Recent events have America on edge. The cold-blooded murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk by a leftist trans activist has sharply divided Americans. The Jewish community is a mirror of the country. Some Jews see a direct link between leftism and trans activism with the murder while other Jews deny that any such link exists.
The temptation to be right often causes people to forget about doing right. Harsh labels such as “Nazis,” “fascists,” and “Hitler” are thrown at people solely for disagreeing. This trivializes people including my father who survived the Holocaust. When my dad was running for his life during World War II, Donald Trump was not chasing him. Trump does not even have a mustache.
Human beings jump to conclusions, but they need to own it. My self-restraint was tested when a woman approached me wearing a HAMAS t-shirt. Something seemed odd given that it was a rainbow HAMAS t-shirt. Verbally tearing this woman to pieces would have provided the briefest amount of joy followed by a lifetime of embarrassment. She moved her hand holding her beverage, revealing that her supposed HAMAS t-shirt actually said BAHAMAS.
Not all endings are that happy and amusing. Yet as we Jews prepare to beg God to give us another year’s inscription in the book of life, we really could help our own causes. Synagogues
In particular can employ a simple yet very effective strategy for navigating political minefields this Rosh Hashanah.
Rabbis can just shut up about politics and stick to Judaism.
It cannot be this easy, except for the fact that it really is.
Keep your political traps shut. Stick to Judaism.
Sure, rabbis can explain that while murdering Charlie Kirk and trying to murder Donald Trump is bad, they were guilty of saying things that hurt the feelings of crazed murderers.
Or, rabbis can just cram their political notes in their own mouths and swallow them. They can then gargle with a glass of sanity and stick to Judaism.
They can resist the urge to lecture us about climate change and “Palestinian” rights.
There really is enough Torah to cover an entire year. Imagine if the Torah were divided into over 50 separate portions. Synagogues could discuss an entire Torah portion every week!
Americans already spend one-third of our lives sleeping and another third doing life’s drudgeries for a few pittances of currency. Many of our remaining hours meant for sports and culture are already infected with politics. Is it too much to enjoy a politics-free Rosh Hashanah?
Rabbi David Wolpe once asked his Sinai Temple congregation to turn off their cellphones during his sermon. After expressing his joy that everyone was there, he had the crowd laughing by intoning, “If you can’t go two hours without your cellphone, you really need to be here.”
Giving up addicting things is not supposed to be easy. Try being a soda drinker attempting to give up sugar. Diet Coke tastes awful. Thank God someone created Coke Zero.
Try being a football fan in 2025 when Rosh Hashanah falls during Monday Night Football. God gave life to the person who created VCRs and then DVR machines. Watch the game Wednesday night. If someone ruins it by telling you the score, they can apologize on Yom Kippur or during Tashlich.
The stock market is at an all-time high. It will be tough, but many Jewish traders take Yom Kippur off. God usually rewards us by making Yom Kippur a light trading day with little action.
If people can give up their cellphones, soda, football and stock trades, they can give up politics for 50 hours.
The world will not end if this happens. The Israeli Defense Forces will take necessary actions without American Jewish meddling disguised as input.
Jews love to talk, but not everything requires a national conversation. People constantly insisting that “Doing nothing is not an option” would not know. They have never tried. Doing and saying nothing are often spectacular options.
On Rosh Hashanah 5,786, America’s rabbis can regale us with stories of Jews that go back thousands of years. Rabbis do not need to bore us with their lack of expertise on geopolitical events of the last 10 minutes that may be obsolete by Sukkos and Simchas Torah.
Ordained Jews can give speeches about Jews for Jews. They can stick to Judaism.
Eric Golub is a retired stockbrokerage and oil professional living in Los Angeles.
