My New Year Resolution

I must admit that ten days over the High Holy Days has never been enough time for me to accomplish a full year’s worth of repentance. So I regard the secular new year as a logical and annual bookend to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. At the beginning of Tishrei, I try to identify and atone for my sins. At the beginning of January, I compile a list of resolutions that I hope can help me avoid and overcome at least some of those sins in the months ahead. 

Addressing the potential violation of all 613 mitzvot listed in the Talmud is not possible in this space. But our friends in the Roman Catholic Church have helpfully highlighted seven types of sinful behavior as most worthy of our attention. Pride is usually listed as the first of the seven deadly sins, as it is considered to be the root from which more spiritual transgressions like envy and wrath and then physical indulgences like gluttony and lust emanate.

So let’s talk about pride.

At the conclusion of a presidential election marked by anger, vitriol and alienation, we find ourselves divided almost precisely in half by bitter political dispute and utterly baffled as to how roughly 50% of our fellow citizens could possibly have voted for another candidate than our own. We are convinced of our own certitude and righteousness and even more convinced of the danger posed by the person who we voted against. So we assume that those who disagree with our selection must be stupid or evil or otherwise beneath our contempt.

Which means that almost all of us now despise almost half of us. Which means that the near-unanimous sentiment in our society is that each of us is completely, totally, and entirely right about the future of the country and the world, and that those who disagree are just as utterly and indefensibly wrong. Which sounds a lot like the type of untrammeled pride that is the root of the other deadly sins.

Our nation’s founders warned of such intolerance and conceit. When they proposed measures to protect against what they referred to as “the tyranny of the majority” their purpose was not just to protect the rights of the minority, but to remind those in power of the need for humility. Just because one side has more votes than the other does not mean that those in the majority are unfailingly correct and that those without sufficient support are unremittingly wrong. Perhaps we might benefit in looking back at the last two presidential elections through this lens.

Since its inception, I have attempted to write this column as an independent analyst rather than a partisan advocate. (At least when it comes to American politics. I make no effort to hide my support for Israel or our Jewish community in this space.) I have not belonged to a political party for many years, and I take it as a compliment when a reader tells me that they do not know which side I support in the political debates about which I write.  Jewish Journal readers are sufficiently intelligent and well-informed that they have no need for me to tell them what to think or how to vote. Rather, I try to provide some context so each of you can make your own educated decisions. Whether I would agree with those decisions is immaterial.

Since its inception, I have attempted to write this column as an independent analyst rather than a partisan advocate… My resolution this year is to be a better listener, especially of those with whom I disagree.

I frequently receive correspondence from those who are convinced that I am actually an unabashed partisan (almost always on the opposite side from them). Most of those critics – both liberal and conservative – seem knowledgeable and well-read, but they are unable or unwilling to understand how or why someone could conceivably disagree with them on any matter of import.

This is not the way a healthy society is supposed to function. As the Torah tells us, “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”  My resolution this year is to be a better listener, especially of those with whom I disagree. I hope some of you will make a similar commitment.

Dan Schnur is the U.S. Politics Editor for the Jewish Journal. He teaches courses in politics, communications, and leadership at UC Berkeley, USC and Pepperdine. He hosts the monthly webinar “The Dan Schnur Political Report” for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall. Follow Dan’s work at www.danschnurpolitics.com.