This week we read Mishpatim as the portion from the Torah. After the high of receiving the 10 Commandments, we now receive a bunch of laws, rules and commandments that help us set up a just and righteous society. It is time to get down to brass tacks.  

This weekend is also Presidents’ Day Weekend. This got me thinking about how these two portions and our own democratic institutions intersect, if in fact, they do.  

In Pirke Avot warns us: “Be careful about the government, as they approach a man only when they need him. They seem like good friends in good times, but they don’t stay for him in time of his trouble.” (Pirke Avot 2 ; 3) And yet since Jeremiah’s day we have prayed for our government wherever we have been. 

J. Liebling’s has said that the “Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one” . . .

Our portion opens with a description of the rules for holding Hebrew slaves. Yes, despite having been slaves in the land of Egypt, Israelites were still permitted to have slaves. And despite being told over and over again that we should have one law for citizen and sojourner alike, there seems to be a different rule here for Hebrew slaves and non-Hebrew slaves. (Exodus 21:2-6)  

Many are surprised that Israelites owned slaves. Or that someone might want to be a slave for life. Yet it is these very verses that leaders in the southern United States used to justify continuing slavery before and during the Civil War. That kind of proof texting can be dangerous. It still is.  

This week is also Shabbat Shekalim, one of four special Sabbaths leading up to Passover which this year is in April. And, public confession. I had part of it correct on the weekly Torah sheets that guide those on the bimah as to what to read and that we announce page numbers from so that people can follow along. The correct haftarah for Shabbat Shekalim is  

However, on Shabbat I announced the wrong one. While others were reading about a census and how we count because each person gives a half-shekel, I read the haftarah that goes with Mishpatim, about the liberation of slaves, chapter 34 of Jeremiah. It is very clear. “that everyone should proclaim a release among them—that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female and that on one should keep his fellow Judean enslaved.” Then G-d gets angry, because the Israelites don’t fulfill their end of the bargain, their end of the covenant by freeing their slaves. And yet, the haftarah portion then does something remarkable. It goes backwards and we read Chapter 33 of Jeremiah which promises that G-d will restore Israelite fortunes and take them back in love. Full stop. 

How then does this relate to Presidents’ Day? We had American presidents who had slaves. Washington, Jefferson, Madison. The first seven presidents. Some knew that the institution of slavery was wrong. Some argued against it. When we get to President John Quincy Adams the history gets more complicated.  

In Massachusetts he apparently did not own slaves. In Washington, as president he did. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-enslaved-household-of-john-quincy-adams  

We know a lot about President Washington. We know what he ate. We know he had dentures. We know he owned slaves. We know that he wrote a powerful letter to the Jewish community of Newport, RI promising that the government of the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135 The guarantee of freedom of religion and no establishment of a state religion was ratified in the Bill of Rights in 1791.  

We know the story of his chopping down the cherry tree and Washington’s declaration that “I cannot tell a lie.” It is part of our American mythology. It is not unlike our midrash about Abraham. Abraham who invented monotheism, the believe in one God, is said to have told his father that the largest idol in Terah’s idol shop smashed the other idols. Our patriarchs (and our matriarchs), were not perfect people. Our presidents and leaders were and are not perfect people. Far from it. And we can continue to learn from them and from history.  

We need to teach that history. All of that history. We need to teach that Thomas Jefferson had slaves. That he even raped slaves. That he founded a great university but that he had had great debt. That he gave much of his library to settle some debts and others didn’t want to accept it because some of those books should not be read at all and maybe should be burned. https://www.americanheritage.com/jefferson-and-book-burners .  

There has been lots written about cancel culture, rewriting history, teaching it differently, taking down statues, putting others up. There has been lots written about banning books. About rewriting Roald Dahl, how to present a book like Are You There, God, It’s Me Margaret. 

It is important to understand history. It is important to continue to learn about history. Even if the stories as they were presented in elementary school seem to have changed as our knowledge increases. 

I am really clear on these points. I am against book banning and book burning. I am against re-editing books to shield students from uncomfortable truths. Books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Huck Finn are perpetually on banned book lists. Why? Often because it uses the N-word. I am for more knowledge and more understanding of history—and the context that goes with it. Owning slaves, while permissible in Exodus, was not OK in Jeremiah’s day. Owning slaves in Colonial America was wrong. Using the Bible to justify it was wrong. Instituting Jim Crow laws was wrong. But all of that happened. Racism still exists. Books like the 1619 Project and Caste and White Fragility make it abundantly clear. Conversations with friends make it even more poignant and real. Erasing it doesn’t make it not true. 

On this President’s Day we need to be really careful, really, really careful how we treat history. How we teach history. Biblical ‘history” which evolved over time. And American history. And yes, let’s eat a piece of cherry pie. Not because Washington did. Just because it is fun and it gives us an opportunity to have this very discussion. Over pie and maybe hot chocolate.