I’m Running for Office

Dear Rabbi and Susan,

Thank you in advance for considering my request. We have met, I have listened to you over the years and read many of your writings.

I am reaching out to you because I am entering into politics and I need reliable guidance. Can you provide wisdom for interacting with caustic and disingenuous people? I am in a county which is 2/3 Democrat. It is difficult to discuss issues for reasons you know.

Is there Rabbinic wisdom which is applicable in answering questions which are really a charge (an insinuated character prosecution)?

Stephen N.

Dear Stephen,

We must start by thanking you for getting involved in your local politics. Especially when there is little chance of victory, it is a draining, thankless task. Yet it is important for our country not to give up the fight, and you are courageously fighting on.

At the very least you have the ability to lead people towards questioning their assumptions. Helping some voters get on the first step of discovering that they know less than they think they know. Discovering that ‘the other side’ are not the monsters they are made out to be. For this, you need to stay calm and pleasant. To do this authentically, you have to like the people to whom you are speaking. In order for them to, perhaps grudgingly, listen to you, they must feel that you want them to live good lives.

As we know from the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the way to strike up a conversation with someone not disposed to interacting cordially with you, is to ask a question. The best way to respond to a question that is not a true question but rather an attack, is to respond with a question asked calmly and with a broad smile on your face. Not a superior smile nor a smirk, just a friendly smile.

Having someone heckle you, disrupt your speech, and clearly have a goal of attacking you is, to put it mildly, unpleasant. However, you are not in a one-on-one debate with the heckler. Remember who your real audience is. You are actually responding for the rest of the crowd. There will be people in that group who do want to hear what you have to say and who will be embarrassed and annoyed at the disruption. Keeping your cool and not getting flustered may lead them to go to your website or look for you on social media so that they can find out more about you.

Charlie Kirk was brilliant at this. Vivek Ramasawmy does a great job of dealing with those who come to heckle him. We can’t think of a better way to train yourself than to watch videos of them and others doing what you want to do.

As you said, in most cases there isn’t the time or desire to listen to what you have to say about issues. You can, however, ask pointed questions about areas where most people agree with you. An example might be why we keep spending more money on public education and getting poorer results? Why don’t we hear of success stories as in Mississippi when there was a turnaround? Wouldn’t it make sense to understand what that state did?

Stephen, why are you entering politics? What are your hopes and dreams? We can’t tell you how to run a successful campaign. We can tell you that if you are principled, honest, and passionate, you have a role to play.

Let us know what happens,

Rabbi Daniel and Susan Lapin

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