16 Jul THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF DONALD TRUMP

Each and every one of
us needs to take a step
back and take ownership
over how we interact.
When the peace and
harmony of Shabbat
concluded and we learned
the news of an
assassination attempt on Donald Trump,
among my many thoughts was the question:
What If?
A series of anthologies titled, “What If? The
World’s Foremost Historians Imagine What
Might Have Been,” examines turning points
in history and what might have been if
particular moments had gone differently. One
moment that broke differently at Poitiers in
1356, at Gettysburg in 1863, or in Berlin in
1945, could have altered the entire tapestry of
modern history.
So, what if? What if Donald Trump had not
turned his head at the last moment and instead
of being shot on the tip of his ear, was
assassinated as the shooter intended? Would a
dangerous and irreparable division have
resulted, with violent and grave consequences
for the country? Who would have replaced
Trump as the Republican presidential nominee
and how would the election have been
impacted?
Reflecting on his brush with death, Trump
said it was “God alone who prevented the

unthinkable from happening.”
President Biden called on Americans to
“lower the temperature” in politics and said
that Americans “must stand together.” Trump
said that the miracle is motivation to pivot to a
message of unity. While the assassination
attempt was the act of an individual, many are
blaming the level of rhetoric and extremist
language in politics on both sides.
Comparisons to the most evil men in history,
descriptions of a threat to democracy, claims
that the election is a matter of life or death,
create an atmosphere that is not only toxic, but
clearly dangerous.
While Trump may be the highest-profile
attempted assassination of late, there have
been no shortage of shootings and attempts to
kill both Republicans and Democrats. Since
the United States Congress was established in
1789, 15 of its members have been killed
while in office, and 14 have suffered serious
injuries from attacks. Of those killed, 10 were
Democrats, four were Republicans, and one
was a Democratic-Republican. Of the four
members of Congress physically attacked
since 2011, Gabby Giffords (D), Steve Scalise
(R), Rand Paul (R), and Angie Craig (D), two
are Democrats and two Republicans.
Similar divisiveness, discord and dangerous
demagoguery exist in Israel as well. Many
blame the 1995 murder of Prime Minister
Yitzchak Rabin, the head of the Labor Party,

on incitement from his political adversaries
and their followers. Others are concerned
today with the relentless inflammatory
language leveled at current Prime Minister,
Bibi Netanyahu, the head of Likud.
Anger and fear lead to division, hate and –
as we were reminded this week –to violence.
Both in Israel and America, each side points
a finger at the other, blames the other, and
calls on the other side to improve. An
objective observer will conclude that the left
and right in both countries have contributed
to the poisonous and perilous polemics and
that neither side adequately calls out their own
for what they contribute to the noxious
atmosphere, even while calling for unity
themselves.
Politicians and political parties profit off the
industry of extreme and inflammatory
language. Anger and fear generate outrage,
which translates to dollars and to votes. But it
also leads to division, hate and – as we were
reminded this week – even to violence.
We, The People
Ultimately, it is up to each and every one of
us to turn down the temperature, to be sensitive
to and regulate how we speak, what we say,
and the tone we take. We, the people, must
recognize our own autonomy and take
ownership over how we interact. We can and
must model how to disagree agreeably, how to
debate and discuss ideas and policies, and not
repeat, promote or advance ad hominem
attacks against people.
King Solomon’s insight in Proverbs
(18:21): “Death and life are determined by
the tongue,” feels particularly poignant this
week.
Soon, we will begin to observe the Three
Weeks culminating in Tisha B’Av, the most
inauspicious day on our calendar marking
the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem
and the countless calamities and suffering in
our history. Our rabbis taught that the cause
of our millennia-long exile was sinat chinam,
baseless hatred that can be traced all the way
back to the dispute between Joseph and his
brothers.
The Torah tells us that Joseph’s brothers
hated him to the point that v’lo yachlu dabro
l’shalom – and they could not speak to him
peaceably” (Genesis 37:4). The Ibn Ezra
explains, “they could not speak to him
peaceably – l’shalom to mean that they
couldn’t even greet him with “Shalom.” It
wasn’t just that they couldn’t talk about the
issues they disagreed about, or that they
didn’t want to be close, loving brothers. The
hatred and intolerance had grown so deep
that they couldn’t stand to even extend
greetings to one another or to be in a room
together.
Making Room for Others
When we disagree with people, we
withdraw from them and stop speaking to
them. We see them as “the other,” different
and apart from us. As our communication
breaks down, the dividers rise up higher and
we can’t find a way to break through them.

Achieving peace and harmony means
bending towards those on the right of us and
those on the left of us, acknowledging them,
engaging them, and making space for them.
The antidote is in our hands and we remind
ourselves of it three times a day when we pray.
Our practice of taking three steps backward at
the conclusion of the Amidah comes from the
Talmud which states, “One who prays must
take three steps back and only then pray for
peace” (Yoma 53). Rabbi Menachem BenZion
Zaks explains that we cannot pray for, nor
achieve, peace if we are not willing to step
back a little and make room for others and
their opinions, tastes, and personalities.
After literally stepping back, we ask, “Oseh
shalom bimromav, God, please bring peace,”
and we then turn to our right and to our left.
Achieving peace and harmony means bending
towards those on the right of us and those on
the left of us, acknowledging them, engaging
them, and making space for them. That is a
prerequisite to the shalom, the peace we crave.
Ballot, Not Bullets
In America and in Israel there are so many
issues that deserve legitimate, vociferous
debate. From elections to army service, from
gun control to abortion, from judicial reform
to religious coercion, there are complicated
issues with multiple perspectives. They elicit
strong emotion and passionate positions, but
they cannot and must not sow irreversible
division. We cannot allow our differences and
strong opinions to make us unable to say hello
to one another, or to see someone we disagree
with as “the other.”
We cannot allow the feelings of unity and
togetherness that followed October 7 to vanish
or fade away. We can point a finger at others
for how they have returned to rhetoric, or just
like when you point an actual finger, we can
recognize there are three pointing back at
ourselves and take responsibility for our role
and contribution to conversations.
As we approach the Three Weeks, don’t just
ask and ponder “What if” about the
assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Ask
what if we all took responsibility for how we
speak, for keeping the focus on policies and
issues, and not on people, for avoiding
language that inflames and incites and instead
using language that persuades and influences.
What if we looked to our right and to our left
religiously, politically, and in every other way
and brought the great blessing of peace by
bowing to what we have in common, rather
than what divides. What if.