The Trumpiest Yom Kippur Confessional Ever
On Yom Kippur, Jews confess for their sins and the community's. Therefore it is entirely appropriate to see how many boxes Donald Trump checks in the confessional prayer. Spoiler - it's all of them.
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See also my prior posts in this series, Trump vs Jewish Values. Please share them!
Jack Smith's Jan. 6 Brief - Six Takeaways from Jewish Sources
Greatest Hits from the Trump Era #1: Moving the Embassy to Jerusalem
Are Holocaust-era comparisons ever appropriate? Yes. Exhibit A: What he said Monday
The Yom Kippur / Donald Trump Confessional
On Yom Kippur, Jews, echoing the ancient practice of the High Priest in Jerusalem, confess for their own sins, as well as for the community and the Jewish people. This year, we can add one more: Donald Trump. We can confess on his behalf because he sure ‘aint confessing for anything himself, and doing so helps to raise our awareness of what’s at stake in this election - something that I’m sure will be on the minds of many who will be immersed in prayer this weekend.
It is noteworthy how many from this list of sins known as Ashamnu were committed by just this one man. Spoiler alert: All of them.
So after you’ve completed your own private confession (there’s plenty of time - it’s a long day), take a moment - OK it will take a few moments - to look at the Viddui confessional to see how many boxes Donald Trump has checked.
You can also look at the expanded list of sins known as the Al Chet - and check the Trumpiest boxes there.
Now, for your convenience, I present a fully annotated Trumpy confessional.
The Ashamnu Prayer - Source: Open Siddur
Somewhat fittingly, the Hebrew word for guilty, from which the term Ashamnu comes, is Ashame. The Talmud states that we are all interconnected. In that way, DJT has brought great shame and embarrassment not only to himself, but to the American people. See below this view from abroad. Not too many former US Presidents have been noted as convicted felons in the international press. Come to think of it, just one. THIS CAN NEVER BECOME NORMALIZED.
Read the full Trump indictment on mishandling of classified documents (NPR)
Kremlin confirms Trump sent COVID-19 tests to Putin during pandemic (The Hill)
“Stolen” is a rather mild term. Below is the lexicon definition of the Hebrew root G-Z-L. Trump has ripped away freedoms and rights that were in place for half a century. And this abduction can only be undone at the ballot box - and even then, so much damage can never be undone.
Dofi means blemish or fault. Dibarnu Dofi means “we have spoken slander,” but with the implication that we are looking to find fault… - Rabbi Debra Orenstein
The Springfield Blood Libel is Not Funny (In This Moment: Rabbi Joshua Hammerman) - Trump proved in that one moment, as if it hadn’t been proven time and time again before and since, that he doesn’t have a shred of decency. Forget the presidency, he doesn’t deserve to be elected dog catcher - and certainly not in Springfield.
He’evinu comes from the Hebrew root a.v.n. meaning trouble, sorrow, or suffering, as well as sin, wickedness, or idolatry. This verb is in the causative form: we have caused avon. Sometimes, it is translated as “we have acted perversely” or “we have caused perversion,” because of the deliberate nature of avon. Ish avon in the Bible is a trouble-maker or noxious person. - Rabbi Debra Orenstein
Opinion | Trump idolatry has undermined religious faith (WaPo)
Pastors Warned of Donald Trump's 'Takeover' of Church (Newsweek)
Does God Send Bullets - or Hints? (Rabbi Joshua Hammerman) Last Saturday’s despicable and tragic shooting in Pennsylvania has, as one might expect, become fodder for millions of armchair theologians convinced that God steered that bullet away from a direct hit on Donald Trump. Trump himself has, not surprisingly, promoted that theory and encouraged that salvific speculation, which reinforces his long-held, dangerous delusion that he is “the chosen one.”
I found an amusing reply to these speculations in a Facebook meme that, whatever your opinion of Trump as a person, points out the fallacy of this argument. I include it here not as a political statement - there will be plenty of time to discuss the merits of the candidates and their policies, and this meme is a tad over-the-top for the current climate - but purely to highlight the absurdity of the claim that God was actively pushing all the buttons last weekend.
Vehirshanu - The Hebrew word ra is usually translated as evil or wickedness, but it can also mean harm. This verb is the causative form, meaning “we have caused evil and/or harm.” How have I caused harm this year – by omission and commission, willfully and accidentally, to those close to me and to strangers? - Rabbi Deborah Orenstein
Fact check: Six days of Trump lies about the Hurricane Helene response (CNN) Trump’s deliberate misinformation campaign caused immeasurable harm to victims in need of government support (which was available to them). It reminds us of the harm he inflicted on the American people through misinformation he spread about Covid while he was in office.
Zadnu means to behave arrogantly, proudly, or presumptuously. It comes from a root which also means to boil or to seethe. We think, in English metaphors, of seething or boiling over with anger, but in the biblical image we seethe or boil over with pride, which may lead to anger. What is boiling up inside me? - Rabbi Debra Orenstein
Check out this usage of the term in Psalm 19:13 (19:14 in the Hebrew text), and then these other verses from Psalms (see below)
“Let the arrogant not rule over me.” Amen!
Psalm 119 also references the arrogant, using this very term - zedim - six times. Trump has lied, shamed, slandered, derided and otherwise defamed Jews at least that many times. Personally, I got my head examined and came out chanting this psalm.
21 You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments.
51 The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.
69 The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts.
78 May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts.
85 The arrogant have dug pits for me, those who are not in accord with Your law.
122 Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me.
Trump says at antisemitism event that Jewish voters would bear some blame if he loses in November (CNN)
Trump’s Suggestion That Jews Could Cost Him Race Creates Fear of Antisemitic Reprisal (NYT)
There is no etymological connection between Hamas the terror group and the biblical term hamas, found here, which refers to gratuitous, lawless violence in chapter 6 of Genesis, at which point God decides to bring a flood to destroy Creation. In Arabic the word Hamas is an acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement” and also connotes zeal. As for Trump, a zeal for violence has been a hallmark of his leadership.
See Axios: The times Trump has advocated for violence (and this was just until 2022. He’s gotten worse.)
'No Blame?' ABC News finds 54 cases invoking 'Trump' in connection with violence, threats, alleged assaults. (and this was written in 2020!)
Trump under fire again for violent language and dehumanizing anti-immigrant rhetoric (PBS)
Trump says ‘violent day’ of policing will end crime (Politico)
Tafalnu sheker means “we have smeared with lies” (see Psalms 119:69). The Hebrew root T.F.L. can mean to smear or plaster over. So we are alluding to lies that don’t just contradict the truth, but attempt to cover up the lie or smother that truth. - Rabbi Debra Orenstein
That sounds a lot like the Big Lie theory (the große Lüge) articulated by Adolf Hitler. The historian Zachary Jonathan Jacobson wrote about it in The Washington Post a few years ago:
Adolf Hitler first defined the Big Lie as a deviant tool wielded by Viennese Jews to discredit the Germans’ deportment in World War I. Yet, in tragically ironic fashion, it was Hitler and his Nazi regime that actually employed the mendacious strategy. In an effort to rewrite history and blame European Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I, Hitler and his propaganda minister accused them of profiting from the war, consorting with foreign powers and “war shirking” (avoiding conscription). Jews, Hitler contended, were the weak underbelly of the Weimer state that exposed the loyal and true German population to catastrophic collapse. To sell this narrative, Joseph Goebbels insisted “all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands.”
Back in 2021, CNN described The 5 key elements of Trump’s Big Lie regarding the 2020 election.
See also this Twitter thread by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, done just after Jan. 6, 2021, as he described Trump’s election claim as a “Big Lie” and the proceeded to explain what that means.
Ya’atznu Ra means we’ve given bad advice, or egged someone on to do something destructive. Like, say, speaking waaay out of line as a private citizen to encourage the Israelis to bomb Iran’s nukes, wich Trump recently did, and presumably wanting to foment chaos before the election. He’ll do anything to foment chaos, like, say, commit impeachable offenses by blackmailing the leader of Ukraine in a perfectly corrupt phone call. His “advice” to Republican lawmakers to shun the compromise border bill (favored by many conservatives) was also transparently self serving and horrible advice. It’s the quintessential Ya’atznu Ra moment of this campaign.
Trump’s First Impeachment: The short, medium and long story (BBC)
Kizavnu means “we lied” or “we were false.” Its most famous use in the Bible is in Psalms 116:11: kol ha’adam kozev, “Everyone is false.” The literal translation of that verse is: the whole person is false. Most of us don’t lie on the witness stand or perpetrate other heinous falsehoods. Nevertheless, there is a way in which, for each of us, our whole personhood is false. So often, we are simply fake. We try to please people by saying what we think they want to hear. In the name of protecting ourselves, we fail to be true to ourselves or fully honest with others. It’s time to admit that this “protection” is hurting more than helping. Most people see through our masks anyway. God knows all. Falsehood wears on the soul. That may be why the noun form of the root k.z.v. means disappointing, as well as deceptive. The reflexive verbal form also means to disappoint. Truth is God’s seal – and a better way. - Rabbi Debra Orenstein
Trump is perhaps the most perfect example of a Kozev on this planet. A fake person, one without a moral core, so he is free to say anything at any time and never mean it. Just ask him his position on abortion. Then ask again in a few hours.
Latznu - means to mock. Mockery seems to be the sum total of Trump’s repertoire of humor. He seems to enjoy mocking those with disabilities, or the elderly - though that now might hit too close to home. His form of mockery often looks like projection, such as when he questions an opponents physical strength or intelligence. He doesn’t just mock opponents. He mocks his own supporters too.
Donald Trump’s mockery of President Biden’s stutter is disgusting. So, too, is the laughter of those who think Trump is funny. (Boston Globe)
Unable to attack Biden’s solid State of the Union performance, Trump instead mocked President Biden’s lifelong stutter. It’s certainly not the first time Trump has resorted to his typical schoolyard bullying tactics. It’s not even the first time this year he’s tried to ridicule the president with such childish nonsense. But what stood out again is that Trump’s audience laughed and applauded in malicious glee.
So now the Dems have taken to needling the needler. He doesn’t like it. Maybe tapping his chest when Latznu is mentioned this Yom Kippur will help.
In the Bible, a mered can be both a political rebellion and a spiritual tussle with God. It’s mentioned only once, in Joshua, but post biblically, the word is significant in Jewish history. The first revolt against Rome (66-70 CE) is called “ha-Mered ha-G’dola,” the Great Revolt,” which was followed 60 years later by “Mered Bar Kochba,” the Bar Kochba Revolt. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was also a mered. All of these arguably were heroic and good, though ill-fated. In modern Hebrew, a mered is a mutiny or insurrection, and the root M-R-D has ties to the Proto Semitic marad: to set up a resistance, to escape, to separate from the group, to leave one’s people. All these terms have a common thread of defiance and divisiveness.
While we often romanticize rebels, Donald Trump is no Mordechai Anielewicz. He is not a rebel with or without a cause, so much as a crybaby without a cookie. The fact that he occupied the same office as such rebels and dreamers as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and FDR is where the similarity ends. Steve Jobs’ salute to “The Crazy Ones” was speaking about a whole different brand of crazy.
Trump is a rebel because he led an insurrection, a defiant and divisive one. This was no Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. People who romanticize him because he breaks things need to remember that America really appreciates those who build things.
Niatznu connotes a lack of respect, a contempt. The term means “to taunt” or “to scorn” in Hebrew. But blasphemy works here too. When you think about how Trump has treated God like just another prop, like the American flag he hugs. For him, literally, nothing is sacred, for he holds no other Lord before himself.
Where maradnu is a decisive, often violent political act of separation, sararnu connote stubbornness. The most well-known example of this word in the Bible (and only usage in the Torah) is the stubborn and rebellious child in Deut. 21. It doesn’t end well for him in the Torah - the rebellious child is to be stoned to death. “Thus you will sweep out evil from your midst: all Israel will hear and be afraid.” And may I add, be very afraid. In real life such a punishment never happened, but the idea is that such unhinged obstinance must be controlled and tempered.
Trump’s stubbornness is expressed in his proven inability to grow from mistakes and own up to them. He will never admit when he’s wrong, even when the mistake is trivial, like drawing an incorrect path of a hurricane. It’s a tragic flaw for anyone, but especially so for leaders. There is a very short distance from laughable anecdotes to Big Lies.
Avinu (and the next one, Pashanu) - In the Bible, the word avon refers to three things: iniquity, guilt for iniquity, and punishment for iniquity. The illusion or miscalculation of the sinner in the crucial moment of choice is that s/he can derive immediate gratification from the sin, but avoid guilt and punishment, or postpone them indefinitely. It is built into Biblical Hebrew that iniquity cannot be separated from its consequences. Pashanu means “we have transgressed,” and it implies a serious transgression. In modern Hebrew, one translation is “felony.” Like avon, pesha refers not just to the sin itself, but to the guilt or punishment that follows from it. Pesha can even refer to a sacrifice made in atonement for a transgression, letting us know that repentance is intimately tied up with sin, and that sin holds the seed of repentance in it. - Rabbi Debra Orenstein
If the seed of repentance is in the sin, there can be no redemption where there is no recognition of error.
I checked to find examples of when Trump admitted to a mistake.
Donald Trump Admits He Makes Mistakes (NY Mag) - He was wrong to tweet unflattering photos of Ted Cruz’s wife. “Yeah, it was a mistake,” he told Dowd, conceding that “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sent it.”
Trump: 'I Said It, I Was Wrong, And I Apologize.' (Daily Beast re. Access Hollywood tape)
That’s about it. Oh yes. This:
Trump acknowledges he was told 2020 election lies were false in wide-ranging interview CNN - but he’s since retracted it.
Kelly says Trump can’t admit to making mistakes: ‘His manhood is at issue here (The Hill)
Tzararnu - Meaning, “I was hostile, adversarial.” The Hebrew root TZ-R-R is the same for the word “narrow.” “I called to God from the narrow place (mei-TZAR) - Psalm 118. Egypt (Mitzrayim), Israel’s ultimate place of restriction, is spelled with those same letters.
What does a hostile person do? They avenge their psychic wounds by restricting the freedoms of their opponent. Trump has already done that with his judicial picks, and he wants to do more. Tzar is also “trouble.” Specifically in the plural, because trouble always comes in bunches - the word is tzarot. In Yiddish, tzuris.
How Trump's Proposed Radical Expansion of Executive Power Will Impact Our Freedoms (ACLU)
ICYMI: Washington Post Article Outlines How a Second Trump Term Would Roll Back LGBTQ+ Rights and Freedoms (Human Rights Campaign)
When God calls Israel a stiff-necked people, it almost seems like a compliment, however begrudging. But it is used as God’s reason for wanting to abandon them. We’re stubborn, refusing to respond to commands, like recalcitrant livestock. We aren’t impulse obeyers. We’re repeat offenders.
I’ve come to see the stiff-neck brand is one that serves the Jewish people well. One night say that even Moses did, in Exodus 34:9, where the people’s stiff necked status is cited as a reason for God to remain with them. If the challenges of life are to be met by a stubborn resolve, that gumption originates in the part of the body where we swallow hard, that unguarded spot most vulnerable to the spear's thrust, the batter's foul tip - and, as we saw with George Floyd - the knee's plunge. We all need to develop a thick skin - but more than that, a stiff neck.
Proverbs 29:1 explains why and when stiff-neckedness is detrimental - when it doesn’t stop. Someone who is, after repeated warnings, still unable to overcome the stubborn resistance to change, suddenly be broken beyond repair. it gets to the issue of how reproof should be delivered and accepted in Jewish tradition. Maturity is marked by not only accepting correctives, but loving it.
Trump’s stiff neck will not allow him to turn around and see the damage he has caused, the ruins behind him. He will never change, at least not for the better, which is why we can only assume past will be prologue if he gains another term - or even if he doesn’t.
See my column: Loving Reproof or Rebuke - Ohev et HaTochachot
Rasha is not just “bad.” Traffic on the 405 is bad. The Red Sox are bad. But if in Hebrew you call someone a Rasha, don’t expect a new years card next Rosh Hashanah. To be called a Rasha puts you in the seventh circle of Jewish hell. Haman’s full name is traditionally, Haman Ha-Rasha. Haman the Evil One. One month after Purim, the second child at the seder is called “Rasha,” although we’ve tried to matza-wash him or her. Hey, I’ve even tried to white wash Haman, saying he was misunderstood.
So on Yom Kippur, we are all confessing, collectively but also individually, to being Rasha. That is incredible, when you think of it - and accounts for a good deal of the reason so many Jews are in therapy.
We’re not really as bad as Haman. But we are all capable of inflicting a world of trouble on this planet, either through our action or our inaction. We need to recognize our limitless potential for evil - and good.
Donald Trump is incapable of doing that. Otherwise, he would not bring such pain to so many people, even as we speak, with his crazy accusations.
Shichatnu In this causative form, the root s.h.t. means to ruin, destroy, spoil, corrupt or pervert. Proverbs 6:32 is a prime example: “Whoever commits adultery lacks understanding (chasar lev). Anyone who does so perverts/corrupts/destroys his soul.” - Rabbi Debra Orenstein
We could go into depth on Trump’s attitude toward women here. Also, interestingly, Jewish environmental laws are collected under the rubric of bal tashchit, “Do not destroy,” which also comes from that same Hebrew root. So as we beat our chests for that one, we should all say an extra prayer for the US southeast this weekend, and think of how we all have contributed to this overheated world that we live in.
Trump’s environmental sins are being shortchanged during this campaign, for whatever reason. It doesn’t mean we should ignore the fact that his reelection would be an existential threat to our planet.
The Torah considers certain sins to fall under the category of “abominations.” Frankly, standards change as to what they are, but the main point is that they are serious. Like Rasha above, Yom Kippur lets no one off the hook. What ever it is that human beings are capable of doing wrong, we’ve done it. Or at least someone has done it, and we’re collectively responsible.
But it’s not just the deeds, it’s how and why they are done. The Hebrew root here comes for the expression for desire and lust. See the Bible Hub analysis below:
Trump is impulsive beyond repair; the Access Hollywood tape and lurid details of his treatment of women over the decades indicate that he is a prisoner to his lust, his greed, his appetite, his …well, if there were an eighth deadly sin, he’d be guilty of that one too.
Ta’ainu means “we have erred” or “we have wandered.” When Hagar wanders in the desert, physically and spiritually lost, this is the Hebrew root that describes her movement (Genesis 21:14). - Rabbi Debra Orenstein
We are adrift right now in our country. That accounts for the pervasive pessimism that surrounds us, something that Trump tries to feed into. We can’t let him. It’s not easy to be hopeful with so many things dragging us down. But some things are lifting us up too. We need to find our way home. And to find joy in the journey.
We need to recognize that everyone is watching us. Not in a Big Brother kind of way, but that we have the potential to lift others up even as we lift ourselves. Trump’s greatest sin perhaps is that he turned people against each other and against their country and democracy, all for selfish ends. All because of his inability to accept his losses. He forced his failures to become our failures. He dragged us down to his fate.
It remains to be seen whether we will be able to dig ourselves out of this morass. But this is the week to gird ourselves and find that source of strength, courage and joy to get us through.
My best wishes for an easy fast and may we all be sealed in the Book of Life, particularly those in Florida and Israel, along with their neighbors.