You know what is most vexing about watching the battle for the presidency? It is the sheer superficiality, stupidity, foolishness, and utter banality that we are seeing in this most important of political campaigns.
It seems that the battle for the presidency of the most powerful country in the world is being fought with memes. Foolish little statements and cartoons are designed to make you feel a certain way about a candidate without using your brain to actually think about the candidate and his/her positions, and how they will affect you, your family, and your community.
The latest “news” generated by the recent debate and the reporting on the debate made me realize how little thinking about the actual issues and how little trying to discern how he/she will actually govern is being done versus the sloganeering and creating “feelings” about the candidate.
Harris, Trump, and the media are all guilty of this, but without a doubt, Harris has broken the record for superficiality and banality. When asked about the economy, she answered with platitudes about the fact that she grew up in a middle-class home and her task will be to bring the country together. How stupid and superficial can you get? For her efforts and her “brilliant” answers such as the one above, the media rewarded her by saying that she won the debate.
Trump was also guilty on multiple occasions of harping on inane stupidities, such as crowd size and discussing whether Harris is black or Indian.
Perhaps even worse was the media. Instead of judging the actual substance based on policy positions or lack thereof, they chose to decide the winner based on “bedside manner” and the ability to avoid questions.
It was so thoroughly disappointing to finally have a debate, and instead of them actually talking about anything of substance, anything that really matters and is relevant to the lives of the citizens of this country, we just heard platitudes, slogans, and insults being hurled.
And What About Us?
After shaking my head about how low things have fallen and how both candidates and the press recognize that people are so stupid and “low information” that they don’t even care to judge candidates on their actual positions, a scary thought hit me.
Are we the same? Are we also superficial? The answer is scary.
We are seeing more and more how slick marketing in the frum community is replacing actual thinking. We see this in spiritual matters as well.
We see even more how organizations that seek to raise money are using imagery with compelling copywriting and taglines to open people’s heartstrings and purse strings with nary a thought about how they really should spend their limited tzedakah dollars.
After all, there is a hierarchy when it comes to tzedakah, as stated in the poskim. First comes family. Then those in your town. There is a hierarchy regarding how one should support limud haTorah versus chesed. Even within chesed, there is a hierarchy. One needs to consult a rov to decide these questions, not be swayed by a slick ad or video clip.
We see how yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs are marketing themselves with cute slogans, trying to get enrollment.
Should questions such as where to send one’s child to school or where to vacation be decided by slick ads?
What happened to depth? What happened to actually thinking and taking things apart? Is it all gone? Do we do everything today based on instinct or feeling?
Similarly, there is so much sloganeering today about “achdus.” Whenever any public issue comes up, there are always those “singing around the campfire” people who say things such as, “Everything anyone else does is good. We can’t judge. All Jews are great. Halevai we should all be poshute Yidden,” as if the hallowed ideal of a temimusdige, simple Yid is an excuse for mediocrity and not being careful about matters of Yiddishkeit, halacha, kedusha or sensitivity.
Yes, there is a Shulchan Aruch about those matters too. There are times when we can judge or at least be choshesh. This sometimes requires being discerning and not just saying that “achdus” is the most important prerequisite. There are some times when, indeed, achdus plays a role. My point is that we must always think. We must always use our seichel and consult with those who can balance various ideals before we make decisions. We should not make decisions based on slogans, platitudes, and things that make us feel good.
Everything that I have said so far is so simple that it shouldn’t have to be said. Yet, watching how virtually everything today is subject to marketing compels me to point out what is absolutely elementary.
Defining Daas Torah
Another hallowed ideal that has become abused is that of “daas Torah.” Daas Torah doesn’t mean that every person who has opened a Mishnah Berurah and can tell you some basic halachos is daas Torah. It doesn’t mean that every person who happens to deliver a shiur for mesivta bochurim has daas Torah.
The concept of daas Torah is that a person who is so immersed in Torah at the highest levels for decades reaches a madreigah where his seichel becomes the seichel of the Torah.
While it is certainly a good idea to speak to a mesivta rebbi because chances are that he has better seichel than the guy flipping burgers at a take-out, it doesn’t mean that he has daas Torah. That is for giants of spirit who have spent their lives immersed in Torah.
Again, these are simple concepts that anyone should understand, but since we are so inundated with slogans and catchphrases about even the most hallowed matters, and since even the words of Chazal can be, and unfortunately are, twisted to make a good advertisement, we have to repeat what is poshut.
Don’t be superficial. Use the seichel that Hashem has given you to study an issue, analyze it, and decide what to do. If, after thinking about it properly, you still don’t know, then ask someone who knows more or is not as much of a nogeia b’dovor. Then, when you ask a question, it will be a question of she’ailas chochom chatzi teshuvah rather than a she’ailas tipeish.
Not a Balancing Act, But Real Balancing
At this time of the year in particular, we can see that this is the way Hashem wants it. After all, we know that when Hashem judges us, there is a balance, a scale where He weighs our mitzvos and aveiros. There are many variables on that scale. How many mitzvos? How difficult was it to perform those mitzvos? How many aveiros? How much did one try to refrain from the aveirah before he fell? Were there mitigating factors that made it easier for him to transgress? Hashem takes all these into account, and even after taking it all into account, He conducts Himself with erech apayim and a hanhagah of middas harachamim.
There is no superficiality when it comes to the way Hashem judges us.
Let us all be mekabel on ourselves to actually use our seichel this coming year—to think, to weigh, to balance, and to analyze actual issues, not just foolish slogans. Please, let’s not be so superficial. We are taught to think in learning, to think in hashkafah, not to just take anything at face value.
In a world that has gone crazy over nothingness, let us try to hold on to something real. Please.
