Rabbinic Wisdom For The Upcoming Election
The time has come for decision making. After months of campaigning, debates, and nonstop news reporting, Americans will go to the polls next Tuesday. What can our Rabbi's understanding of this week's Torah reading of Parshat Noah add to our awareness of the responsibilities that face us as voters? Much is made in Jewish tradition of Noah's personal qualities as compared to those of Abraham. The Torah tells us that Noah was a righteous person "in his generation" and walked with God. There is no doubt that Noah was righteous. It makes no sense to me that the plain meaning of the Biblical verse could imply anything else. Yet the phrase "in his generation" which seems to somehow qualify the original statement attesting to Noah's righteousness has often been understood as raising some doubt. Not that Noah wasn't great -- he certainly was. But for our Rabbi's, the issue was whether his greatness was great compared only to the low standards of hi