“I once asked a Zen teacher if Buddhism had an ethical principle that could be a guide to voting in political elections. Yes, she said: ‘Minimize suffering and maximize happiness for all beings. Vote for people and policies that service these ends.’ She then pointed me to the Tevijja Sutta, the Sutra of the Threefold Knowledges where I found the Four Immeasurables:
“ ‘May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all beings rejoice in the well-being of others.
May all beings live in peace, free from greed and hatred.’
“Not long after, I shared this insight with my rebbe, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and asked him if he could provide me with something equally powerful and pithy from Judaism. He told me to stand up on one foot. When I did, he said, ‘What is hateful to you, don’t do to anyone else. All politics should be commentary on this. Now go complicate it!’
“Reb Zalman was playing with the teaching of Hillel who, when asked by a Roman soldier to teach the entire Torah while the soldier stood on one foot said, ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to another. All the rest is commentary. Now go and study it.’ I loved and agreed with his notion that all politics should be rooted in Hillel’s Golden Rule, but I was confused as to what he meant by ‘complicate it.’
“When I asked him to explain, he just said I would figure it out in time. I think I did. The more I investigated a politics of the Golden Rule the more complex my thinking became. Complex rather than complicated. Here is where my turning of Hillel has led me: the politics of Jewish Mind is about placing limits on power and the powerful. Here are five examples from Torah.
“Limiting the Power of God …
“Limiting the Power of the Chieftains …
“Limiting the Power of Kings …
“Limiting the Power of the Priesthood and Levites …
“Limiting the Power of the Financial Elites.”
