There is an inherent tension between individual liberty and governmental authority.
By MICHAEL M. COHENA member of the audience looks on wearing a United States-Israel themed custom suit during the AIPAC convention at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, U.S., March 2, 2020.(photo credit: REUTERS/TOM BRENNER)
In his magnum opus, Judaism as a Civilization: Toward a Reconstruction of American-Jewish Life, Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan wrote, “Jews in the Diaspora must of necessity live within two civilizations.” If you will, in the United States one needs to have the same dexterity in finding the Arts & Leisure section of the Sunday New York Times as finding a tractate of the Talmud.The unfortunate reality is that most Jewish Americans can easily find a specific section of The New York Times but not so easily a tractate of the Talmud, much less the weekly Torah portion.Kaplan took living in both civilizations seriously, so much so that he compiled a collection of “readings, songs, and prayers for the celebration of American holidays,” called The Faith of America. In it are readings for 13 holidays, including the most popular holidays like Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day and Thanksgiving, but also lesser observed holidays like Arbor Day and Flag Day.He also has readings for Election Day and Constitution Day. Kaplan wrote the book because, “Unfortunately, the observance of these days is too often perfunctory. They are treated merely as occasions for recreation... a vague and shallow patriotism, devoid of any specific content, is frequently the only sentiment which is evoked.”The United States Constitution is the structural DNA of the United States. It is the basis of the three branches of government – legislative, executive, and judicial – including the system of checks and balances between them. It also creates the federal and state governments, as well as the safeguards of numerous individual liberties of its citizens.In some ways one can argue that it is the most important of holidays in the United States. Not only is it barely observed, but the vast majority of US citizens have no idea when it happens. The answer is September 17th, the day in 1787 in Philadelphia when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document.IN OUR Jewish civilization we count from Passover to Shavuot. One of the reasons for that is to connect freedom and the societal structures and societal responsibilities that go with that freedom. What would it be like if we did the same thing in the United States by linking our holiday of freedom, Independence Day, to our holiday of the responsibilities that go with that freedom, Constitution Day? That is to say, to count from July 4th to September 17th every year.Though the US Constitution broadly proclaims, “We the people of the United States,” opinions are often framed in the United States by saying I have the right as an individual citizen to something. While individual freedoms are the hallmark of any democracy, and should be, we should not lose sight that our collective responsibilities are also paramount, “to form a more perfect union.”Our response, or rather our scattered responses, in the United States to COVID-19 illustrate that point. We would be better off to see our individual actions as part of a greater collective effort and act accordingly.Discussing COVID-19, Dr. Michael Polifka advises that we look at, “the issue of risk as either from a personal or public view. Personal risk: If one skydives, the risks are pretty much all on the individual person. But if one drives drunk there is the personal risk for driving into a tree but also the risk to another person being hit by the drunk driver. The risk for the latter is mitigated for the rest of us in the public by the rules and social morays we have set up. The more they are followed the less the public risk for all of us.”That is to say, our individual actions when part of a common action can have a cumulative effect from which we all benefit. We know that reduced speed limits, mandatory wearing of seat belts, and installing baby seats have saved thousands of lives. These days, most of us don’t get in car accidents, but we wear seat belts as a communal, societal and social response, and we are all the safer because of that.There is an inherent tension between individual liberty and governmental authority. All democracies are created with that strained dynamic. The challenge is finding the right balance of the two. Rather than seeing them as polar opposites, we would be better off to see them as part of a continuum within the democratic process.The counting from July 4th to September 17th might be one way to remind us of that continuity. On July 4th we celebrate the Declaration of Independence, while on September 17th we celebrate the US Constitution, our Declaration of Interdependence.The writer is a rabbi who teaches at the Arava Institute and Bennington College.
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