When the Government Creates Chaos: A Jewish Call for Order
In the beginning, before the world was formed, there was tohu va-vohu—confusion and chaos, formlessness, uncertainty. It’s the state of disorder that precedes creation, the deep void before light emerges. This week, as the federal government freezes financial assistance programs, I can’t help but feel that we are watching a return to tohu va-vohu—a deliberate unraveling of stability, leaving millions in limbo.
The decision to halt funding under the guise of a political review is an act of cruelty. It disrupts essential programs such as housing, healthcare, disaster relief, and education, leaving people without the resources they rely on. The most vulnerable among us—those already struggling—will feel the impact first and worst. And yet, for some, this suffering will be ignored or dismissed as fabricated—either because those with wealth and privilege choose to look away or because, in America, if suffering isn’t visible, many assume it must not exist at all.
This decision doesn’t bring order or responsibility; it unleashes chaos, cutting off resources that sustain people’s lives. Just as the Torah teaches that God brought light into the darkness, we are called to resist policies that push people further into uncertainty and suffering.
But the Torah reminds us: confusion and chaos is not the end of the story. God’s first act in creation is to bring order out of disorder, to bring light into darkness. And we are called to do the same.
This moment demands that we refuse to let chaos reign. That we name what is happening—not as fiscal responsibility, but as an intentional prioritization of ideology over human lives. And that we act, in whatever ways we can, to support and sustain the people who are being pushed to the margins.
Loving your neighbor is the antidote to chaos. Loving your neighbor means shaping a world where people have what they need, what we owe each other as human beings. If those in power are creating tohu va-vohu - confusion and chaos -then we must be the ones to insist on love and order.
Because the work of creation—of building something better—is still ours to do.
Rabbi Sandra - I love this essay. I am grateful that you "appear" in my inbox most mornings. Your essays/sermons/divrei Torah help me keep my eyes on the prize. What I hope you will begin to do in your posts is provide us, as individuals and as members of small and large Jewish communities, are some ideas of specific actions we can take that reflect our shared Jewish values, and are meaningful acts of resistance and resilience in these troubling times. If you don't want to do that as part of your posts, you can send them to me at prepare.respond@gmail.com
I can’t fathom what Jews were considering when those of them voted for trump. They completely lack insight into the grave danger this presidency represents to all minorities and they seem to have no institutional memory of what happened to them under Hitler.