Democracy

From Rabbi Seth Goldstein: We know that this is a nation founded by massacre, built by slavery, maintained by exclusion, defined by inequality. And we also know that this nation promises equality, exercises resilience, evolves continuously, practices teshuvah.

May we protect one another with whatever vision and creativity we can muster and continue to teach hope and dignity to our children. Let us be strong and strengthen each other.

Ethical perfection is not possible in an imperfect world, and running away from reality to seek private peace is not an option. Instead, we must act with love within our spheres of influence. There are opportunities for coalition-building across disagreements.

Jennifer Margulies shares thoughts on her family’s life under the Christian Right in Texas and how the very coalitions that can feel unbearable can also give us life.

As we start to imagine, strategize, and plan around what the next four years will hold and how we will continue to defend human rights and advance justice, we will need to draw not only on our resilience and determination, but also on our creativity and imagination; our willingness to experiment, to fail, and to try new things.

Sofi Hersher Andorsky and Aaron Dorfman make the case for Jewish investment in liberal democracy.

Author and journalist Maxine Lowy guides us through the story of how Chilean Jews and non-Jews endured when democracy was shattered, and how, over 17 years, Chileans fought successfully to restore it.

Take heart and courage in the words of movement elder, poet, and essayist Aurora Levins Morales.

Prayerful words for democracy by Michelle Dardashti.

Just as human choices brought about the flood and built the Tower of Babel, our choices in the election will determine where we go from here. And though the possibility of the bet-lamed of destruction is surely out there, so too is its opposite, lamed-bet — heart. In all of the anxiety, we can bring love to bear on the choices before us.