Eyes Wide Shut

Pay Attention

On the surface, America seems stable. For nearly all Americans, life continues as usual. But at the Pentagon, top generals are being forced out for objecting to Trump’s cozy relationship with Russia and his plans to use active-duty troops to round up migrants. At the CIA, the Justice Department, and other agencies, civil servants are being reassigned or fired for raising concerns about the politicization of intelligence and the pressure to launch ideologically motivated investigations.

High-profile nonprofit groups are undergoing IRS audits, forcing their senior staff to spend most of their time huddled with accountants and lawyers. More university presidents have resigned in the face of investigations, audits, and threats to yank federal funding over curricula and the actions of student protests. Meanwhile, a number of high-profile journalists are the targets of leak investigations. The owners of several major media outlets are under investigation for specious criminal tax code violations, and the FCC is considering revoking the broadcast licenses of a dozen television stations. Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff, and retired Gen. Mark Milley are under investigation for allegedly mishandling classified materials.

The nation’s streets are largely peaceful. But around the country, numerous civil servants, reporters, teachers, librarians, election officials, and other community leaders are being doxxed and threatened.

This isn’t a real report of the current moment although it reads like it. This was from a project from May and June of 2024 by the Democracy Futures Project from the Brennan Center for Justice. The Democracy Futures Project organized five large-scale, nonpartisan simulation exercises. They were looking for insights into what might happen if a second Trump administration followed through on Trump’s autocratic threats.

I was struck by the parallels to what has happened so far in the actual administration. Much of what has happened since the start of the Trump administration has felt tectonic, yet a number of other events have caused less noticeable ripples with just as serious implications. I’m thinking specifically about issues surrounding free speech in our country, the honoring of due process, and efforts to combat antisemitism that may not quite be as they seem. The flooding of the zone that I mentioned a few months ago has the effect of inuring us to injustices. When this happens, we have to be on guard.

Staying diligent is a major focus of this week’s double portion, Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, the latter of which is my Bar Mitzvah anniversary (25 years ago)! This section of the Torah, aptly known as the holiness code goes into great detail about how we are to comport ourselves in our lives. One section, at first glance, doesn’t seem so relevant anymore.

In chapter 20, we read a strongly worded mandate against child sacrifice, a practice that was somewhat commonplace in communities around the Israelites:

וַאֲנִ֞י אֶתֵּ֤ן אֶת־פָּנַי֙ בָּאִ֣ישׁ הַה֔וּא וְהִכְרַתִּ֥י אֹת֖וֹ מִקֶּ֣רֶב עַמּ֑וֹ כִּ֤י מִזַּרְעוֹ֙ נָתַ֣ן לַמֹּ֔לֶךְ לְמַ֗עַן טַמֵּא֙ אֶת־מִקְדָּשִׁ֔י וּלְחַלֵּ֖ל אֶת־שֵׁ֥ם קׇדְשִֽׁי׃וְאִ֡ם הַעְלֵ֣ם יַעְלִ֩ימֽוּ֩ עַ֨ם הָאָ֜רֶץ אֶת־עֵֽינֵיהֶם֙ מִן־הָאִ֣ישׁ הַה֔וּא בְּתִתּ֥וֹ מִזַּרְע֖וֹ לַמֹּ֑לֶךְ לְבִלְתִּ֖י הָמִ֥ית אֹתו

And I will set My face against that party, whom I will cut off from among the people for having given offspring to Molech and so defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name. And if the people of the land should shut their eyes to that party’s giving offspring to Molech, and should not put the person to death.

Obviously this is a practice that has become outdated thankfully but at the time, it was seen as so reprehensible that the Torah uses the doubling verb, a form that doesn’t make its way into modern Hebrew. In biblical Hebrew, the doubling verb signifies emphasis. Often you will see it translated as “you shall surely…..”

Here it is emphasizing the egregiousness of people averting their eyes from this practice. If you see people practicing this way and you don’t do anything about it, your inaction warrants the death penalty. Thankfully this practice waned so we don’t have to think about how to apply this. Nonetheless, the great wisdom of the sages of yore was their ability to draw meaning out of irrelevant practices.

The teaching that I bring you this week comes from the Or Ha’Chayyim, Rabbi Chayyim ibn Attar¹, the biblical commentator with a mystical bent:

The reason the word "they will ignore" is repeated is to tell us that if the people choose to ignore the first time this abominable crime is committed, they will have paved the way for ignoring all subsequent repetitions of this abomination. Even if they would want to punish people then for practicing this cult, the guilty party would challenge the authorities pointing out that the first guilty party had been allowed to get away with this practice.

The reason, he argues, that the Torah repeats the word for ignoring/averting one’s eyes is because a society that allows for such abhorrent practices to take place once will forever rue their inaction. All subsequent times the offending party comes to this action again and voices are raised, they can always say, well you didn’t say anything the first time. The perpetrators of these types of acts are betting on our inaction and apathy.

I found this reading resonant for what it means to be a society that is willing to raise its voice against injustice, no matter the cost. There has been a lot of talk since the start of this administration around what it means to pick your battles and that is a worthy argument because there are limited resources and energies. But when well established legal principles are torn asunder, societal mores are subverted, and institutions start to crumble, even worse things are coming.

On one hand this is terrifying and that can freeze us. On the other though, this very biblical source provides the antidote for the toxin. We don’t subvert our eyes. In an ideal world, we hope that our leaders can serve as a bulwark. But even when they don’t, we as individuals can find others who are speaking out and group together to fight back. The organizations we support in the world of social change can use our support, either monetarily or in time. And as always, we have to fight against losing all hope. That part can come in many forms. Might I shamelessly plug this organization :-)

If we can maintain that hope as a start, then progress can always be made. We just have to keep our eyes open.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Weekend

1. Morocco/Israel 18th century