Many criticize those who chose to remain silent in the face of Donald Trump’s many moral and political outrages without publicly criticizing him and/or resigning from his company or his administration in protest. Yet, it is something that we ought to respect when people decide at last to go on record when everything is on the line in our democracy.

Young Cassidy Hutchinson worked for years in the Trump Administration. How she was able to do so is a question only she can answer for herself. However, what she did this week and over the past months in testifying before the January 6 House Committee was no small thing even though her break from Trump came so late in the game. The nation owes her a huge debt of gratitude.

I have been compiling a book of quotations on every conceivable theme over the past 30+ years. I read through the long list concerning “courage” today and I thought to share with you the most compelling among them given this current moment in American history.

I hope these have meaning for you.

“Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.” –Arthur Koestler (1905-1983), author and journalist

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear— not absence of fear. Courage is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it.” –Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” –J.K. Rowling (b. 1965), author

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  –Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs.”  –Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

“It is not the critic who counts … The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is actually marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows great enthusiasm and great devotions, whose life is spent in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and at worst, if failure wins out, it at least wins with greatness, so that this person’s place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”  –Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”  –Anais Nin (1903-1977), writer

“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”  –Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899), lawyer, writer, and orator

“No one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe.”  –Harry Gray (b. 1935), professor of chemistry, Cal Tech

“Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.”  –Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961)

“For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, “hold office”; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.”  –John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

“Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change… Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their peers, the censure of their colleagues [and] the wrath of their society.” –Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)

Today’s Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v Wade is infuriating and disheartening not only because of the damage it will cause to millions of women’s lives, but because this decision lifts the veil over the perjury that the last few justices so obviously committed in their confirmation hearings, as well as the pie-in-the-sky denial of Senators such as Susan Collins who testified that these justices promised them that they respect Supreme Court precedent generally and specifically with respect to Roe v Wade.

The credibility of the Supreme Court was seriously damaged today and reform is needed – suggestions ought to be taken up ASAP such as instituting term limits on Supreme Court Justices and adding justices to compensate for Minority Leader McConnell’s blatant disrespect of Senate tradition when he denied President Obama the privilege of appointing a Supreme Court Justice when Justice Scalia died a year before Obama’s term was up, and then rushed to fill a vacancy on the court with another justice after RBG’s sudden death after Joe Biden was elected and before he took office thus denying Biden also the privilege of appointing a justice.

McConnell and Trump did this just as the 5 justices who voted to overturn Roe (Roberts abstained) did it.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah – The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, issued the following statement, which says it all: 

“Reproductive freedom is a Jewish value. According to Jewish law, abortion is not only permitted in at least some circumstances, but even required if the life of the pregnant person is at risk. Today’s ruling ignores the First Amendment right for Jews to practice their religion without government interference, and will also have life threatening implications for millions of Americans, primarily low-income people of color, by giving states the power to revoke essential health care from nearly half the population. 

Abortion-related deaths are rare in countries where abortion is legal, accessible, and performed early by skilled providers. Yet with bans on most abortions in many states, potential criminal penalties for those who seek abortion or assist others in doing so, along with unnecessary waiting periods, ultrasounds and other barriers, patients no longer have access to essential health care. 

Pregnant people will now be forced into giving birth or in some cases will lose their lives, due to the financial, legal, health, and personal limitations imposed by this decision. We will see people arrested and imprisoned for seeking essential health care, and we can expect a rise in the horrifying specter of those who have suffered miscarriages and stillbirths being criminally charged as well. 

T’ruah, along with our partners in the reproductive health and justice spaces, will remain steadfast in supporting the right of people to make their own decisions about their bodies, lives, and futures. We call on the Biden administration to take action where the Senate failed and to ensure equal access to abortion nationwide. This is a necessary step forward for racial justice, for abortion justice, and for religious freedom for all.”

When Richard Core and Susan Freudenheim (his wife) told Barbara and me that he was about to fulfill his dream of riding his bike solo across the United States starting at the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles and ending in Massachusetts, we looked at him and thought he was nuts.

“Really?” We incredulously asked.

“Really!” Richard said with a twinkle in his eye.

We knew he was a bike rider, but this was bike riding as an extreme sport. But, Richard has dreamed of doing this his entire adult life. He loves riding and the solitude that comes with it. And – did I mention that Richard has Multiple Sclerosis?

He is currently somewhere in Indiana having taken the southern route to New Mexico around the Rocky Mountains, up through the mid-west and east from Illinois towards his end destination. He originally planned to be there by the end of May – but weather, wind, rain, weariness (who would have thought?), broken bike-parts, and other obstacles he knew would come, came and delayed his journey more than he anticipated. He is averaging, when he is riding, between 60 and 80 miles a day – every day!!! Now he plans to conclude his trip at the end of June.

Susan met him in his native Iowa to see family and to see the two of them together, so happy to be reunited half-way through his journey is sweetness personified.

We all have dreams that we either fulfill or don’t, but Richard did not want this long-held dream to pass him by.

He originally confesses in one blog that he relished the solo aspect and solitude of this effort, but was telling everyone he was going to do it. Why? In a recent blog he explains:

“No matter how many details I gave people about my dream and my planning, and how much I stressed that I knew what I was doing (or at least thought I did), I knew very few of them expected I would follow through on the idea. But I kept telling people. And more people. Even strangers. I had to. Because if I didn’t, it would have been too easy not to make the commitment. Years from now I’d still be talking about my dream. An unfulfilled dream is all it would ever be.”

Richard, a long-time journalist, has been keeping a blog and taking gorgeous photographs. I’ve told him he has to write his version of John Steinbeck’s “Travel’s with Charley.” His book could be titled something like “Biking with MS.” He’ll no doubt have a much better title, should he write the book – and I hope he does. As an example to anyone with MS or any kind of disability, Richard Core is an example worth emulating. Actually, Richard doesn’t have a disability. To the contrary, he has many abilities.

As you can see in the photographs, as Billy Crystal would have said: “Richard – you look Mahvelus!”

Stay healthy, my friend. We can’t wait to actually see you when you return home.

If anyone needs a dose of inspiration – here is the link to Richard’s blog!

https://sites.google.com/view/richardsride/home

I am pleased that the Editor-in-Chief of The Forward, the star-ship American Jewish newspaper, endorsed the idea of a Confederation – Two State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is an idea that is gaining currency in both Israel and Palestine as it addresses virtually all the substantive issues of both peoples and is attracting substantial support. It is a proposal worked out by Israelis and Palestinians together and deserves American Jewish pro-Israel pro-peace support and the support of anyone concerned for the well-being of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and justice for the Palestinian people.

Read Judi Rudoren’s piece in which she argues:

“It’s hard not to feel hopeless about the prospects for peace in the holy land. It has been that way for a long time. But last week I heard a proposal that was both optimistic and pragmatic — more of both those welcome qualities than anything I’ve encountered since I started covering the region a decade ago. It’s time we start talking seriously about a Confederation of Israel and Palestine.”

I am a supporter of this proposal because it preserves the two-state solution in a Confederation organized in much the same way as the European Union, with open borders and populations staying in place as residents of another state. The status quo is unsustainable, and a one-state solution will sacrifice either Israel’s democratic character if it chooses to rule over 2.5 million Palestinians without giving them the right to vote, or its Jewish character if Jews are not in the majority population.

Though extremists among Israel’s right-wing settlers and among Palestinians will likely react violently, that is not a reason to prevent moving forward with the only resolution to this conflict that preserves Israel’s democracy and Jewish character and brings justice and sovereignty to the Palestinian people.

Borders, security, refugees, Jerusalem, water, and policing (among other issues) are all taken into account in this proposal that was developed by Israelis and Palestinians together. They are well aware of the potential vulnerabilities and address them in the proposal.

Frankly, it is the only proposal that has given me hope for a just, secure, and complete resolution to this conflict since the 1990s Oslo period.

It’s time to talk seriously about a Confederation of Israel and Palestine

First: A Disclaimer! Rabbi Ammi Hirsch is a dear friend. But…I wouldn’t advocate that you waste your time listening to a podcast unless it was unique, stimulating, exciting, thought-provoking, and important. This one is all of that and more.

Ammi started his podcast in mid-May called “In These Times.” Ammi, as Senior Rabbi of the Stephen S. Wise Free Synagogue on West 68^th Street in Manhattan, is one of the most eloquent and thoughtful speakers and writers in the American rabbinate today.

The first episode aired on May 18 with Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, a young man born in Cairo and raised in a traditional Arab Muslim family hating Jews and Israel. By the age of 11, he became radicalized and aspired to jihadism. His is an extraordinary story of his journey from innocence to hate to political prisoner and ultimately, to life in America and steadfast support for Israel.

The second episode aired on June 1 with Natan Sharansky, who sought passage to Israel from the Former Soviet Union in the mid-1970s, was arrested, and paid the price: nine years of hard labor and solitary confinement in a Soviet prison only because he taught Hebrew in Moscow and advocated for human rights and the rights of the Jews to immigrate to Israel. The gulag hardened his resolve to leave. Hear Natan’s legendary story of Jewish resistance and his take on Russia’s war against Ukraine.

From Ammi’s Website about the podcast:

“Every other week, Rabbi Ammi Hirsch hosts intellectually honest conversations unpacking current events through the lens of Jewish wisdom. Unbound by politics and untethered by party lines, Ammi and his expert guests discuss everything from race and antisemitism to all the other issues that keep you up at night. Recorded from New York’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a historic Reform congregation deeply rooted in liberalism, support for Israel and social justice.

Here is the official 1 minute trailer – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/official-trailer-in-these-times-with-rabbi-ammi-hirsch/id1622485978?i=1000559663500

You can prescribe here – https://redcircle.com/shows/in-these-times-with-rabbi-ammi-hirsch