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Second Thoughts; Post-Election Views From Jewish Leaders

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This is the first of three parts. Read part two here.

Dear Mr. President-elect
Rabbi Shai Held | Dean, Mechon Hadar Manhattan

I bless you —sincerely — with an open and compassionate heart; a willingness to take seriously the impact of your words; an eagerness to hear others, especially those who are vulnerable and afraid; and a capacity for introspection and self-criticism.
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Dear Friends Who Did Not Vote Li​ke Me

Gil Troy | Professor Of History, University Of Haifa

We used to boast of having a range of friends with different opinions – and learning from disagreements. What happened to us? When did we stop tolerating opposing viewpoints? When did we decide that competing partisans were racist, unpatriotic, evil? Why are we so quick to condemn those who disagree with us?
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To My Friends and Family Who Voted for Hillary

Sarah N. Stern | Founder And President, Endowment For Middle East Truth

I know how disappointed and exhausted you must feel. It has been a long roller-coaster ride of an election season, and quite a revolting one at that. Being Jewish, I was born into liberal family. I believe in a woman’s right to choose and am for gun control.
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To My Trump Supporting Well-Educated, Privileged Friends

Deborah Lipstadt | Emory University Atlanta

On the day after the election you said that those who felt so devastated should get over it and act like adults. You made it sound as if we are just being “sore losers.” It’s far more than that.
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Dear Hillary

Rabba Sara Hurwitz | Hebrew Institute of Riverdale

You planned on giving your acceptance speech at the Javits Center, a building purposefully selected because it has a glass ceiling. This was supposed to be a ceiling-shattering moment in our history.
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To My Grandson Ezra

Bubbie Arna Poupko Fisher | University of Cincinnati

When you called me shouting, in your playful, hyperbolic way, “Bubbie, Bubbie, what are we going to do? Trump won! He won!” I was proud (that you got it) and sad (that you got it) and I haltingly assured you that everything would be OK. But Ezra, I just wanted you to feel OK.
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Dear Dems

Rabbi Jack Moline | President Interfaith Alliance Washington, D.C.

Your hearts are broken, I know.
Our sages believed that the heart contained two chambers. Inside one were all the self-serving impulses that urged us to make families, build houses, amass fortunes and push the world ahead. Inside the other were all the altruistic impulses of service to others, compassion and generosity. They believed that neither was sufficient in and of itself. No matter how strong, a half-hearted effort was unsustainable.
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