Thank G-d for Trump’s Adversities

There is no doubt in my mind that had Trump won in 2020, we would not be seeing any of the amazing events that are happening right now. And everything that has happened to Trump since 2021 (the lawfare threatening ruination and prison, the boundless accusations, even the assassin's bullets) has only served to make him (and all of his supporters) more convinced and hardened of the righteousness of their cause. Events are progressing at warp speed.

And it all came to be as a result of the last 4 miserable years. The hardships Trump – and honest American people – have suffered over the past four years have served to burn off whatever residual credence we used to give to talking heads or nattering nitwit nabobs. Nobody who is now in power gives a fig when some media figure tries to stir up nonsense over an exuberant hand in the air. Because we can see clearly now.

We know from studying the biosphere that seemingly destructive events, like forest fires, can end up triggering new life, directly as a result of the fire. The cones of the Aleppo/Jerusalem Pine are sealed shut with a resin – a resin that melts away when heated, releasing the seed. In all, many hundreds of different plants respond in a similar way to what we commonly (and erroneously) assume is an apocalyptic event.

The theme of new life rising from the ashes of the old life is not merely found in trees, or in the mythological Phoenix. Fire itself is both destructive and purifying, forming and forging metal.

We apply the same theme to the survivors of hardship or trauma, not merely because it sounds poetic, but because our challenges can have the same effect on us as a forest fire does on a pine cone: it shocks us into productive action.

This theme is found in the founding of modern Israel out of the ashes of the Holocaust, and the history of many other nations. But what really prompted me to write about this topic is the realization that the very same theme is found in plain sight: in the language of the Torah.

The Torah word for “seed” is zera. The word in the Torah refers to all manner of seed, from seeds inside fruit to human offspring. The word is laden with symbolism: new life from an almost imperceptible origin. Sometimes we forget how wonderous the natural world can be. It is pretty mind-boggling when one thinks about it: great trees grow from tiny seeds. And even new people are conceived from a mysterious flow. (It makes sense that the goddess of fertility is one of the most fundamental of all pagan faiths.) In the Torah, the exact same word, zera, is used to mean both plant and animal seeds, as well as progeny. And new life is even considered immune from the taint of death:

If such a carcass falls upon seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean.

Regardless of exposure to fire and death, new seed starts life ready to elevate and grow.

The Torah is the great anti-pagan text, showing how the people evolved from merely serving one deity among many, to clearly recognizing that there is truly just one Creator. But we did not get there because of our superior intellect, or wisdom. No, we got there as a result of oppression and trauma and a hardship so punishing that the vast majority of people lost all sense of identity. We got there only after - and because – we went through the fire. That fire burned the dross away:

And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon and the stars, the whole heavenly host, you must not be lured into bowing down to them or serving them. These your G-d allotted to other peoples everywhere under heaven; but you your G-d took and brought out of Egypt, that iron blast furnace, to be God’s very own people.

We needed the fire, as horrible as it was. Because before we went to Egypt, we thought we could achieve our goals and still be considered “reasonable.” Rachel, Jacob’s wife, takes (and does not destroy or dispose of) her father’s idols. Her underlying gut temptation to not destroy idols is a bit like the “moderate” Republican who wants to “reach across the aisle.” See all the Establishment Republicans of 2017-2020.

But we know now that the path of “bipartisanship” is like keeping a little idol. That way lies temptation, and ultimately perdition. If you compromise with the devil, you lose - even and especially when you thought you won!

Adversity has a way of clearing the mind. It did it in Egypt, in the Holocaust, and in the last 4 years. I, for one, am delighted and thrilled beyond words for the new seeds to sprout and grow, and to create and nurture a new age of freedom for the world.

May G-d grant Trump and his advisers the wisdom to stay the course and resist the temptations of the past. The way forward is clear, because all other paths have been burnt away.

P.S. There is a linguistic connection as well – the “furnace” of Egypt in the above verse is linked to the “cushion” under which Rachel puts the idols. (The “furnace” and “cushion” share the same core letters,כַ֥ר,)