A Writer's Notebook, Day Seven-Hundred-And-Fifty

I have been watching the news, of course, and hearing the comments from Republicans who are backtracking on their actions around the nomination of Merrick Garland is both unexpected and disturbing, however, I feel a certain upset about the progress of events today that I think has not been mentioned, and I am, if I am honest, a bit hesitant about discussing this, as I expect it will be dismissed and that I will be called over-sensitive or otherwise irrational, as that has been my experience in similar situations in the past.  

The fact is, I think their is an extreme level of disrespect for the Jewish community in the fact that Mitch McConnell could not wait until the end of this holiday to discuss his plans.  The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg already had impacted this Rosh Hashanah greatly, especially since she was a strong representative for Jewish principles of justice.  It is well known that her chambers were decorated with works of art including the biblical phrase, "Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,"  meaning "Justice, justice you shall pursue."  She was not a religiously observant woman, but had a strong sense of her Jewish identity, even hanging a mezzuzah in her chambers. 

Even more, just as she has great import to many communities because of the actions she took in her life, she has long been honored as an example of Jewishness, and a symbol of Judaism's commitment to the value of justice,  This is not to say that Jews are more impacted, or that our connection with her is more important than any other, but rather to state the truth, that we have lost a venerated member of our community, and that it came during one of the most sacred times of our holy calendar.  The fact that this issue was pressed so rapidly shows a real disregard for our community, and that no one has raised this issue, so far as I have seen, is another unsurprising, but disturbing outcome, and I have to wonder why no one wants to offer that context or address this question, or is Jewishness so easy to dismiss no one else noticed?

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