How the Jews Elected Joe Biden

How could Donald Trump lose? He blessed Israel.  

Hashem spoke to the Jewish People in a very loud voice. What happened in last week’s elections came straight from the King. 

I am not a prophet that can tell you what Hashem is doing. All I know is that it comes from Him. It is purely good. It is for our benefit.  

How do we benefit from this? We are commanded to bless Hashem for the bad as much as for the good, so there has to be good in this.  

I think the coming years are a Divine opportunity for us to fix mistakes we might have made. 

1. We worship Donald Trump.  

The Rambam warns us not to consider the thought that there is another divinity aside from God (Mishneh Torah Introduction to Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah). That is part of the commandment not to commit idolatry.  

Did we put too much faith in Donald Trump’s love of Israel? Did our fixation on the American leader get so out of hand that we anointed him our lord and savior?  

I had a discussion with a co-worker who is very left wing, and he schooled me. After talking about how great it is to have someone in Washington who is such a good friend, he reminded me that this isn't the Israeli way. He said, "In Israel, we don't rely on anyone but ourselves." His argument was closer to the truth than mine.  

In Israel, we don't rely on anyone but Hashem.  

Our reliance on President Trump crossed the line. When we saw problems, instead of looking up the Crown of Glory for salvation, we directed our eyes towards the West Wing.  

2. We worship our own intellect.  

Rabbi Arush admonishes us not to rely on our intellect. Our brains seek logic, but as Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan reminds us, logic is a tool Hashem uses to run His world — and it's not the only tool He uses.  

Hashem's "logic" is beyond ours. So much so, that very often His logic seems to us illogical. We cannot use our brains to process His actions.  

Emuna is the knowledge that everything G-d does is good. It only appears bad because we have yet to see the inherent good that’s already there.  

That is why after we see an honest man lose all his money, or a righteous couple suffer a terrorist attack, or someone who blessed Israel for four years suffer – we continue to call Hashem “The G-d of Justice” three times a day in our prayers.  

Having enough information available to us as the average CIA analyst, forces upon us the temptation to come to our own conclusions and render them the absolute truth.  

The fact is that media outlets all have special interests – political, financial, and personal – to tell you their truth, driving all of us to conclusions that are not reality.  

3. We worship screens. 

The big winners over the past 4 years of nonstop politics has been the media.  

Television channels. Social media. Search engines. Mobile phones. They all cleaned up while cleaning us out of our free time, peace of mind, and money.  

Did you know that Tim Cook, the creator of billions of smartphones, refuses to let his nephew use one?  

If the creators of all this media – the people who know what goes into it more than the rest of us – keep their family away from it – that tells us everything about how safe they are.  

The drama of each election has forced us to treat a computer screen like an additional limb. Even worse, like an additional lung – something we cannot live without.  

These screens take us away from Hashem. Instead of recognizing G-d in the beauty of the clouds, the wonder of a flower, the sophistication of a fly that can defy gravity at will, all of our questions are answered by Rabbi Google.  

More like Google the Guru. 

All the garbage stuffed into these devices clogs up our soul and commandeers our mind when we are learning Torah. When we are praying to Hashem. When we are with our families.  

We have the power to cast our vote by turning the thing off. We can replace our smartphone for a simple cellphone that calls and texts. We can reduce our Internet use to an hour a day, and filter out the ads, distractions and shmutz (dirty stuff). We can disconnect from the lying media and believe that one way or another, Hashem will certainly make sure that we need to know what we actually need to know. We can cancel cable. 

I am not saying return to the 19th century, but when it comes to entertainment, tell Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Microsoft, HBO, and Disney what you think of them and the things they are doing to us.  

The media is over $100 billion in debt so YES! Your denying them your money has the power to sink these monsters.  

4. We Ignored Hashem on Corona. 
 

Few were the leaders among Israel that told the truth: Coronavirus is a plague sent by Hashem to shake the world up into repentance and it is our responsibility, as His chosen nation, to lead the path back to G-d. (You can read Rabbi Arush’s plea for leaders and people to wake up and realize that Corona is about more than learning to wear a mask and wash hands with soap, here).  

Instead of introspection, during this global plague we made an open Sodomite a Minister of Israel. We started running public transportation on Shabbat. Our Supreme Court demanded legislation to enable marriage to include Sodomite unions, making us the first nation in the Land of Israel to normalize such unions since Sodom.  

On an individual level, we didn’t do enough. I didn’t do enough.  

For four years the world left us alone. We had the chance to tell Hashem thank You. We had the chance to earn this time out from the assault by the last president. 

We waxed fat.  

Now, Hashem is sending us a leader that might whip us back into shape. If the “big guy” doesn’t make it four years, the one waiting in the wings will be someone that wakes us up.  

Both Biden and Harris have taken millions of dollars from the Iran lobby.  

History has proven that if we don’t return to Hashem in good times, He will shake things up to bring us home.  

We still have the option to make repentance. Hashem owns the heart of the leaders of this world. If we take the initiative and lead the charge back to G-d, a new administration doesn’t have to be a cause for concern. Even more, Hashem’s decrees are the only ones that stand – even if the new administration is against Israel and the Jews, they cannot do anything to us if we repent, and thus change the decree in Heaven against us. 

“If only my people would obey Me, 

Israel would walk in My ways. 

In a moment, I would subdue their foes. 

I would, with My own hands, repay them. 

Those who loathe G-d but deny it, 

Will have their rebuke forever. 

But you who obey, I will feed with the fat of grain. 

And satisfy with honey from the rock.” 

Psalms 81:14-17 

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David Ben Horin lives in Israel with his wife and children.