Roy Moore ran for Senate in Alabama in 2017 and lost. He had many weaknesses as a candidate, but the most important one was the accusation that he had made sexual advances to an underage girl four decades before. The Washington Post, which reported that allegations could not prove it, but bolstered it by adding claims that Moore had legal relationships with young women in their late teens when he was in his late twenties.
I was asked, on the spot, to comment on the Moore story when it came out. I said that the underage allegations, if true, were very bad, but I also pointed out that the Post had deliberately conflated legal relationships with an illegal one. I didn't say this at the time, but one of the reasons I was sensitive to the issue was that I myself met my wife when she was 17 and I was 27. We began dating at 18 and we have been happily married for nearly 14 years, with three children.
Long story short -- I was accused of defending a pedophile, and pedophilia. A writer for the Bulwark -- the Trump-hating, so-called "conservative" outfit -- repeated the false accusation today. I responded on Twitter. But it's worth noting the depths to which some people will descend in an attempt to smear their opponents in a political argument.
One more point: Moore recently won a defamation suit against a Democratic super PAC for the kind of conflation I am describing.
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
