The Times this morning reported on its front page about President Obama‘s eleventh-hour push to pass a health-care bill.
In a “high-octane appearance” at Arcadia University, Obama addressed his “doubters and critics” with the following exhortation:
“My question to them is: When is the right time? If not now, when? If not us, who?”
I am guessing more than a few people recognized this language. Here’s the best-known passage from Pirkei Avot, a.k.a. Ethics of the Fathers, a compendium of teachings of Jewish sages from the centuries that straddled the beginning of the Common Era:
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”
On the other hand, the same phrase has been used to sell Doritos.
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How nice. We Jews love nothing more than to flatter ourselves. How about, for a change, and especially with respect to the oppression of the Palestinians and our vilification of all Arabs and Muslims, we try instead to do as the sages instructed and pursue justice, justice, above all?
From President Reagan’s Second Inaugural Address, Monday, January 21, 1985:
“If not us, who? And if not now, when?”
He was referring to balancing the budget and reducing the national debt.
My answer is that the question isn’t relevant when talking about pushing forth with an undisciplined fiscal disaster where the costs have been swept away with denial and a magic eraser. Rain rain go away come again some other day. Repeat song on said some other day.
More from Pirkei Avot:
Chapter 1, Verse 10: … Love work, loath mastery over others, and avoid intimacy with the government.
Chapter 2, Verse 3: Be careful with the government, for they befriend a person only for their own needs. They appear to be friends when it is beneficial to them, but they do not stand by a person at the time of his distress.
dip -
I agree with the entire phrase that you partially quoted; indeed, we should “pursue justice, justice, so that you will live and inherit the land that God gives you” (Deut. 16:20). Justice — including a vigilant security force — is a key element to ensuring Jewish survival and sovereignty over the Jewish homeland, Israel.
- Richie
I agree with Marcello. He was ripping off Reagan. Considering the context of each rhetorical question, it is truly perverse irony. It’s almost as though Obama didn’t care about winning the point, he just wanted to listen to Reagan turn over in his grave.
Patrick Henry’s “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech contains similar language and I’m sure every speech writer has read it. That seems like a likelier source than the Talmud.
Dearth of original lines? I think not. We just have Google, now.