As opposed to what one often hears, Abraham is not called by God to be the patriarch of a “chosen nation.” Instead, he is called by God to be “Av Hamon Goyim,“ the patriarch of many nations. There is diversity and inter-group dynamics built right into the very beginning. Perhaps this is part of what the rabbis had in mind when they associated the character of Avraham with the Divine trait of hesed, loving-kindness. At its root, hesed is about sensitivity, even empathy, towards other people.
“Hesed" is also a characteristic trait of the Feinstein rabbinic dynasty, one of the most significant and influential in the 20th century.
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein (1929-2020), speaking of the lessons he learned from his father, the universally revered and authoritative Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, actually framed Torah study itself through a lens of hesed:
The Torah is referred to as Toras chesed, which means, according to the Rosh Yeshivah, that “When Yidden get up after learning a sugya, they should be more compassionate, kinder, with more room in their heart for others, and if that doesn’t happen, then they didn’t really learn it, and they should sit down and learn it again.”
In other words, Torah study, even at its most technical and abstract, could and should be an exercise in developing empathy.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986) was a toweringly influential American rabbinic figure in the second half of the 20th century. Rav Moshe would refer to America as a “medinah shel hesed,” a country of loving-kindness.
Before elections, a letter he wrote back in 1984 urging his followers to vote still is often circulated.
Notice how he locates the responsibility to vote in hakarat hatov - gratitude/appreciation - for the safety and opportunity that America gave hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants (like himself!) looking to escape successive waves of persecution in Europe.
In contrast to so many organizations and movements today, Rav Moshe was not telling American Jews to vote so that the Jewish community would have a stronger voice in shaping public policy to its benefit. He is saying that American Jews are safer because of American democracy, in and of itself - and that American democracy is stronger when more people actively and freely participate. (Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL, would agree - he’s been saying it even pre-Trump.)
It is not much of a stretch to imagine that Rav Moshe saw voting itself as an act of hesed, an exercise in developing empathy.
This past summer, I asked Congressman Jamie Raskin if the thread that held together his memoir, “Unthinkable” was empathy. The empathy of others that gave him the support he needed to keep going following the tragic loss of his son, Tommy (and the empathy he found for others in their own suffering as a result), and the empathy at the root of any diverse democracy that comes from recognizing our interdependence on others to make society work. He emphatically agreed. In other words, again, the democratic process, and our participation in it, is about developing empathy.
Senator Raphael Warnock would also agree. Warnock’s civil rights and now legislative work expanding voting rights/access and the theology he teaches as a pastor overlap and reinforce each other. As he put it:
Democracy is, for me, the political enactment of a spiritual idea that all of us have a voice, that we all have human dignity and our voices ought to be heard in determining the direction of our country and our destiny within it.
The more people participating in American democracy, the stronger, more representative it becomes. The more it protects and supports everyone, from every background. The more the innate human dignity of each constituent is respected and upheld.
(That may mean that people used to wielding power may eventually have less of it. But the gains for everyone far outweigh that more limited loss.)
Of course, this is not the only way to understand Torah study OR voting. Neither is necessarily empathetic or sensitive to others. In fact, political movements both in America and Israel clearly demonstrate the opposite - voting as consolidation of political power, Torah/religious ideology as justification for political power. It goes without saying that if you see voting in that way, you would want to limit democracy and even entrench minority rule.
In states like Wisconsin, despite near 50-50 splits in statewide elections, the state legislature is on the verge of creating a veto-proof Republican majority because of extreme gerrymandering. When Tim Michels, Republican candidate for Governor of Wisconsin, can say “Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected governor,” what he means is “despite the will of the people,” not “reflecting the will of the people.” This is not voting in a spirit of hesed, but the opposite.
It is also surely not a coincidence that political factions built around a more rigid, exclusionary, ethno-nationalist vision of torah are also more leery of democracy. In many ways, the growing influence of the Religious Zionist party within Israel’s right-wing bloc parallels the rise of Christian Nationalists within the Republican Party in America. Both movements are simply less interested in democracy, especially when popular opinion stands against them.
To finish where I began - Abraham is not called by God to be the patriarch of a “chosen nation.” Instead, he is called by God to be “Av Hamon Goyim,“ the patriarch of many nations. Abraham is known in rabbinic thought as the paragon of hesed, of empathy.
Not taking what you can get - but strengthening the bonds that connect everyone, so that everyone is better supported.
This is what I’m thinking about heading into election day.