November 2007 Archives

One of the things we talked about in the Devar Torah Workshop is that no matter how well you organize your thoughts and how well you deliver your message, there may be people who just won't get it. They may be distracted, bored, or - let's be diplomatic here - lacking the ability to comprehend.

Then of course there are those who fall into their own unique category. For one surreal example, this past Shabbat I delivered emergency fill-in devar torah for seudah shlishit, after which I was blamed for the Holocaust.

I suppose some background is in order. For various reasons due to Thanksgiving no one was slated to speak during seudah shelishit. At some point during shaharit I reminded myself that I spoke last year and figured out a way to tweak the old message and even have it tie in to Thanksgiving. Granted, it was not one of my best efforts, but I thought at least it was passable.¹

When I went to sit down down, and older gentleman and prominent figure in the shul come over with the obligatory "yasher koach" and asked if I attended the shul's annual Kristalnacht event. I hadn't. The gentleman then ranted that no young people came because we have no interest and don't care about the Holocaust, and had we cared more back then we could have prevented it.

For the moment, let us ignore the specific implication that our current apathy towards shul events precipitated the most horrific genocide in our people's history. Rather, I simply intended to demonstrate that as admirable of a goal it is for a speaker to connect with the audience, there are times when you should just let it go.

1. Hopefully I will get a chance to write it up at some point.

This campaign season JP Morgan Chase has been holding Town Halls featuring various presidential candidates. Apparently one of CEO Jamie Dimon's mandates was that the company become more involved politically in terms financial support or interest. Thus far the company has not only supported multiple candidates, but has assigned senior people as liaisons to various campaigns. (One would assume such support dwindles once front runners are more established). Furthermore, by holding Town Halls, we give the impression that JP Morgan Chase does not only financially support candidates, but its employees are politically interested.

The implications should be obvious that a multi-billion dollar company is attempting to gain influence in politics, no doubt to advance its own financial benefit. In fact JP Morgan Chase has its own PAC responsible for among other things donations (PDF).¹ On the candidate's side, they get more money and exposure. From the employees perspective, we get to bask in the glory of a presidential hopeful and get away from our desks for a bit.

But as the emcee pointed out, the main problem with running these events is that the candidates have more important things to be doing - like trying to get elected. As the campaign continues, the only people who will be available will be the ones who have already lost or have nothing left for which to run. A few months ago, JPMC scored Hillary Clinton - and event which I was unable to attend. This brings us to today's event featuring Senator Fred Thompson, which didn't quite fill the 200 seat auditorium.

Unfortunately the entire program was roughly 30 minutes. Sen. Thompson spoke for about 15 minutes followed by 3 audience questions. Given the time constraints I cannot blame Sen. Thompson for not going too in depth on any particular issue. My quick impression was that he seemed subdued, down-to-earth, and very straightforward. He outlined the main principles of his platform which sounded typically Republican (free markets, free trade, strong military, lower corporate and personal taxes). Of particular interest was his policy on social security reform which would tie benefits to inflation as opposed to wages.

Given more time, I would have liked to hear his response to William Voegeli's pragmatic assessment of Republican policies but considering the current polls that might not be an issue.

I will say that from a personality perspective, Sen. Thomson came across as a "straight-shooter." He calmly presented what he feels are the most important concerns of the country and what he would do differently. Perhaps it was the lack of mainstream media and celebrity, but I found the tone refreshing.

There were some requests for other candidates including Rudy Giuliani and Barack Obama, which I doubt would leave open seats. I'll post if anything interesting come up in the future.

1. I A quick survey of the PDF shows n 2006, JP Morgan's PAC made 820 donations nationally totaling $1,342,909.78. It seems that on a national level JPMC tries to hedge between Democrats and Republicans. Certain imbalances are due to JPMC reporting donations made by companies which were later taken over by JPMC. The largest individual beneficiary I saw was Ways and Means Chairmen Charles Rangel with a $10,000 donation.

This Sunday I will be starting a new Devar Torah Workshop at Mt. Sinai (187th and Bennett) focusing on organizing and presenting written and spoken Divrei Torah. We will meet Sundays at 10:30 AM in the Multi Purpose Room downstairs, and it is open to men and women. While the workshop is free, anyone interested should register by sending me an e-mail.

I'll likely blog the core principles at some point, but there's no substitute for practicing in a supportive environment.