|
|
Clinton's Elul gets off to early start
JOSEPH AARON
Chicago Jewish News
Elul is the month on the Jewish calendar that begins this Shabbat, Aug. 22. But Elul is not just another month. In many ways, it the most fascinating, challenging and difficult month - because it is the most personal.
There are no big holidays during Elul, indeed no Jewish holidays of any kind. But the beginning of Elul is the beginning of our period of introspection. We are to spend the month of Elul getting ready for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. We are to spend the month starting to take our cheshbon hanefesh, our spiritual reckoning. Starting to look long and hard at how we've behaved in the last year. Taking responsibility for the things we've done and haven't done that we aren't proud of. And then do teshuva, repentance, for them.
Watching TV this past Monday night, Aug. 17, I got the sense at least one person had started Elul a little early. It's not often you get a vivid example of cheshbon hanefesh and teshuva on national TV from inside the White House, out of the mouth of the president of the United States. But so much of what Bill Clinton said was exactly what Elul requires of us.
Maimonides teaches us that there are three parts to teshuva: acknowledging wrongdoing, taking full responsibility for it, and vowing never to do it again. To be a true teshuva, a complete teshuva, one must do all three of those.
As Jews we can and should learn from everything. We can learn much from that four-minute address from the White House.
The president did a lot right in terms of his teshuva. He acknowledged his wrongdoing, saying his relationship with Monica Lewinsky "constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part." He took responsibility. In fact, he did so twice, saying he "was solely and completely responsible" for what he did and saying also "I must take complete responsibility for all my actions, both public and private." He even said he wouldn't do it again, sort of, noting that now in terms of his family and God, "I must put it right and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to do so."
Pretty much a real teshuva. But not perfect. For he deviated from the path of true teshuva by trying to explain his reasons for doing the wrong that he did and by switching gears and attacking big, bad Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor. Teshuva, to really be teshuva, means dispensing with rationales and justifications and explanations and excuses. Any "why" stands in the way of true teshuva, as does blaming others.
Clinton showed both what to do and not to do, as the rest of us set out to do teshuva this Elul. He also showed us how tough it is to do. See how easily what he did comes to you, especially about the most sensitive parts of your life, about your most personal flaws. See how fast you fess up, look yourself in the eye. And then maybe have a little more sympathy for him.
There's another Jewish lesson here. Back when the Jewish people had a king, our tradition required that his first act upon taking office was to acquire two Torahs - one that he would keep in his palace and one that would travel with him whenever he was out of the palace. Why? As a reminder. To be a cue to him about how he is to act, what his responsibilities are. The rest of us aren't required to always have a Torah with us and to have one in our homes. But the king, who presumably is better than the rest of us, was.
Why? Because Judaism understands that a king, most of all, with all that power, needs the constant reminder of what is expected of him, where the true authority lies. Imagine if there had been a Torah in the Oval Office. Imagine if everywhere the president went, there was a Torah, or in his case, a Bible always within sight.
Learn from Bill. And make this Elul a meaningful one.
Joseph Aaron is editor and publisher of Chicago Jewish News.
|
