Who’s Really in Control?

Another week goes by and out of the mouth of the American president emerges sentences that have us all scratching our heads.   

Is Mr. Joe Biden in cognitive decline? Are people we know nothing about running that country?

This is great news for all of us.   

If Joe Biden isn’t making the decisions, then everything he says, and everything all the TV shows, newspapers, blogs, and social media feeds are saying based on what he says are sheer nonsense.  

I work with data. In my industry everyone says: The only thing worse than a bad decision is a good decision based on bad information.  

Everything we learn from screens of all kinds about politics is based on bad information. The opinions we formulate are an utter waste of time. The emotions we spend on it are a waste of energy.  

Baruch Hashem! 

The Holy Alternative 

If political news is a lie, how do we know what’s going on in the world? How do we know how to react to it?  

We remember Who runs everything.   

Joe Biden may be a king, just like Naftali Bennett, Vladimir Putin, and Boris Johnson, but Hashem is the King Who reigns over kings. We say this three times a day in the Alenu prayer.   

If we are willing to deflect sixty minutes of our life from living to reading about those who rule parts of the world, for sure we have a great opportunity to dedicate even more time to learn about He Who rules over the entire heavens and earth.   

Our Torah is true.  

Everything we read from our King and what He wants from us is the truth. Ninety percent of what we read about the leaders of the world are information fragments with opinions masquerading as conclusions.   

When we read about the kings of the earth, we get angry. We get upset. We feel helpless.  

When we learn about our King, the King of the Universe, we feel uplifted. We feel empowered. We feel closer to the King of Kings Who draws us closer to Him with every letter of His Torah that we read.   

In contrast, has anyone been transported to Washington, Moscow, or London by reading an article in The New York Times?  

Risk-Free Reading 

Even if what we say about Naftali Bennett, Volodymyr Zelensky, or Joe Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain is true, they are Jews.   

Anything negative about them, especially stories, is lashon hara. It’s gossipmongering. We just read in the parsha Kedoshim “You may not go as a talebearer!” (Vayikra 19:16).  

Even if we think they are doing wrong, they can still make teshuva tomorrow. Then we spoke lashon hara against a repentant Jew.   

It’s like giving an interest-bearing loan to a non-observant Jew. Technically, you can do it because he is not guarding the mitzvot. However, once he makes teshuva, you have to pay him back for all the interest you ever took from him.   

Do you want to take that risk?  

In the Know 

Living under the assumption that Joe Biden is not in control of his country and the things he says are based on a very limited amount of information being shared with him – that is liberating.   

It emancipates us from being slaves to the news because we know that no journalist has any access to what’s really going on. After all, would the people in the real corridors of power want us to know what they are doing?  

Rendering all news futile frees us from the sin of wasting the precious time that our King gives us to accumulate mitzvot and merits towards our place in The Next World.   

It uncuffs us to redirect our time from the news to learning more about Shmirat HaLashon (guarding our speech), Shmirat HaBrit (guarding personal holiness), and being a happier person by praying to Hashem with all our heart, learning Torah, and smiling at every one of your Jewish brothers and sisters without any judgment or anger.   

This is the key to unlocking the vault of joy in this age of information: Acknowledge that you know nothing but what your True King is saying.   

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David Ben Horin is the writer and trader for Endurance Investing & Trading Daily. He lives in the Jezreel Valley with his wife and children, lots of Jews, Arabs, and the occasional shepherd.