Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. Exodus 20: 8-11
The US Senate impeachment trial for former president Donald Trump will lurch along to its inglorious end, with little chance of a conviction. A number of Republican senators assured reporters that they wouldn't vote to convict before the trial began, thus indicating that they would not fulfill their oaths to carefully consider presented evidence (please read yesterday's blog about hypocrisy.)
Trump's legal team is a dog's breakfast which argued, unsuccessfully, that it was unconstitutional to conduct a trial of a president who is no longer in office. It was a Hail Mary opening gambit which failed. God knows what will come next.
A few days ago I was intrigued to see that lawyer David Schoen, who repeatedly demonstrated that he could drink water and pat his head at the same time yesterday, requested that the trial be postponed on Friday evening and Saturday so that he could observe the Jewish Sabbath. According to the New York Times:
One of the lead defense lawyers for Mr. Trump has informed Senate leaders that he is an observant Jew who strictly adheres to the commandment against working on the Sabbath, and thus would be unable to participate in any proceeding that stretched past sundown on Friday or met on Saturday...“I apologize for the inconvenience my request that impeachment proceedings not be conducted during the Jewish Sabbath undoubtedly will cause other people involved in the proceedings,” Mr. Schoen said in the letter. “The practices and prohibitions are mandatory for me, however; so, respectfully, I have no choice but to make this request.”
I could never respect a lawyer who could defend a president who called for insurrection, but I can respect all those who feel compelled to observe their version of a sabbath on religious grounds. And I feel that our society has suffered from not honouring a pause day, whether that be Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jews, of Sunday for Christians.
When we lived in Halifax Nova Scotia still observed Sunday closings for businesses. It took some adjusting when we moved there, but I felt that this "old school" practice was actually progressive. I supported the law from the pulpit as steps were underway to get in step with the rest of frenetic Canada and some members of my congregation thought I was loopy.
So much for the Ten Commandments.This is the most detailed of the commandments and includes the reminder that if God rested after Creation, we too should remember to cease and desist from our labours. Yet this is the one we regularly and enthusiastically ignore.
In the end Schoen withdrew this request, for reasons unknown. It is a strange and thought-provoking footnote in what is likely to be an embarrassing defense of a traitor and megalomaniac. See you in court!
A footnote: Schoen covered his head because this is expected of orthodox Jews when they eat or drink. I live, and sometimes I learn.
1 comment:
For four years, I have pretty much continuously been shaking my head at the sad state of political affairs in the U.S. With Biden in, I now only shake my head occasionally - and it's not about Biden, but the whole impeachment process. Trump should be thrown in jail for so many reasons, and it appears that yet again, he will go unpunished.
The list of despicable acts this vile individual has committed is lengthy, and he finished his term with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans on his hands due to his inaction and lying about COVID.
But to coin a Trudeau phrase, "sunny ways" are here. We don't have to put up with Trump's daily lunacy from the White House. He just needs to be regarded as irrelevant, which would probably bother him more than anything.
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