Our Capitol

The most beautiful city in the world is Washington, DC. 40 years after arriving here, I still thrill to see the monuments and, most especially, the dome of the Capitol building. It isn’t just the edifices that make this city beautiful. What happens inside those structures heightens the splendor.

Torah reminds us that no matter a structure’s facade, what occurs within is even more important. The Israelites in the desert were instructed to build a portable structure called the Mishkan. The Mishkan was the precursor to the Holy Temple.  God said, “let them make for me a structure so that I can dwell among them.” The Hebrew is wonderfully vague so that it isn’t clear whether the mishkan is where God dwells or is the structure serving to remind us to make room for God in our lives.

As a temple of democracy, the United States Capitol is also a holy structure. While it is a most beautiful building, what happens within is what makes it extraordinary. Up those steps and down those halls, representative democracy advances. Recently, those steps and halls were the scenes of an insurrection. Because most of us cherish our republic, the January 6 attack on the Capitol is all the more disturbing.

The ultimate objective of democracy is to secure individual rights as a counterbalance to the authority of a ruling government. Our democratic government balances the individual pursuit of happiness with the needs of the people as a collective. The goal of democracy is not to reelect our representatives.

The Jewish religion functions by similar principles. Torah teaches us to cherish both the dignity of the individual and the needs of the community. While democracy per se is not the goal of Judaism, the parallels are striking. The aspirations of any individual are to be balanced against the needs of the entire people. Both Democracy and Judaism sanction any person or group that seeks to imperil that stability.

With a Jewish appreciation for buildings that espouse godliness and processes that expand holiness, I am distressed by the events of January 6. The Capitol must be scrubbed clean of its defilement by the invaders. The physical cleaning is done but that only takes care of the building. The governmental cleansing process will take years. The courts and the electorate will be the final judges of what must be rejected and removed.

The alabaster Capitol dome is a beacon reminding us to be faithful to the goals of democracy. What happens beneath that hallowed dome, must live up to the promise of the building itself.  And our vigilance for sustaining democracy must last as long as the headstones of the capital.

Rabbi Evan J. Krame