The Election and this Week's Torah Portion

This Shabbat, the Torah portion that is read all over the world, is called Lekh L'KHA which roughly can be translated as "Let us go!".  The words:  Let us go imply: we will go, I, God and you, Abraham.
Some people see the connection between that Torah message and the election results as:  "Let us get out of here! Canada, Mexico, Anywhere, but here".
I can certainly understand the sentiment that millions of Americans share; Lekh Lkha!
But I want to focus on the "theological" ramifications of the election.  

So, what has Judaism and theology to do with each other?  My answer is:  "Only a third"! 
Let me explain:  Mordecai Kaplan, who gave us memorable quotes and the Reconstructionist movement, said that Judaism has 3 "B"s:   Believing, Belonging and Behaving.   

For me and - I would guess to say - for the plurality of the Jewish people in 2016, by far, the most important (and maybe the only) B is the second one: Belonging.  If a poll (although we are sooooo tired of polls) asked us about these three B's, I think we would have a clear loser in the first category, believing.     
Some people make the distinction between the "belief in God", on the one hand, and the "belief in a benevolent God".   Given the results from this last election, the number of people believing in a benevolent God must be dwindling.  Yes, there are apologists who could twist and turn everything to fit into their literate interpretation of the "ol' time religion" - even justify the Holocaust. 

But any reasonable person, with basic scientific knowledge,  (by which I mean middle school science or higher), cannot look at this election with anything but horror.  Here is a man who mocks women (still 42% of all voting women chose him!), mocks disabled, wants to tear up the Paris Climate agreement, wants to throw 20 million people who currently have health insurance off their plans, and I guess he'll add:  "Stay Healthy; that's the best medicine!" encouragement as he kicks them out,  who wants to control women's health (remember this is NOT about abortions solely, but about women's over all health), appoints Supreme Court Justices that will set back LGBT rights, and limit voting rights, & much more, and who will treat immigrants in a way that, as Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker "jokes", makes America a country nobody wants to come to.   

So, given that, a person believing in a benevolent, omnipotent (which is fancy for "All Mighty") God, a God who is looking at the world with "kind" eyes, is delusional at best, or has an evil lack of compassion.  

Since we all say that there is no contradiction between modern Jewish thinking and Science, and we have proven that they are compatible, over and over again, there is only one reasonable conclusion:

The Belonging B in Kaplans's saying is the only one that matters.  As a people we belong together, whether we live in Israel, belong to Kol Rinah in Saint Louis, or, as the majority, are totally assimilated, there is nobody who doesn't get a Jewish Joke, appreciates (some) Jewish food, treasure our shared history (whose Master Story, the Exodus, we recall every year and which we constantly apply to current events, including African-American slavery), has family in that or this city, who happens to be a cousin of the doctor I used to see, and who emigrated to Israel, whose daughter just got married.  And so on.   We all belong and despite our many differences, and oy, are there differences(!), we are one people, maybe a badly fractured one, but nevertheless one people.
That is the Belonging B.  
Those of us who have "denied" or modified the Believing B - after this election we may say:  "I told you so!"     But we don't because we don't gloat!  
The best we can do is get together as a people and work towards what's right and just, always keep the words of Isaiah at heart:  "Justice, Justice, you shall pursue!"  --- See link: http://tinyurl.com/zwbm3y4
Let's roll up our sleeves and help the needy, defend women's right to choose, fight for equal rights for all people, use data and facts to explain to folks about Climate Change.                 If we do this on a daily basis, slowly but surely the tide will turn.  Remember the words of Martin Luther King:  “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

And only together - knowing we belong together, can we follow God's words:  Lekh L'kha: Let us go! 

There is a long road ahead and a lots to do!  No time to waste:  Let us go!