Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
July 7, 2023 • 19 Tamuz 5783 • Parshas Pinchas (Num 25-30)
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I wonder how many people share my mixed feelings about government leakers. I love them and hate them at the same time.
This image is of the late Daniel Ellsberg in the prime of his fame/infamy.
He died three weeks ago at age 92. All major news media carried an obituary.
He of course helped hastened the end of the Vietnam War by leaking the secret history of the war that he himself helped write at the State Department.
Hero or traitor? That's the political question that everyone loves to debate.
I'd like to ask a different question: What drove him to do it?
What led this patriotic Harvard graduate to violate his sacred duty to keep government secrets secret?
The dilemma was very real:
If you dig deeply enough into his biography, there are two pieces of random information that I think need to be connected together.
One is his parents - Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. They converted to Christian Science but (per their son) always considered themselves part of the Jewish "family." That's Exhibit A.
Fast forward to his release of the Pentagon Papers. President Nixon tried to stop the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. This is the oft-told story of a great test case for freedom of the press.
Meanwhile, Ellsberg was arrested and tried for espionage, facing a potential prison sentence of 110 years. This was no surprise, he and his Jewish wife, Patricia (née Marx) were prepared for that consequence.
In other words, his leak of the Pentagon Papers was done fully conscious that he might spend the rest of his life in prison.
"Did you have any second thoughts at the time?" an AP reporter asked him after Judge Byrne declared a mistrial.
Ellsberg's response:
How can you measure the jeopardy that I'm in - whether it's 10 years, 20 years, 115 years or other ludicrous amounts like that - to the penalty that has been paid already by 50,000 American families here and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese families?
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Want more about Ellsberg? Click the pic above.
Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, forward it....
This image is of the late Daniel Ellsberg in the prime of his fame/infamy.
He died three weeks ago at age 92. All major news media carried an obituary.
He of course helped hastened the end of the Vietnam War by leaking the secret history of the war that he himself helped write at the State Department.
Hero or traitor? That's the political question that everyone loves to debate.
I'd like to ask a different question: What drove him to do it?
What led this patriotic Harvard graduate to violate his sacred duty to keep government secrets secret?
The dilemma was very real:
"Do I keep my silence, go along with presidential deception, not reveal it to Congress or the public? Or should I take what I knew was the very great risk of giving Congress a real indication of where the country was going on this? And I decided that it was worth a life in prison to do that."
If you dig deeply enough into his biography, there are two pieces of random information that I think need to be connected together.
One is his parents - Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. They converted to Christian Science but (per their son) always considered themselves part of the Jewish "family." That's Exhibit A.
Fast forward to his release of the Pentagon Papers. President Nixon tried to stop the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. This is the oft-told story of a great test case for freedom of the press.
Meanwhile, Ellsberg was arrested and tried for espionage, facing a potential prison sentence of 110 years. This was no surprise, he and his Jewish wife, Patricia (née Marx) were prepared for that consequence.
In other words, his leak of the Pentagon Papers was done fully conscious that he might spend the rest of his life in prison.
"Did you have any second thoughts at the time?" an AP reporter asked him after Judge Byrne declared a mistrial.
Ellsberg's response:
How can you measure the jeopardy that I'm in - whether it's 10 years, 20 years, 115 years or other ludicrous amounts like that - to the penalty that has been paid already by 50,000 American families here and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese families?
In my opinion, that's the voice of a pintele Yid - a Jewish neshamah. That's the voice of 3,300 years of Jewish history. Being Jewish doesn't determine whether or not you'd blow the whistle, but it does make you seriously contemplate doing so.
Let's put this to the table: Had you been in Ellsberg's shoes, what would you have done?
Let's put this to the table: Had you been in Ellsberg's shoes, what would you have done?
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Want more about Ellsberg? Click the pic above.
Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, forward it....
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