By Rabbi Ben Kamin
SAN DIEGO — The founding parents of this nation—the greatest experiment in democracy ever known in human history—were motivated by egalitarian values and aspirations first noted in the Hebrew Bible. When Moses looked Pharaoh in the eye and proclaimed, “Let my people go,” he foretold the visceral objections of Franklin, Jefferson, and Washington to the oligarchic king of Britain millennia later.
The United States of America were created in the footprints of the prophets, judges, and sages of biblical and rabbinic standards.
Early on, still in the heat of Sinai, Moses resisted any tyrannical hold on the community. Listening to his father-in-law Jethro (a Midianite priest), Moses divided his authority amongst a council of elders and local tribal chiefs. He was not interested in dictatorial powers; in fact, the
Bible clearly implies that he was almost exhausted and quite skittish of total power. Even the fact that he was married to a Midianite daughter (and later to an Ethiopian woman) forecast the old Scripture’s American-like multicultural blueprints
Like the US, the Hebrew nation transitioned through its own period of disengagement from a culture of slavery. In the Book of Exodus, God cautions the Hebrews that just as he heard their cries when they were in Egyptian bondage, so would he hear
any cries from slaves the Hebrews kept—and react accordingly. The dreadful institution was systemically removed via the “Year of the Jubilee.” Every forty-ninth year, as is reported in Leviticus, slaves were to be freed. “Proclaim liberty throughout the land, to all the inhabitants thereof!” may be carved into the Liberty Bell, but the original transcript is found in the Torah.
The Hebrews were never permitted to be comfortable with kings or sovereigns. In Deuteronomy, they are admonished that “the king shall not have too many horses.” Wise and practical, and a deterrent to unchecked monarchial excess, this kind of thinking is very revealing. A balance and check on powers, appropriately labeled as an American foundation, nonetheless was first suggested when Moses was still around.
Later, when the Hebrews coveted what all the neighboring nations had—a king—they, too, pined for a royal. Their leader at the time, the steady and skeptical prophet Samuel, warned them that this was not such a good plan.The people’s wish eventually won out and there followed centuries of palace intrigue, bloody internecine conflict, heavy taxation, revolts, and the ultimate division of the nation into the two separate kingdoms of Israeland Judea. The kings had too many horses, women, treasuries, and indulgences.
When the modern State of Israel threw off Britain in 1948, it mimicked the British in a number of legal and parliamentary modes, including creating the office of Prime Minister. The one thing Israel skipped over was having a king. The Knesset remains a democratically-elected body, including Arab members, among more than a score of parties. Even through its chaos,
Israel, like the US, awaits the polls.
God bless America!
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Rabbi Kamin is a freelance writer based in San Diego. He may be contacted at ben.kamin@sdjewishworld.com