Trump’s Assassination Attempt Can Be A Catalyst To Healthier Disagreements

Donald Trump – past US President and Republican presidential nominee – was shot this past weekend at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in an attempted assassination. We avoid politics on this site because of how divisive it is by nature. Thankfully, reasonable people all around the world have acknowledged that violence is never the answer to political disagreements.

Intellectually honest people are aware that rhetoric has gotten too heated, which has led to violence on both sides of the aisle. (Don’t worry – I know the other side is worse than yours is.) If we can learn anything from this terrifying episode perhaps we can learn how to disagree better with our political opponents. Fortunately, the Torah has a terrific lesson on how to do this.

According to the Talmud, two contradictory truths can be true simultaneously:

For three years there was a dispute between The House of Shammai and The House of Hillel. The House of Shammai would say, ‘The halachah (law) is in agreement with our views.’ The House of Hillel contended, ‘The halachah is in agreement with our views.’ Then a bat kol, a heavenly voice announced: ‘Elu v’elu divrei Elohim chayim, these and these — the teachings of both groups — are the words of the living God. (Eruvin:13b)

How can two opposing truths both be correct? Because different people have different experiences and also have different brains that process those experiences differently to lead them to different conclusions. For years, I wrote about how great it is to be an Orthodox Jew on the pages of this site. I heard from people who personally had negative experiences being Orthodox Jews. They rejected my experience as valid. They called me a liar and a whitewasher. In turn, I rejected their experiences as valid. It was easy to tell myself these were just some rabble rousers and not take them seriously. For some time, we were on opposing sides, unwilling to hear each other.

But then, several years ago, a couple who had had negative experiences in the Orthodox community reached out to me because they believed that my positive experience with being Orthodox was real. They wanted to know how to attain this perspective for themselves. When they trusted that my experience was real and authentic, I was able to listen to their experience and see that theirs was valid too. (This is how our Makom branch, to help former and questioning Haredi Jews find a positive place in Judaism was founded.)

Instead of opposing sides disrespecting and silencing each other, each of us listened and learned. I know that it is possible to both grow up in healthy and thriving environments as an Orthodox Jew and in negative, dysfunctional ones. Now that I understand what goes wrong for some people, I am more equipped and committed to making things better for them.

We’re living in a time now where no one wants to hear opinions that make them uncomfortable. Too many people have a narrative about how the world is and works and can only feel good when that narrative is repeated over and over again. Anything beyond their small box is evil, stupid, crazy, deluded.

But this is a dangerous way to live. It only allows us to see part of the truth. Why does the Talmud want us to see that two warring opinions can both be right? Because God has a bird’s eye view of the world that we don’t have and He sees how vastly different the experiences of man can be. One person experiencing life one way should NOT invalidate another person experiencing it exactly the opposite way. (Obviously there are ideas that are beyond the pale, which we are not discussing here.)

When we are ready accept that there are realities and experiences outside of where we are situated, we can be ready to have deeper understanding of our fellow human beings. This can allow us to find the happiness we may be searching for and so that we can work together and repair what’s broken. The shooter missed Donald Trump’s head by a fraction of an inch. But we should not miss this opportunity to heal as people and a nation.

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