Welcome to Trying Times

We are living through perhaps the most challenging period in our country’s history since the Civil War.  Since January, we have been subject to an increasingly authoritarian administration, determined to expand executive power, challenge the rule of law, fan nationalist and racist extremism, politicize the Department of Justice, and roll back civil rights protections for historically marginalized groups, most especially immigrants.  And that’s a very partial list.

Each day we wake to new and more alarming developments.  It is all so overwhelming and disorienting.  How can this be happening in the country we once imagined, for all its flaws, was the most stable democracy in the world?  And how do we orient ourselves in this scary new reality?

I’ve decided to launch this blog as a way to give voice to the challenges of living through these times.  It is my hope to offer periodic reflections on key events as they unfold, drawing on my experience as an academic, an ethicist, and a committed Jew.  I will not offer answers or propose policies, but rather raise questions, prompt reflection, and suggest strategies for navigating these times.

I chose the title “Trying Times” as a homage to Thomas Paine’s famous observation that “these are the times that try our souls” (“men’s souls,” in his pre-feminist formulation). I imagine that he, too, would have recognized and appreciated the challenges of living in a time like this.  Our souls, our commitments and our deepest values are all threatened by the events we are witnessing.  My intent is to offer some perspective, guidance and even, perhaps, some hope to help sustain us in these trying times.

I hope you’ll read these posts, which I promise will be succinct and not overly frequent.  And I especially hope you’ll respond and, if you’re so moved, share them with others.  Because in trying times, we need to be in community, connected with people who share our values. Thanks for joining me in this effort to navigate the challenges of living in these unprecedented times.