Hellary and The Tramp

Excuse my ignorance, but I don’t see any decent, traditionally-minded candidates running for President. If they did exist, it seems that they were eaten alive by the ferocious, piranha-like media. As it stands now, it looks like the race will be between Clinton and Trump. Let’s take a closer look at our candidates, shall we?

In one corner, we have Hellary – and if she wins, she gonna take the country down to Hell. “Corrupt” and “pathological liar” are the two most common adjectives used to describe her. Not wanting to disappoint her adoring public, Hellary does her best to live up to her reputation by using her foolproof, two-pronged approach to get herself out of any scandal: buy her way out of it, or lie her way out of it. Apparently it’s working just fine, as she seems to be as infallible as the Pope or Ronald Reagan.

In the other corner, we have Tramp, a hot-headed billionaire businessman who is the poster child for unpredictable. That’s what gives him his star appeal, no? That, plus a big mouth that’s missing a filter – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If Tramp doesn’t win this election, I think he could have a pretty good shot if he ever decides to run for Prime Minister of Israel.

While Tramp couldn’t be further from homeless, as my pet name for him implies, he is certainly traveling around the country, asking for money in the form of “political donations;” hence, The Donald should be known from now on as The Tramp.

It’s a good thing I’m not a crooked politician, because if I were, I would totally be asking for “political donations” to fund my campaign/monthly trips to Hawaii to calm my frazzled political nerves. Now that I think about it… maybe I’ll also run for some government office! I could really use an all-expense-paid, first-class trip to Hawaii. By myself. Is that so wrong?

While I’m certainly no political analyst, I do have an opinion, and you’re gonna hear it. In my (humble?) opinion, it doesn’t matter who will win this Presidential race.

I have divided the country into two main groups. Group One consists of the die-hard Republicans and Democrats, who religiously believe that their candidate will save the day. Group Two consists of the general public, most of whom are severely under-informed, either due to unwilling ignorance from watching Fox News, or due to willing ignorance, because they can’t tear themselves away from Facebook and Twitter for long enough to actually find out what’s going on in this great big non-virtual world of ours.

To the die-hards, I have this to say: your candidate is not the Moshiach! He or she is not going to single-handedly save the country! If you still think that one person can control the U.S. without any input from the rest of the government, then you have gotten too used to Obama. You would be better off living under a dictator, since it matches better with your political tastes. Oh, wait! Obama basically runs the country like a dictator!

To the rest of the sheeple, go back to social media. Your vote doesn’t count, anyway.

Here’s the real issue that most people seem to be missing: the reason that it doesn’t matter who wins is because the fate of the United States has already been decided with last year’s Supreme Court verdict on Obergefell v. Hodges. This was the famous case that made homosexual marriage legal throughout the entire country.

While most of the country was applauding this so-called momentous decision by the Supreme Court, the few with any sense left in their heads saw this as a very sad day for traditionalism. The future has been forever changed. No longer is marriage a sanctified act between a man and a woman, as Hashem intended it to be. Now, it is also a legal union between two people of the same gender.

While gay marriage was already approved in several states, the blanket approval that it has received has made it appear to be morally on par with heterosexual marriage. So, what’s the real issue with this?

This new equality symbolizes the end of the U.S. in several ways. Children are now exposed to a whole new reality, as they will grow up in a society that believes there is no difference between a man marrying a man and a man marrying a woman.

Second, the ban of political correctness has practically suffocated a person’s right to freedom of speech, and even his right to base his decisions on traditional beliefs. Already there have been many legal cases of gay couples suing caterers, florists, and wedding chapels because they refused to offer the couples their services. As the wedding providers’ refusals were based on their beliefs that marriage is meant to be between a man and a woman, these couples sued them in court – and won every time.

This will be a more frequent occurrence, and don’t think that Orthodox Jewish shuls will be able to escape this issue. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

How does this decision seal the fate of the U.S.? While many people view it as a very unfortunate turn in the wrong direction, could it not be that I am exaggerating just a little bit? After all, I do have a slight track record of over-dramatizing things.

Let’s take a look at the Midrash to find our answer. In Parashat Bereshit, it states: “Rabbi Huna taught in the name of Rabbi Yosef: The generation of the Flood was not blotted out of the world until they made official marriage contracts between people of the same gender…”

Hmmm. It seems that I’m not exaggerating after all. The generation of the Flood was, like, totally wicked, man! They had every blessing in the world; tremendous wealth, bountiful harvests, and everyone enjoyed perfect health. Yet, with all of their blessings, they insisted on living against Hashem’s will in every way.

Hashem tolerated their American lifestyle as much as possible, until they crossed the line by legalizing gay marriage. Why was this action like, so, totally unacceptable? What do I look like, a rabbi? I really don’t know for sure, but I think it might be that society was attempting to normalize something that goes directly against the order of creation.

Whatever the reason may be, it is amazing to me that we’re going through the same thing all over again. The results, whenever they happen, will be predictable. If you remember your history, Sodom was destroyed in a dramatic, Spielberg-esque, rain of fire and brimstone, which was recently discovered to be a result of a massive volcanic explosion. In a previous article, I already warned about the Yellowstone Caldera, a supervolcano hiding under a large section of Wyoming. When that thing erupts, you had better be at least 6,778 miles away! Can anyone guess which country is exactly 6,778 miles across the Atlantic from Wyoming??

* *  *

Feel free to send Racheli your questions, particularly in the areas of marriage, dating, child-rearing and women's role; write her at racheli@breslev.co.il