Today is Tzom Gedaliah, commemorating the assassination of Gedaliah, the Jewish governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, on Rosh Hashanah a few years following the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah and the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.
I'm thinking about the day and extremist politics.Gedaliah was assassinated by Ishmael, a member of the royal family of Judah. Maybe Ishmael was upset with Gadaliah's policies (encouraging the Jews to cultivate fields and vineyards, to begin the work of rebuilding, albeit under foreign rule). Maybe he was angry the ruling family did not have a place in the now Babylonian Judea. Maybe he was influenced by the neighbouring kingdom of Ammon. It's unknown.
Whatever Ishmael's motives, the assassination led to a state of fear among the remaining people and is considered the final blow in the destruction of Jerusalem and Jewish self-rule at the time.
I wonder about the extremist view that says through its actions, it is better we should all fail than my opponents get to be in charge. This may not even be a conscious decision. Nonetheless, when the rhetoric occupies the extremes, this is the result.
I am thinking about the countries that most impact my life: Canada, the US and Israel. In these, as well as other countries around the world, more and more people, not only politicians but regular citizens too, attack their opponents, completely disregarding that, though they hold different opinions, they are (I hope) trying to work for the betterment of the country and its citizens.
My father z"l taught me the pendulum swing of politics and culture. Simply put, things issues, people, politics, policies, etc.) swing to one extreme, reaching a peak, returning to the centre, and then continuing to swing to the opposite extreme, much like the carnival rides I remember from childhood. It was an easy way to explain the ebb and flow of cultural life. Though, of course, it's much more complicated than that, the pendulum swing theory does generally hold. I have added to that view my own that life is lived in the greys of the centre and not the black and white ends. We are better together.
I am lucky. I get to work in this centre space. The only extreme is the dedication to multipartisanship. Today I am thinking of Gedaliah. He was willing to engage, not simply reject. He encouraged others to find their place. (I realize I'm reaching and imagining a story for Gedaliah that he may not have had, but rabbis are called to interpret.) He encouraged the regular citizens around him to work to make their place in the world a better one, encouraging security and mental and emotional ownership instead of building fear. As I fast this Tzom Gedaliah, I hope this is a carnival ride soon to reach its peak and not a pendulum swinging into the pit of Edgar Allen Poe.
