JEWISH WORLD

can be achieved only after a blood- bath of America’s moral failings. The intersectional mantra of inclu- siveness specializes in excluding those who challenge the premises of an oppressor paradigm. Assigning blame is the first order of business in this new national ethic of purging without absolution. Unlike the 1950s, the catchphrase for this era is not “naming names” but deleting them. Critical Race Theory, set loose from the college campus, has be- come so widespread and wea- ponized, armed with its patented moral absolutes, it can probably seek nonprofit status as an organ- ized religion. The Puritans of Ply- mouth Rock had nothing on the social justice warriors of today. Donald Trump wasn’t entirely wrong about “witch hunts” — it’s just that they were aimed not at him but at everyone who didn’t subscribe to the tyranny of politi- cal correctness. Everything upsets the hard Left; everyone is a candidate for cancel- lation — second chances are always denied, without exception. The madness of this moment is often surreal to contemplate; the relent- less expurgations of American cul- ture, the censorship it foretells and the future it forebodes. Dr. Seuss, Aunt Jemima, Huck Finn, Mr. Potato Head, even To Kill a Mockingbird -— all are now relics of a more acquiescent past. We have become a nation devoid of forgive- ness. A janitor, security guard and food service worker forced to take anti-bias training for asking an African American student why she was sitting in the school cafeteria that was closed to students, as they were instructed to do. A TV star written off her show for making an arguably inappropriate analogy. Others fired or reprimanded for maintaining a Parler account, or questioning gender reassignments, or opposing biological boys com- peting on female sports teams, or insisting that mathematics requires the solving of right answers, or wondering why our borders are open when states are still in lock- down. Incorrect pronoun usage, for- bidden words, bewildering bath- room protocols — all are affronts to this newly draconian movement hiding behind polite words like “justice” and “equity.” Because they are terrified of being called “racist,” the powers that be — from Hollywood studio chiefs to Ivy League deans to media moguls — fall lamely in line and silence their own dissent. The “priv- ilege” of being white is without mercy. We are witnessing a cultural sea change where wrong-thinking Americans are rendered castaways. With transgressions aplenty, the guilty are forever unforgiven. And the intellectual consistency of the movement is suspect. Where are the calls to ban the books of Voltaire, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound — all unabashed anti-Semites? Jews would not seek this remedy, but it raises serious questions about having equal access to intersection- al grievances. One might have hoped that with Donald Trump out of the White House, some of the anti-white big- otry of the woke Left would have subsided. Instead, the moral outrage has only gotten worse. The sources of their fury consist of rejecting American Except- ionalism, melting-pot immersion, and the independence of free thought. But these are the core val- ues of Americana itself. Setting aside the ahistorical teachings of the “1619 Project,” this nation’s foun- dational principles emanate from liberalism, not racism. Without min- imizing the moral blight of slavery, the class and caste systems that dominated other nations always mattered less than individual merit and the prospects for human ad- vancement. W e are facing a crisis point where our liberal traditions are being subverted by a politics of irreversible grievance. The result is a lost appreciation for human com- plexity, and the refusal to judge people according to the standards of their time. The radical Left is play- ing a dangerous zero sum game. It is a movement all too happy to ban books rather than read them in his- torical context and under the terms in which they were written. Human error and moral failing are not the same as depravity. Yes, George Washington owned slaves, but he also opposed slavery. Is he now disqualified from being our Founding Father, even though his slave ownership was never a secret? We must not lose our moral clarity and capacity to distinguish Honest Abe from the Grand Wizard of the KKK. If everyone is a racist, then no one is a racist. Just who are the arbiters who cre- ate these ever-expanding blacklists? It’s not the clergy, theologians, or ethicists. We are being reprimanded and our children brainwashed by self-righteous schoolmarms, social media mobs and millions of anony- mous Twitter trolls, all with mis- chief and malice in their hearts and too much time on their hands. Not surprisingly, it all comes down to a wall. Not the one imag- ined for our southern border or that now suddenly surrounds the Ca- pitol. It is a much more unscalable wall, separating Americans from each other and from the founding ideals of their nation. What’s even worse is losing sight of what’s on the other side. Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distin- uished University Professor at Touro College. Jewishjournal.com Woke continued from page 4 Unlike the McCarthy era in the 1950s, the catchphrase for our time is not “naming names” but deleting them. We are dealing with a movement all too happy to ban books rather than read them in historical context and under the terms in which they were written. We are at a point where our liberal traditions are being subverted by a politics of irreversible grievance. In his work The Renewal of the Sanhedrin in Our Renewed State, he cites the existence of a copy of Maimonides’ commentary to the Mishna published along with emendations and additions writ- ten by Maimonides himself after he wrote the Mishna Torah, where he specifically writes that ordina- tion and the Sanhedrin will be renewed before the coming of the Messiah, which implies that it must be achieved through human efforts. A photocopy of these words, in Maimonides’ own hand- writing, is provided in the book by Rav Maimon. What is the basis for his suggestion? I believe it stems from a verse we find in this week’s portion of Vayikra, quoted above, which deals with the issue of the sins of the entire congrega- tion. “Commentators ask, how can an “entire congregation” sin, and Rashi identifies the “congregation of Israel” with the Sanhedrin. In other words, when it says “if the entire congregation of Israel errs,” it really means “if the Sanhedrin errs.” The Jewish people are a na- tion defined by commandments, precepts and laws. Therefore, the institution that protects and defines the law is at the heart of the nation’s existence. In fact, how the Jewish people behave, what they do, can become the law. (“A custom of Israel is Tor- ah.”) M aimonides was aware of all this, so it should not come as a surprise that he wanted to revive the ordination, and found a method that was utterly demo- cratic in design. The “people” equals the Sanhedrin, the “peo- ple” can choose one leading Jew who will then have the right to pass on his ordination to others, to recreate the Sanhedrin. And for Maimonides, it is the people living in the land of Israel who represent the historical con- gregation of Israel (B.T. Horayot 3b). Apparently, Maimonides is saying that before the next stage of Jewish history unfolds, the nation will have to decide who shall be given the authority to recreate ordination and who will be the commander-in-chief of the rabbis. Will this happen in our lifetime? Shlomo Riskin is chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel. Sanhedrin continued from page 7 26 JEWISH WORLD • MARCH 19-25 2021 TO Advertise Contact Harriet or Jerry lijeworld@aol.com or call 516-818-1733 JOIN US FOR OUR SPECIAL- PASSOVER GREETINGS ISSUE MARCH 26 2021