The Choosing People: Judaism and Democracy

Blessing for Torah study:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה
יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ
מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם,
אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו,
וְצִוָּנוּ
לַעֲסק בְּדִבְרֵי-תורָה:

Barukh atah Adonai,

Eloheinu Melekh ha'olam

asher kideshanu bemitzvotav

vetzivanu la'asok bedivrei Torah.

Blessed are You Adonai

our God, Sovereign of the universe,

Who has sanctified us with Your commandments,

and Who has commanded us to

engage in words of Torah.

דברים ט״ז:י״ח

(יח) שֹׁפְטִ֣ים וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים תִּֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ בְּכָל־שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ לִשְׁבָטֶ֑יךָ וְשָׁפְט֥וּ אֶת־הָעָ֖ם מִשְׁפַּט־צֶֽדֶק׃

Deuteronomy 16:18

(18) You shall give yourself magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that YHWH your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice.

“The demand for justice runs through the entirety of Jewish tradition.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in an address to the Annual Meeting of the American Jewish Committee, May, 1995

"The only political ideals an oppressed people can have are freedom and justice. Democracy can be their only form of organization.”
Hannah Arendt, “Jewish Politics” (written 1942) in The Jewish Writings

Question:
Ginsburg and Arendt give different reasons for the Jewish affinity for Democracy. What are they?

Contemporary Jewish religious and political thinkers evoking Torah:

"Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, the vision."
Abraham Joshua Heschel, “On Prayer” in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays, ed. Susannah Heschel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996), 263.

“We still believe, or many of us do, what the Exodus first taught about the meaning and possibility of politics and about its proper form: First, wherever you live, it is probably Egypt; second, that there is a better place, a more attractive promised land; and third, that the way to the land is through the wilderness. And there is no way to get from here to there except by joining together and marching.”
Michael Walzer, Exodus and Revolution

The birth of American democracy and the birth of Judaism:

The founding documents of American democracy demonstrate the antipathy of democracy to monarchy in ways that, perhaps surprisingly, are paralleled through the Torah:

"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States."
Article I, Section 9, The Constitution of the United States of America

"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. [...]
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. [...]
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. [...]
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States."
The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America

No (human) kings:

סידור אשכנז, ימי חול, תפילת מנחה, סיום תפילה, עלינו א׳

(א) עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ לַאֲדון הַכּל. [...]

וַאֲנַחְנוּ כּורְעִים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים וּמודִים לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדושׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: [...]

הוּא אֱלהֵינוּ אֵין עוד. אֱמֶת מַלְכֵּנוּ. אֶפֶס זוּלָתו.[...]

אֵין עוד:

Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Minchah, Concluding Prayers, Alenu 1

It is our duty to praise the Lord of all. [...]

So we bend and bow and acknowledge the Sovereign of the kings of kings, the Holy One, Blessed Be. [...]

This is our God, there is no other;

ours is the true Sovereign, there is nothing else. [...]

No other!

Biblical origins:

שמות ו׳:א׳

(א) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה עַתָּ֣ה תִרְאֶ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֖ה לְפַרְעֹ֑ה כִּ֣י בְיָ֤ד חֲזָקָה֙ יְשַׁלְּחֵ֔ם וּבְיָ֣ד חֲזָקָ֔ה יְגָרְשֵׁ֖ם מֵאַרְצֽוֹ׃ (ס)

Exodus 6:1

(1) Then Adonai said to Moses, “You shall soon see what I will do to Pharaoh: he shall let them go because of a greater might; indeed, because of a greater might he shall drive them from his land.”

שמות ז׳:כ״ו

(כו) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה שַׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־עַמִּ֖י וְיַֽעַבְדֻֽנִי׃

Exodus 7:26

(26) Adonai said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says Adonai: Let My people go that they may serve Me.'

דברים י״ז:י״ד-כ׳

(יד) כִּֽי־תָבֹ֣א אֶל־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ נֹתֵ֣ן לָ֔ךְ וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֖הּ וְיָשַׁ֣בְתָּה בָּ֑הּ וְאָמַרְתָּ֗ אָשִׂ֤ימָה עָלַי֙ מֶ֔לֶךְ כְּכָל־הַגּוֹיִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר סְבִיבֹתָֽי׃ (טו) שׂ֣וֹם תָּשִׂ֤ים עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ מֶ֔לֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִבְחַ֛ר יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ בּ֑וֹ מִקֶּ֣רֶב אַחֶ֗יךָ תָּשִׂ֤ים עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ מֶ֔לֶךְ לֹ֣א תוּכַ֗ל לָתֵ֤ת עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ אִ֣ישׁ נָכְרִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־אָחִ֖יךָ הֽוּא׃ (טז) רַק֮ לֹא־יַרְבֶּה־לּ֣וֹ סוּסִים֒ וְלֹֽא־יָשִׁ֤יב אֶת־הָעָם֙ מִצְרַ֔יְמָה לְמַ֖עַן הַרְבּ֣וֹת ס֑וּס וַֽיהוָה֙ אָמַ֣ר לָכֶ֔ם לֹ֣א תֹסִפ֗וּן לָשׁ֛וּב בַּדֶּ֥רֶךְ הַזֶּ֖ה עֽוֹד׃ (יז) וְלֹ֤א יַרְבֶּה־לּוֹ֙ נָשִׁ֔ים וְלֹ֥א יָס֖וּר לְבָב֑וֹ וְכֶ֣סֶף וְזָהָ֔ב לֹ֥א יַרְבֶּה־לּ֖וֹ מְאֹֽד׃ (יח) וְהָיָ֣ה כְשִׁבְתּ֔וֹ עַ֖ל כִּסֵּ֣א מַמְלַכְתּ֑וֹ וְכָ֨תַב ל֜וֹ אֶת־מִשְׁנֵ֨ה הַתּוֹרָ֤ה הַזֹּאת֙ עַל־סֵ֔פֶר מִלִּפְנֵ֥י הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים הַלְוִיִּֽם׃ (יט) וְהָיְתָ֣ה עִמּ֔וֹ וְקָ֥רָא ב֖וֹ כָּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיָּ֑יו לְמַ֣עַן יִלְמַ֗ד לְיִרְאָה֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהָ֔יו לִ֠שְׁמֹר אֶֽת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵ֞י הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֛את וְאֶת־הַחֻקִּ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לַעֲשֹׂתָֽם׃ (כ) לְבִלְתִּ֤י רוּם־לְבָבוֹ֙ מֵֽאֶחָ֔יו וּלְבִלְתִּ֛י ס֥וּר מִן־הַמִּצְוָ֖ה יָמִ֣ין וּשְׂמֹ֑אול לְמַעַן֩ יַאֲרִ֨יךְ יָמִ֧ים עַל־מַמְלַכְתּ֛וֹ ה֥וּא וּבָנָ֖יו בְּקֶ֥רֶב יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (ס)

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

(14) If, after you have entered the land that Adonai your God has assigned to you, and taken possession of it and settled in it, you decide, “I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,” (15) you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by Adonai your God. Be sure to set as king over yourself one of your own people; you must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your kinsman. (16) Moreover, he shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses, since Adonai has warned you, “You must not go back that way again.” (17) And he shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess. (18) When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. (19) Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere Adonai his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these laws. (20) Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel.

Questions:

What strikes you about this text? What is surprising?
What is the implicit context for this passage -- do the people have a king at this point or not? Why does the text believe that the people might want a king?
What is the Torah’s attitude toward the question of appointing a king or not?
There are a lot of caveats here! What is the Torah anxious about wrt the powers of a king and how he should rule and be guided? Which of these concerns do you share when it comes to modern “kings” such as authoritarian or totalitarian leaders?