The horns of a dilemma; the American Interest

At Touro synagogue

March 3, 2018

The horns of a dilemma; the American interest

by Aaron Ginsburg

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Parshat Ki Tisa began with the command to have a census…Everyone who was counted was required (from the age of twenty) to make an offering… “the rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel.” This was the biblical version of one man, one vote, thousands of years ahead of its time.

Although the bible spoke out for democracy, this did not mean that everyone had equal qualifications. Going against the modern trend where everyone thinks they can master everything and do without experts, the bible comes down on the side of the tried and true,  

”See, I have singled out by Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. I have endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability and knowledge in every kind of craft: to make designs for work in gold , silver, and copper, to cut stones for setting and to carve wood-to work in every kind of craft.” 

Obaoliab son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan and others also had this skill, and were also assigned to make the Tent of Meeting and its appurtenances.

Rabbi Mandel mentioned that Michelangelo misinterpreted the bible, and so his sculpture of David has horns. The parsha says Moses’s face was radiant after meeting God. 

Moses by Michaelangelo

According to Wikipedia, the error goes back the fourth century Latin translation by Jerome, known as the Vulgate. It may have been a translation error, or it might have been Jerome’s way of saying that he was changed by meeting God. The Hebrew word “Keren” can be understood in several different ways. As the years went by our understanding did not reflect the nuances in Jerome’s interpretation.

In the Parsha, the episode of the Golden Calf took place. Moses lost his temper, and smashed the Ten commandments. Sometimes losing one’s temper can have unfortunate consequences.  

The Israelites were punished and many of the died. Rabbi Marc Mandel said that, “The lesson of the sermon was that we need to be careful to observe the Mitzvot of the Torah, because if we are not careful it could lead to things getting broken which is never good, even if Moshe did do the right thing.” 

We were joined by  Adam Garfinkle and his wife, Scilla Taylor. Scilla runs the Brookside Nature Center in Wheaton, Maryland. Adam Garfinkle edits a magazine called the “American Interest.” He was in town to speak to students at the Naval War College. He spoke briefly at the Kiddish at the request of Rabbi Mandel. He started by saying, “I’ve always wanted to be at Touro synagogue,  and I am happy to be here for Shabbat.” 

Adam taught in several universities, wrote speeches for George W. Bush’s Secretaries of State, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. He edited the “National Interest.” When that magazine changed its policies, he and others, Francis Fukuyama, being the prime mover,  founded the “American Interest.”

Francis Fukuyama is a political scientist. He has been labeled a neo-conservative, was involved with the Reagan adminstration and  supported the George W Bush in the run up to the Iraq war in 2003, but eventually opposed the war, and later, endorsed Obama for president. He is not someone that can be easily pigeonholed.  Mr. Fukuyama's grandfather was interned during WWII, like may other Japanese-Americans on the West Coast.

When Adam was asked if a biography was online, he said there was a wikipedia article. He would not vouch for its accuracy, saying it was probably submitted by his son.

In response to a question, he said that he had stopped reading Commentary Magazine years ago because its articles were all written from the same point of few.

He said that he is careful to included opposing points of view in the “American Interest,” sometimes having articles with opposite opinions side-by-side. This reminds me of the Talmud, which often mentions two sides of an argument. Today, many of us only read things that we agree with. It’s easier to just expose ourselves to things we agree with, but is it in the American interest, or in our interest?