perhaps no nation in the history of humankind has shown greater friendship to the Jewish people than the country in which we reside, the United States of America. America has proven itself to be a medinah shel chesed, a land that has been good and kind to Jews both within its borders and beyond.
The American people have voted to elect a new president, Senator Barack Obama, who is pledged to continue this great tradition of chesed. It is incumbent upon all Jews, even those of us who may have supported the candidacy of Senator John McCain, to show President-elect Obama the proper dignity and honor due to the leader of our country – and, it goes without saying, to distance ourselves from any intemperate rhetoric that demeans the office of the presidency.
We take this opportunity to offer congratulations and best wishes to President-elect Obama, with whom we look forward to a warm and productive relationship. May Hashem, in Whose hand the hearts of all earthly leaders reside, guide America’s new president to succeed in carrying out his awesome responsibilities in a manner that will bring great blessing to the Jewish people, to America, and to all of humankind.
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America
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24 Responses
An excellently written statement, and a wonderful sentiment.
Yes we all owe the American Government a big thank you.
“…to show President-elect Obama the proper dignity and honor due to the leader of our country – and, it goes without saying, to distance ourselves from any intemperate rhetoric that demeans the office of the presidency…”
Excellent – I hope this will stop the very intemperate comments that have been demeaning not only the presidency, but to the Klal as well.
Indeed, very well written. Hakoras tovah was the first test of Man and perhaps the last shiur Moshe Rabbeinu gave Klall Yisroel. The world which is built through chesed bears no fruit without gratitude for that chesed.
However, it seems as if they are asking us to be silent — sound familiar — in the face of those who stand for ideals that threaten our existance and which are the basis for the kind and moral society upon which this country was founded.
Quite frankly the letter scares me.
When did “mankind” become “hunmankind?” It’s interesting to see the Aguda become so politically correct.
Moshe Kapora – How pitiful it is that you are reduced to complaining about use of a commonly used word that has long been in the dictionary. Why don’t you just take a deep breath . . . and take in the words of the Gedolim.
Sen. Obama won because it was meant to be, the country is in such a mess that he will probably need more than the 4 years to straighten it up. We are all in the same boat and must row in the same direction in order to get it to work.
Remember that the president has people behind him to work for him, to advise him to write his speeches etc, I just hope he ends up keeping good people in his staff like Condoleeza Rice, Collen Powell,etc,. Sen Obama has potential,he has made history.
Lets hope that he keeps the promises made, and let`s understand it will not happen in one day.
We must daven that he does the right things for everyone.
re 4: temperate rhetoric is a different story.
Yonason, #6: Nobody is complaining; actually, quite the contrary. It would behoove you to give the benefit of the doubt when ascribing meaning to other people’s comments.
Nice statement but why insert McCain and remind Obama that many us did not support him? Rabbi Moshe Sherer, obm, would certainly have edited it differently. He is sorely missed.
In America,we,the people Frum Torah Jews INCLUDED have the right to express our own opinions. We do not have to follow a leader blindly. If we believe he is doing things wrong we MUST protest. This is not a dictatorship. True,we must show respect to the office of President and to the government. Many of our people pay no attention to current events or study history. All they know is about the gedolim and our own world. They seem to be unaware of the dangerous and evil people and harmful ideas the President-elect believes in. The status of Israel v. the Arabs, the public display of freedom to do our religious way of life are in jeopardy. Let’s hope not. Of course it is all in Hashem’s ‘hands’ but we must look out for ourselves.
Hey guys,
No more racist jokes on the internet
(any way, there’ll be plenty other civil criticizm to do)
hey “proud of KAJ…” Thou dost protest too much – jokes about the White House turning Black, and the White House “going Section 8” – and thinly veiled racial wisecracks – have no relation to legitimate discourse – cut the noureshkeit
C’mon Moshe Kapora – I suppose you were praising the Agudath for being, in your words, politically correct? And I suppose “PC” is regarded as a positive trait? Right
While all you libs are qvelling that a liberal won, stop qvelling everytime a political org. says a statement. They are only doing it for sholom, I don’t believe they have the same love for Obama as you guys. While there are definetly pluses of living in a country where the jews are free, there definetly is a dark side. There is widespread discrimination against Shabbos observers in some types of industries, but the worst is the assimilation. They say we have lost more in US assimilation than we did in the holocaust. I’m going to quote a Chasam Sofer, which I’m sure you libs will knock; he says it’s better to live in a country where they hate the Jews openly, than one where they don’t. Maybe our generation should heed the holy words of the Chasam Sofer and therefore keep far away from politics and the political process. Maybe had we kept out of it all these years, even with all the good that these org. have done, the morality in this country would be on a higher level than it is. You see, I know a lot of frum Jews have supported the democrats this time around and they (Dems)know it. It is quite possible now -that they think to themselves -it’s not so bad to have a toieva agenda, it’s not so bad not to have real criminal punishment. Look if it was so bad -why are these religious Jews supporting us? I’m not saying they wouldn’t have their liberal agendas if we wouldn’t support them, but now that we do- it almost guarantees that they won’t do teshuvah or have any introspection!
I wonder going back in time, if such a similar statement would have been made if it were in Germany and the elected president was Hitler himself.
A. Y. does not suggest silence, but derech eretz in how we express ourselves.
Health – BH, you live in a society with Liberal values – if you didn’t, someone in authority would close your intolerant, anti-intellectual mouth for you.
neviah, an analogy with respect to (i) a President elected in a tolerant and welcoming country such as this one and (ii) the 1933 German election of Adolf Hitler is beyond stupid.
In my opinion a more valid analogy, sadly, are many of the blog entries on this site . . . and anti “heathen” statements made by the Taliban. Mindless and dehumanizing intolerance is no more attractive when its proponents are Yidden.
I for one will try to take in the mussar of the Gedolim and curb my negative response as best I can.
Why rae so many Rebbeim and organizations issuing these letters? I don’t recall the same being done in past elections.
Maybe I’m being cynical, but I can’t see the necessity of bending over backwards to say “yes, we promise to behave” to our incoming President-elect.
I was waiting for you libs to answer back.
To bacci,
Where did I say mechuyav? But they have to keep the 7 mitzvos bnai noach. If they don’t and if they don’t want to be destroyed -they can do teshuva. If you would go to shul on Yom Kippur- you would hear about Ninveh (goyim) who did teshuva.
To Yonason,
Too bad you libs confuse the Constitution with liberalism. I have rights to free speech because of the Constitution. It’s the libs who try to take away rights. They want to take away the right to bear arms with gun control. They want to take away free speech with the fair doctrine. BTW, why do we need to get rid of guns from law-abiding citzens? By and large they are not using their guns unlawfully. Most of the guns that are used to hurt or other criminal use are illegaly owned. But you won’t hear that the problem in this country with guns is the criminals, from these libs. All you hear is “We must have more gun control”. I’ll tell you why you won’t hear “Let’s get tough on crime”, because the libs have gone against any serious punishments for crimes! And right now are justice system is in poor shape, thanks to them!
Correction:
And right now our justice system…
To Awoman # 23 wh asked:
“Why are so many Rebbeim and organizations issuing these letters? I don’t recall the same being done in past elections.”
Maybe it’s because the Rabonninm realize that, to our shame, we have indulged multiple generations who have come to see a little prejudice as not only harmelss, but as something of an ideological “mitzvah”. The reality is that it has no place in Torah thinking. It is contrary to enumerable maamarei chazal which call upon us to me machshiv all of humanity “shenivra b’tzelem”. And it is contrary to the way genuine gedolei torah have always behaved.
And before any of the traditionalists jump on me, this has nothing to do with liberal politics. It just does not befit a ben torah to talk and act the way too many of us have, myself included, for too long. It’s time to grow up and focus our passion on positive action rather than on pointless negative prejudice.