I recently challenged members of a Florida synagogue who were polarized politically: “Take someone to lunch who voted the wrong way in 2016,” I said, “and speak to that person.” After the sermon, a psychologist gave me the greatest correction: “Next time,” he advised, “say: ‘and listen to that person.’”
What if we started listening generously to one another, engaging deeply with loved ones and strangers, giving each other the benefit of the doubt, not the back of our hands, if they dare disagree with us? What if we remembered Mayor Ed Koch’s principled flexibility in telling voters: “If you agree with me on nine out of twelve issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on twelve out of twelve issues, see a psychiatrist.”
What if we used that expansive compassion to turn inward, mastering a new intimacy, and outward, rebuilding community. And what if we stopped worshiping the false postmodern god of universalism, instead embracing the essential Jewish, Zionist, and American teaching: love is preferential; through our particular commitments to loved ones, family, community, people, country, we exercise our love muscle and access the wisdom of our sages, of the ages, to improve ourselves and the world.
Gil Troy is a Zionist author and Distinguished Scholar of American History at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. www.giltroy.com
