Shabbat Shuvah 5779 Teshuvah and the Collapse of Lehman Brothers Rabbi Lea Mühlstein 15 September 2018 Sometimes an individual event, which in and of itself might be significant but not earth- shattering sets off a chain of events that will truly transform our society. These events become milestones marking turning points in history. In Jewish history, some of the most significant examples of these type of events were probably the destruction of the First and Second Temples, the Rhineland Massacres of 1096 that marked the beginning of anti-Jewish pogroms during the Crusades; the Dreyfus Trial of 1894 that ignited Theodore Herzl’s passion for finding a solution to the Jewish problem and led him to establishing the International Zionist Movement and the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 memorialised in Bialik’s lengthy poem “The City of Slaughter”, which became an essential component of the narrative of Eastern European Zionism, the November pogroms of 1938, also known as Kristallnacht, marking the beginning of the Holocaust; and, of course, the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. If we take a broader look at the world at large, we know with hindsight that, as Nigel Savage of Hazon – The Jewish Lab for Sustainability observes, “the period from the end of the Second World War to 9/11 was the Age of Affluence.” What followed was a period of disruption and uncertainty reaching its turning point a decade ago today: the collapse of Lehman Brothers. During those seven years – and it keeps amazing me how often these time periods seem to be laden with biblical significance – society and many of us as individuals lost their sense of safety: a heightened awareness of the threat of terror right on our doorstep as London experienced with the 7/7 bombings in 2005 and finally a real loss of financial safety. What had characterised the behaviour of many in the years leading up to the 2008 Credit Crunch is a psychological phenomenon called Wilful Blindness, which actually started as a legal concept in the 19 th century. In her book “Wilful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril”, Margaret Heffernan analyses how wilful blindness can be detected everywhere: “in marriages: why had she never asked about all those business trips? In hospitals: why had he skipped his check-up? And Boardrooms seemed to be full of it: why did no one ever question that doomed deal?” Wilful blindness started life as a legal concept in the nineteenth century. A judge in Regina v. Sleep ruled that an accused person could not be convicted for possession of government property unless the jury found that he either knew the goods came from government stores or had ‘wilfully shut his eyes to the fact’.
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Shabbat Shuvah 5779
Teshuvah and the Collapse of Lehman Brothers
Rabbi Lea Mühlstein 15 September 2018
Sometimes an individual event, which in and of itself might be significant but not earth-shattering sets off a chain of events that will truly transform our society. These events become milestones marking turning points in history.
In Jewish history, some of the most significant examples of these type of events were probably the destruction of the First and Second Temples, the Rhineland Massacres of 1096 that marked the beginning of anti-Jewish pogroms during the Crusades; the Dreyfus Trial of 1894 that ignited Theodore Herzl’s passion for finding a solution to the Jewish problem and led him to establishing the International Zionist Movement and the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 memorialised in Bialik’s lengthy poem “The City of Slaughter”, which became an essential component of the narrative of Eastern European Zionism, the November pogroms of 1938, also known as Kristallnacht, marking the beginning of the Holocaust; and, of course, the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948.
If we take a broader look at the world at large, we know with hindsight that, as Nigel Savage of Hazon – The Jewish Lab for Sustainability observes, “the period from the end of the Second World War to 9/11 was the Age of Affluence.”
What followed was a period of disruption and uncertainty reaching its turning point a decade ago today: the collapse of Lehman Brothers. During those seven years – and it keeps amazing me how often these time periods seem to be laden with biblical significance – society and many of us as individuals lost their sense of safety: a heightened awareness of the threat of terror right on our doorstep as London experienced with the 7/7 bombings in 2005 and finally a real loss of financial safety.
What had characterised the behaviour of many in the years leading up to the 2008 Credit Crunch is a psychological phenomenon called Wilful Blindness, which actually started as a legal concept in the 19th century. In her book “Wilful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril”, Margaret Heffernan analyses how wilful blindness can be detected everywhere: “in marriages: why had she never asked about all those business trips? In hospitals: why had he skipped his check-up? And Boardrooms seemed to be full of it: why did no one ever question that doomed deal?”
Wilful blindness started life as a legal concept in the nineteenth century. A judge in Regina v. Sleep ruled that an accused person could not be convicted for possession of government property unless the jury found that he either knew the goods came from government stores or had ‘wilfully shut his eyes to the fact’.
What’s most contentious about the legal concept of wilful blindness is that it carries no implication that the avoidance of the truth is conscious. The law doesn’t care why you remain ignorant, only that you do.
Today is Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat falling in the midst of the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe. During these ten days especially, we are instructed to reflect on where we have gone wrong. In the Vidui Rabbah—the long confession—which we will recite as a community on Yom Kippur, we admit to a long list of sins. The second Al Chet, according to the order in which they appear in our Machzor, has always been one of the most striking to me: Al chet shechatanu lefanecha bsadon u-vishgagah—the sin we have committed against You consciously or unconsciously.
How can we ask for forgiveness for sins committed unconsciously? How could we be held responsible for things we did not intend? Long before the legal concept of wilful blindness, the rabbis composing our liturgy had an intrinsic understanding that there are some things that we are responsible for even if we claim, or are in fact, ignorant of them.
But while we remain responsible for even our unconscious actions, the gates of repentance can close on us if our behaviour follows a negative pattern.
The biblical commentators debated this around the example of Pharaoh, whose heart is hardened by God. Once Pharaoh is deprived of free will, how can he still be held responsible for his actions?
The medieval commentator and philosopher Moses Maimonides, the RaMbaM, who composed a full treaty on the Laws of Repentance “Hilchot Teshuvah” answers this question by highlighting Pharaoh’s prior sins: “Since Pharaoh sinned on his own, causing hardship to the Jews who lived in his land […] he deserved to be punished by not being allowed to repent and God hardened his heart.” The RaMbaM concludes his discussion of Pharaoh by highlighting the behaviour of righteous people and prophets, who “had this in mind when they prayed to God to guide them on the path of truth so that they may repent and not rest in falsehoods.”
Mishael Zion, the director of the Mandel Program for Leadership in Jewish Culture, observes that the Jewish understanding of teshuvah is that one first needs to become aware of one’s behaviour – and ashamed by it – and that that is the first step towards changing and improving our behaviour and repairing the damage we have done.
As catastrophic as the 2008 Credit Crunch was with its consequences still being felt by so many, the collapse of Lehman Brothers a decade ago also marked the beginning of a new age: the Age of Awareness.
We’re much more aware of the ills of this world. Ten years after Lehman Brothers, we understand the threat of closing our eyes to reality. Thanks to the internet, globalisation and social media we are probably hyper-aware. So are we in the early phases of societal teshuvah?
There certainly is the potential for it. But in the last few years, we have seen a trend, which reinterprets our reality not along the path of truth but the path of falsehood. All around the world we have seen the rise of populists who are taking advantage of our awareness of the fragility of life and society.
As we embark into a new Jewish Year and reflect on the power of teshuvah, repentance, let us pray together that our Age of Awareness will take a positive turn onto the path of truth so that we may repent and not rest our faith in falsehoods, so that we will learn from our mistakes and use the opportunities that lie ahead to repair the damage. Because it is up to us to walk through the gates of repentance before they fall shut. The day is not yet fading, the sun is not ye setting – when we will leave the sanctuary, may we do more than return to our homes, may we help society to return onto the path of truth.
Ken Yehi Ratzon –May this be God’s will.
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