Rabbi Ethan Tucker '93 Discusses "Civil Discourse in Politics" Before the Mayoral Election & on the Anniversary of Rabin's Assassination

The Upper School received an incredible visit from Rabbi Ethan Tucker ’93, Yeshivat Hadar’s co-founder and rosh yeshiva. He visited on a significant date: November 3, both the day before the NYC mayoral election and the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Rabbi Tucker gave a talk titled “Civil Discourse in Politics: Lessons from Yitzhak Rabin and Senator Joe Lieberman.” Senator Joe Lieberman z”l was the only Shomer Shabbat member of the Senate, was the vice-presidential nominee on the 2000 Al Gore ticket, and was the beloved stepfather of Rabbi Tucker. Drawing from the circumstances surrounding Rabin’s assassination, and from the life and philosophies of Senator Lieberman, Rabbi Tucker fascinated and enlightened students about engaging in political disagreement in a healthy and productive way.

He began his talk by asking, “Where did the Jewish tradition of machloket go?” While Judaism has always valued debate, disagreement has often become vilification. He explained that when Israelis debated whether they supported the Oslo Accords—a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, in which Rabin even shook the hand of Palestinian President and terrorist leader Asser Yarafat—many vilified Rabin. People portrayed him as a terrorist, as Hitler, and more. The rhetoric culminated in some believing that the way to protect Israel and the Jewish people was to kill Rabin, and eventually someone acted on this belief, murdering him.

Rabbi Tucker denounced the mindset that led to Rabin’s assassination. In contrast, he used Senator Lieberman as a case study for how to disagree in healthy ways and even work productively across the ideological aisle. Rabbi Tucker outlined what he views as vital lessons to learn from his stepfather about how to achieve effective, civil political discourse.

He said that the first key step is to figure out what you care about. “Don’t think that collaborating with others means being neutral,” he said. At the same time, he urged that people should recognize conviction in others. When you meet someone who disagrees with you, though you want to win the disagreement, you will understand that the basis of your disagreement is sprouting from a “shared soil” of conviction. You can have friendship and a sense of fellow traveler-ship with people who are different from you when you realize that they have sincerity—and you treat them the way you’d want them to treat you, recognizing that you have sincerity. Rabbi Tucker explained that this is achieved by “reading people charitably.” He recognized that it can be difficult when there are some genuinely bad actors. But, he continued, you can’t let yourself be dragged down by those corrosive forces. Don’t let them make you give up on decency.

Rabbi Tucker emphasized the importance of treating people with kindness and respect. In his opinion, “the biggest problem in modern politics is that there are too many politicians who are unkind people.” He said that politics is supposed to be the culmination of actually caring about people. It is essential to remember that politics is supposed to be service.

A key lesson he imparted was to “be prepared to change your mind.” He described that the Mishnah says you can tell if someone is wise based on whether they can change their mind and admit they were wrong. Rambam, meanwhile, said that if someone is unable to change their mind, it is a character flaw. Rabbi Tucker gave everyone a powerful request for when they vote, whether it would be the following day or in a few years: determine how they complete the sentence, “If __ does or doesn’t happen in a year, contrary to what I thought, I will have been mistaken.” He explained that people should not just pick a team and hang onto it even if the team behaves contrary to their beliefs or values. With Rabbi Tucker’s sentence-completion tactic, people can better ensure that their political support is based on facts and on what they truly think is right.

He ended his talk by highlighting that Jews being involved in politics is about more than just self-preservation. Self-preservation is a major element, he acknowledged, but he reminded students that at the end of the day, Jews are recipients of the Torah and are partners with Hashem. Jews are here to bring goodness into the world, and have a lot to offer. So, Rabbi Tucker concluded, “Get involved! It is important! And bring that goodness into politics with you.”

After the assembly, he was interviewed by students for the school podcast, the RamPod. Check out the episode by clicking here!