In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshat Shoftim: The Jewish King, we hear about how originally, other nations always lived under a monarchy.
Because they NEEDED to. Otherwise, their societies would devolve into a "might makes right" situation, like how you see in many Third World nations today.
But Am Yisrael didn't need that.
Am Yisrael dwelled in awareness of Hashem, which gave them a conscience & a desire to be good & do good.
Because they NEEDED to. Otherwise, their societies would devolve into a "might makes right" situation, like how you see in many Third World nations today.
But Am Yisrael didn't need that.
Am Yisrael dwelled in awareness of Hashem, which gave them a conscience & a desire to be good & do good.
A Shocking Revelation about Political Systems
Rav Miller notes that monarchy is actually better than democracy.
Especially if you're American and you grew up with pride about having thrown off the rule of the British monarchy in order to be truly free, the notion of democracy being the lesser option sounds blasphemous.
But not long ago, I read an article about the advantages of monarchy over democracy (along with historical examples), and I had to admit that it made sense.
Certainly, if the king is awful (though Rav Miller notes that you can have an awful President too) or if you end up ruled by foreigners, then that stinks. (England sometimes found itself ruled by foreigners because with foreign marriages and education, they occasionally ended up with a ruler who was more French or German than British — to the point that the ruler of England couldn't even speak English well.)
Yet the benefits of a decent monarchy outweigh those of a democracy.
This quote sums it up:
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what they are going to have for lunch."
We saw this in Kenya, when a pro-democracy candidate ran against a pro-Sharia candidate (before his Presidency, Obama went to Kenya to promote the pro-Sharia candidate), and when the pro-democracy candidate won, the pro-Sharia voters went on the rampage and burned hundreds of pro-democracy voters (men, women, and children) in churches.
There was no higher authority to stop them.
So much for democracy.
We see that today in the US, when people with loose morals comprise the majority of voters and nearly all the mainstream (and very influential) media.
A candidate with the most excellent record as a governor could not win a US election today if he (or she!) ran on a pro-life, pro-free market, pro-marriage, pro-family, pro-filtered immigration ticket.
Imagine a candidate ran on the platform of encouraging abstinence before marriage.
Waiting for marriage would improve society across the board.
Suicide & depression would go down. A great deal of juvenile delinquency would simply disappear. Abortion clinics would close. The amount of people living under the poverty line would shrink dramatically.
Drugs, drinking, crime — we would see a tremendous decrease in these activities.
Yet we all know that anyone who ran on such a platform would be laughed out of the running. Despite all the studies, stats, anecdotal evidence, and common sense to back him up, he would never make it.
Even religious conservatives today feel they cannot advocate abstinence, so they advocate contraception instead.
Society has degenerated to where even the religious conservatives feel they cannot promote this issue.
A wolfish majority with a lamby minority wishes to vote on their next meal.
We also see this by how Mitt Romney lost by upholding traditional values and behaving like a decent guy, including both treating & speaking about his competitor (Obama) with courtesy — a courtesy which was not only not returned, but trampled.
We see this with Donald Trump, who is personally very liberal on social issues, but ran on a slightly more conservative ideology than his competitor, and only won by a narrow margin while being raked across the coals by the media throughout his campaign and has continued to be scoured (whether he does right or wrong) ever since.
I'm certain as to who's going to win this next election, and it won't be Donald Trump.
Especially if you're American and you grew up with pride about having thrown off the rule of the British monarchy in order to be truly free, the notion of democracy being the lesser option sounds blasphemous.
But not long ago, I read an article about the advantages of monarchy over democracy (along with historical examples), and I had to admit that it made sense.
Certainly, if the king is awful (though Rav Miller notes that you can have an awful President too) or if you end up ruled by foreigners, then that stinks. (England sometimes found itself ruled by foreigners because with foreign marriages and education, they occasionally ended up with a ruler who was more French or German than British — to the point that the ruler of England couldn't even speak English well.)
Yet the benefits of a decent monarchy outweigh those of a democracy.
This quote sums it up:
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what they are going to have for lunch."
We saw this in Kenya, when a pro-democracy candidate ran against a pro-Sharia candidate (before his Presidency, Obama went to Kenya to promote the pro-Sharia candidate), and when the pro-democracy candidate won, the pro-Sharia voters went on the rampage and burned hundreds of pro-democracy voters (men, women, and children) in churches.
There was no higher authority to stop them.
So much for democracy.
We see that today in the US, when people with loose morals comprise the majority of voters and nearly all the mainstream (and very influential) media.
A candidate with the most excellent record as a governor could not win a US election today if he (or she!) ran on a pro-life, pro-free market, pro-marriage, pro-family, pro-filtered immigration ticket.
Imagine a candidate ran on the platform of encouraging abstinence before marriage.
Waiting for marriage would improve society across the board.
Suicide & depression would go down. A great deal of juvenile delinquency would simply disappear. Abortion clinics would close. The amount of people living under the poverty line would shrink dramatically.
Drugs, drinking, crime — we would see a tremendous decrease in these activities.
Yet we all know that anyone who ran on such a platform would be laughed out of the running. Despite all the studies, stats, anecdotal evidence, and common sense to back him up, he would never make it.
Even religious conservatives today feel they cannot advocate abstinence, so they advocate contraception instead.
Society has degenerated to where even the religious conservatives feel they cannot promote this issue.
A wolfish majority with a lamby minority wishes to vote on their next meal.
We also see this by how Mitt Romney lost by upholding traditional values and behaving like a decent guy, including both treating & speaking about his competitor (Obama) with courtesy — a courtesy which was not only not returned, but trampled.
We see this with Donald Trump, who is personally very liberal on social issues, but ran on a slightly more conservative ideology than his competitor, and only won by a narrow margin while being raked across the coals by the media throughout his campaign and has continued to be scoured (whether he does right or wrong) ever since.
I'm certain as to who's going to win this next election, and it won't be Donald Trump.
Don't be a Goose
In Hebrew, the word translated as "king" (melech) means the one is the most capable of ruling the people, not just the one who managed to seize & hold power.
(On page 6, Rav Miller provides an amusing summary of the origin of Britain's royal family.)
Back in Judges, Am Yisrael wished to appoint the great Shofet Gidon as their king. They wanted this out of gratitude for all Gidon had done for them.
But Gidon noted they already had a King (Hashem), and with that, he humbly rejected the offer and Am Yisrael continued as they were: a holy Nation led by Hashem with no human king.
But as the bitachon (trust) of the people dimmed, the need for a melech arose.
And so they got one.
But as we know, that didn't end so well down the line, so now we're waiting for Melech HaMashiach to help us accept Hashem's Kingship over the world.
On pages 11-13, Rav Miller discusses the songs of the wild goose & the domesticated goose in Perek Shirah.
He makes the striking observation that from the time it hatches out of its egg, the domesticated goose sees its owner as a generous & kind-hearted man.
This man makes sure the goose's shelter stays strong & protective. He feeds the goose generously. He often talks to the geese is a cheerful manner.
Little does the goose know that all this exists ONLY for the finale: the slaughter of the goose.
Everything the owner does for the goose exists to make the goose a tasty meal & maybe a nice feather pillow.
If this isn't an excellent parable for what's going on with the Western world today, then I don't know what is.
All those nice government officials giving us free stuff...we will vote for the candidate who promises us the most free stuff!
If an official doles out free stuff so generously & smiles so nicely as he speaks, then he must be a very good-hearted person!
What other reason could he have for being so generous & smiley?
Hmmm...
(On page 6, Rav Miller provides an amusing summary of the origin of Britain's royal family.)
Back in Judges, Am Yisrael wished to appoint the great Shofet Gidon as their king. They wanted this out of gratitude for all Gidon had done for them.
But Gidon noted they already had a King (Hashem), and with that, he humbly rejected the offer and Am Yisrael continued as they were: a holy Nation led by Hashem with no human king.
But as the bitachon (trust) of the people dimmed, the need for a melech arose.
And so they got one.
But as we know, that didn't end so well down the line, so now we're waiting for Melech HaMashiach to help us accept Hashem's Kingship over the world.
On pages 11-13, Rav Miller discusses the songs of the wild goose & the domesticated goose in Perek Shirah.
He makes the striking observation that from the time it hatches out of its egg, the domesticated goose sees its owner as a generous & kind-hearted man.
This man makes sure the goose's shelter stays strong & protective. He feeds the goose generously. He often talks to the geese is a cheerful manner.
Little does the goose know that all this exists ONLY for the finale: the slaughter of the goose.
Everything the owner does for the goose exists to make the goose a tasty meal & maybe a nice feather pillow.
If this isn't an excellent parable for what's going on with the Western world today, then I don't know what is.
All those nice government officials giving us free stuff...we will vote for the candidate who promises us the most free stuff!
If an official doles out free stuff so generously & smiles so nicely as he speaks, then he must be a very good-hearted person!
What other reason could he have for being so generous & smiley?
Hmmm...
Real Bitachon Means Trusting Hashem & Not People
Humble words from a great Jew (Rav Miller on page 14):
Now, I’m not saying I have bitachon but at least I talk about it.
I speak to you about it and I hear my own words, so a little bit rubs off on me.
On page 14, Rav Miller recalls when she shidduch process got stuck for one of his children.
They invested lots of effort, but nothing happened. Nothing even moved.
Then they received a suggestion from an unexpected corner, that ended up being The One.
(See? These things happen to big & important people too.)
And while we must feel & express gratitude toward people who help us, we must not forget to credit HASHEM overall.
Whether or not they succeed is decided by Hashem.
When we put our trust in people, we make a big mistake.
For example, the mostly forgotten President Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) was probably one of America's best Presidents.
He was also a highly moral person.
He actually cleaned out the swamp (by ousting corrupt officials & installing decent men & refusing to employ any Klansmen); Coolidge improved rights for black people, Native Americans, and working women & children (without BLM or any other group of banshees screaming at him & rioting — just out of his own sense of fairness); he lowered taxes.
He appreciated Jews & Judaism, and was pro-Israel long before the State existed.
Here's a leader we can trust!
Yet he was the President who signed the 1924 Immigration Restriction Act that ended up blocking Europe's Jews from escaping to American during the Holocaust.
He had no idea of that act's ultimate effect, of course. Otherwise, he wouldn't have signed it.
(You can see more about that topic here: How We Should Really be Responding to Our Politicians.)
But he did.
And that's just one example of why we can't trust people, even if they're good.
Everything comes from Hashem.
For our own best interests, we must turn to Him.
They invested lots of effort, but nothing happened. Nothing even moved.
Then they received a suggestion from an unexpected corner, that ended up being The One.
(See? These things happen to big & important people too.)
And while we must feel & express gratitude toward people who help us, we must not forget to credit HASHEM overall.
Whether or not they succeed is decided by Hashem.
When we put our trust in people, we make a big mistake.
For example, the mostly forgotten President Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) was probably one of America's best Presidents.
He was also a highly moral person.
He actually cleaned out the swamp (by ousting corrupt officials & installing decent men & refusing to employ any Klansmen); Coolidge improved rights for black people, Native Americans, and working women & children (without BLM or any other group of banshees screaming at him & rioting — just out of his own sense of fairness); he lowered taxes.
He appreciated Jews & Judaism, and was pro-Israel long before the State existed.
Here's a leader we can trust!
Yet he was the President who signed the 1924 Immigration Restriction Act that ended up blocking Europe's Jews from escaping to American during the Holocaust.
He had no idea of that act's ultimate effect, of course. Otherwise, he wouldn't have signed it.
(You can see more about that topic here: How We Should Really be Responding to Our Politicians.)
But he did.
And that's just one example of why we can't trust people, even if they're good.
Everything comes from Hashem.
For our own best interests, we must turn to Him.
2 Seconds to a Better World & Sweetened Din
Practical tips:
Rav Miller recommends shouting out loud (but not where people will hear & feel unnerved):
"HASHEM MELECH!!!"
God is King.
He says that as you walk down the street, you can think "Hashem Melech."
That's a tremendously good thing to do.
You can say it, especially if you're wearing a mask and no one can see your mouth moving.
If you're in a very noisy place, like under a city bridge where no one can see or hear you, you can even shout it at the top of your lungs.
And that's a very good 2-second act of self-improvement that can reap a lot of blessing.
Rav Miller recommends shouting out loud (but not where people will hear & feel unnerved):
"HASHEM MELECH!!!"
God is King.
He says that as you walk down the street, you can think "Hashem Melech."
That's a tremendously good thing to do.
You can say it, especially if you're wearing a mask and no one can see your mouth moving.
If you're in a very noisy place, like under a city bridge where no one can see or hear you, you can even shout it at the top of your lungs.
And that's a very good 2-second act of self-improvement that can reap a lot of blessing.
Credit for all material goes to Toras Avigdor.
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