By Hannah Reich Berman
Not long ago, I heard a speech given by my dear nephew Yaakov Schragge Thaler. To me, Yaakov Schragge will always remain Jeffrey, since that is what we called him in the early years of his life, and old habits are hard to break. Jeffrey (a.k.a. Yaakov) spoke at the bar mitzvah of his nephew Yisrael, the son of Jeffrey’s brother Steven. Like Jeffrey, Steven also goes by a different name and is now known as Zvi—but, similarly, Zvi will always be Steven to me.
To be sure, such changes in what we call people can be confusing. Currently, I am thinking about someone else who can use a different name to go by—I am thinking about a man named Donald. To the best of my knowledge, Donald has kept his original name. I know that I never heard him referred to as Doniel, for example. Nevertheless, he is entitled to get an alias or two. One would be “The Donald.” Others would be “Motor Mouth” and “Mr. Modesty.”
My nephew Jeffrey’s speech at that bar mitzvah touched on a variety of topics. One of them was the importance of being humble and behaving with modesty. As an example, he referred to the recitation that a Jew makes each morning. We know it as “Modeh Ani,” and it is said upon awakening as we thank Hashem for returning to us our souls which were not with us during our slumber. This is something that we learn in early childhood. I often wondered why the first two words were reversed. Instead of “I give thanks . . . ,” it translates to “Thanks I give . . .” When Jeffrey finished speaking, I had a clear understanding of why the “I” does not come first. As a sign of humility, we do not put ourselves first.
Yisrael, the bar mitzvah boy, gave a flawless leining. It was beyond amazing, and ours was a most beautiful family simcha. All of this took place one year ago, and I had all but forgotten many of the points in Jeffrey’s speech. But the message about the modesty and humility of man remained with me, because I recite Modeh Ani each morning. The message has come back to me big-time over the past several months because of Donald Trump. Actually, I think of it each time he opens his mouth. It seems as though every one of his sentences begins with “I.”
The Republican front-runner, as he is now called, may very well end up being our president. It appears that he might get the nomination. And while it is possible that Hillary Clinton will beat him, she may not be available to do so—for in spite of her refusal to acknowledge the possibility of being indicted, she may be facing criminal charges. She calls what the FBI is doing a “statistical review.” She refers to it as such even though everyone knows that it is a criminal investigation. The FBI does not conduct statistical reviews. The government also would not grant immunity, as it has for some of Hillary’s staff, if it were not conducting a criminal investigation.
Without question, Hillary gets an A for her inventiveness in coming up with the words “statistical review.” It is a whopper of a lie! And she gets an A+ in avoidance, as she has never once acknowledged that there is a criminal investigation. She is a first-rate liar, but on this topic she has reached a new level—the woman is delusional.
Still, it is The Donald who is the most fascinating. Not everything he says is true, but then what politician always tells the truth? If pols were 100% truthful they would never get to be front-runners. Heck, they would never get anywhere at all in the game of politics. But, putting truth aside, and focusing on Donald’s other obvious flaws, never has one man shown less humility than this guy has. His use of the personal pronoun “I” always comes first. Chances are that he has never heard of Modeh Ani, but one day he just might. As a seemingly devoted grandfather, he may have the opportunity to hear his Jewish grandchildren recite it. But it is doubtful that he will be aware of the reversal of the first two words or the reason for the reversal.
None of that would be a problem for Bernie Sanders, who is an apologetic Jew. He lived in Israel, on a kibbutz, with his first wife, who was Jewish. They divorced, and he is now married to a non-Jewish woman. He never references the fact that he was born a Jew and takes it a step further when he says that he will put pressure on Israel to cooperate with the Palestinians. True to character, or lack of it, the grandfatherly-looking Bernie did not attend the AIPAC conference. Donald was there, as was Hillary; but Bernie, the only Jew among them, kept his distance. So he too gets high marks—for consistency! However, it was probably a wise move for him to stay away from AIPAC, since any pro-Israel people who observed his demeanor on the subject and heard him speak about wanting the people of Israel to compromise with their sworn enemies would not be likely to give him a warm reception.
It appears that ol’ Bernie does not have a real shot at the Democratic nomination. And it is possible that Hillary just might not be around if the FBI nabs her. So that leaves The Donald, Mr. Modesty himself. He is the one person that all the pundits predicted would crash and burn after a few brief months. So much for that! Life is strange. That’s just the way it is.
Hannah Berman lives in Woodmere and gives private small-group lessons in mah-jongg and canasta. She can be reached at Savtahannah@aol.com or 516-295-4435.