21 May STAY HUMBLE OR BE HUMBLED

Of the many lessons
we have been taught
over the last seven
months, one critical
one is humility. I will
leave for those in
Israel to explore at a
later date how the
horrific and unexpected events of October
7 should humble elected leaders, the
military and intelligence establishments,
and all of us. Instead, I want to focus on
how these last months in America have
humbled me.
Earlier this year, the great behavioral
economist, best-selling author Daniel
Kahneman, passed away. He taught at
Princeton, UC Berkeley and the University
of British Columbia, and in 2002, he won
a Nobel Prize in Economics. He was the
nephew of Ponevezh Rosh Yeshiva Rav
Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman and was
considered one of the greatest thinkers of
the 20th century.
Kahneman once said: “We’re blind to
our blindness. We have very little idea of
how little we know. We’re not designed to
know how little we know.” Indeed, when
asked what he would eliminate in the
world if he had a magic wand, Kahneman
answered with one word: overconfidence.
It is instructive that one of the brightest
minds of our time thought overconfidence
was even more dangerous than ignorance.
Indeed, overconfidence is to blame for the
sinking of the Titanic, the nuclear accident
at Chernobyl, the loss of Space Shuttles
Challenger and Columbia, the subprime
mortgage crisis of 2008, the Great
Recession that followed, and the oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico, among countless
other things. Overconfidence has brought
personal financial disaster, imploded
relationships, and ruined lives.
Overconfidence comes from hubris,
from a feeling of arrogance that we see
the whole picture, know all the relevant
facts, can draw the proper conclusions,
and have a monopoly on the truth. One
would think the recent pandemic that
brought us to our knees would have
softened our confidence, tempered the
strength of our views, made us admit the
limits of our knowledge and
understanding.
And yet, when it comes to politics (and
other areas of life), we have remained as
convinced, as confident, and strident as
ever. We know exactly whom we are
aligned with, whom we should support
and vote for, which party is the future of

Israel and will always stand up for the
Jews. Many speak in absolutes, with
generalizations and overconfidence about
politicians, parties, and the political
landscape.
And yet, not surprisingly, they were
wrong again. Reading, watching and
following who has stood with us and who
hasn’t over these last seven months should
humble us, cause us to reconsider
entrenched positions, and to be more
open, interested, curious, and persuadable
going forward.
On October 6, we thought we understood
the political landscape, which party was
exclusively the future of the US-Israel
relationship, and who would stand with
the Jewish people if they were under
attack. For example, many were cynical at
best about Senator John Fetterman, with
criticisms of his progressive policy ideas,
his bizarre and inappropriate wardrobe,
and even his physical and mental fitness
to serve while recovering from a stroke.
Little did we know or appreciate that he
would emerge as one of the most
passionate, eloquent, and outspoken
advocates for Israel and of the Jewish
community, that he would courageously
confront our enemies and haters without
backing down or cowering for a moment.
We could not have predicted he would
speak up and speak out against his own
party and even the president when it came
to defending Israel. On October 6, I think
only a tiny minority of members of our
greater community would have
contributed to Fetterman’s campaign.
Today, I don’t know a shul that wouldn’t
embrace the opportunity to honor him at
their dinner.
Previously, we may have thought a
congressman who describes himself as a
liberal progressive may not be aligned
with us, our values, or interests. But we
would be terribly mistaken to reduce him
to those labels or components of who he is
or what he believes in. Most important
for us, Rep. Ritchie Torres has paid a
heavy price for being among our greatest
friends in Congress, standing up, posting,
advocating and passing legislation for
Israel and to protect the Jewish community
when it isn’t easy or popular in segments
of his party or his base.
When our new congressman, Rep. Jared
Moskowitz, was campaigning and
ultimately elected, were we only distracted
by policies or positions we disagreed
about, or did we bother to focus on the
fact that on what matters most to us, he
would become a true champion of our

cause, a relentless fighter of our
people?
Last week we interviewed an
extraordinary young man named
Shabbos Kestenbaum on Behind the
Bima. He has been on the front lines
of defending the Jewish people at
Harvard, including contending with a
death threat from a faculty member of
the university that resulted in a need
for private security and the filing of a
lawsuit against what was long
considered the most prestigious
university in the country, maybe the
world. Shabbos (yes that is his name) is a
student of Chassidus, loves the Kotzker
Rebbe, considers Rav Aharon Leib
Steinman one of his heroes, and has
defiantly remained not only fully and
publicly observant on a campus filled
with hate and genuine threats, he has
emerged a heroic spokesperson of our
people, testifying before Congress
proudly wearing his yarmulka and
clinging to Torah.
But if terrorist sympathizers and
supporters hadn’t essentially taken over
Harvard, would we ever come to know
that about Shabbos, would we have
learned about what we have in common
and how much admire him, or would we
have remained focused on other passions
of his, like his rallying for progressive
causes and policies?
There are many more examples in every
direction, but the bottom line is that we
must not be overconfident or arrogant in
assuming we can reduce people to their
political party or one component of who
they are. Doing so not only deprives us of
friendships and relationships we can gain
from but alienates those who could and
would be our friends.
There are many issues, policies, and
positions we care about but they are not
all equal and we must not get confused
about how we prioritize them and which
matter most. If we didn’t know it already,
the last seven months have taught us that
for us, the top three issues that should
influence or vote and political giving are
Israel, antisemitism and Israel. This does
not mean being overconfident, or
screaming from the rooftops that we are
certain the person we are voting for is
going to be the best candidate for any
issue, including Israel. It does mean,
however, that we have the responsibility
to make the best decision with what we
know at any given moment, with the
humility and understanding that we may
be wrong.

There are many others who can focus on
the other issues, but as of 2023, we are
only 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide
population and by some estimates 2.2% of
the population in the United States.
Nobody is going to fight for, prioritize,
and care about Israel and antisemtisim
like we do. Does that mean we may find
ourselves contributing to and voting for
people whose other policies, or whose
character is alien to us or repulsive? Or
that we may find ourselves voting for
someone in a party we feel no affinity for
but believe the person on the ballot will be
loyal to our interests?
It might, but when you are in a burning
building and the fireman comes to save
you or you are being chased by an armed
madman and a policeman comes to save
you, you don’t have the luxury of making
sure you are in alignment in your beliefs
and lifestyle, or you approve of their
character and behavior. You embrace
their sacrifice and efforts towards your
safety and security with gratitude and
appreciation. Maybe in a perfect world
you’d prefer another policeman or fireman
to intervene who better aligns with your
values and general worldview, but in a
crisis, you don’t get that choice, and we
are in a state of perpetual crisis.
There are many lessons that we have
learned, and still are learning, from this
painful and difficult period for our people.
Let one of them be humility. Let’s never
be overconfident, let’s not put our faith in
ourselves or overly in anyone else. It was
just this past week’s Pirkei Avos in which
Rabban Gamliel cautions us to be careful
with and not put too much faith in
government. Let’s remember that Hashem
is in control and in charge, and that as our
rabbis say, harbei sheluchum la’makom,
Hashem has many agents and emissaries
He can act through. Let’s do our best to
identify them not by the party they belong
to or the ways they are different than us,
but by us prioritizing what matters most
and making sure we share that in common.