A Theory as to President Carter’s Extraordinary Longevity

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Certainly the former president deserves credit for having contributed to the making of peace that has saved lives in the middle-east.  But it is also well known that President Carter was one of the leading voices in trying to give legitimacy to Hamas.  He also helped promote the fallacy that Israel is an Apartheid State labelling them worse than South Africa in its prime Apartheidism.  Why then did he merit such longevity – more so than any other US president?

This article proposes a theological suggestion.  It was in the late 1970’s.  Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had made inroads toward making peace with the State of Israel.  President Carter penned and sent an important communication to then American Ambassador, Samuel W. Lewis.  Ambassador Lewis wanted to deliver the letter right away.  The letter had arrived on Shabbos.

President Carter told him, “Absolutely not.  Please wait until the Jewish Sabbath is over.”  Prime Minister Menachem Begin repeated the story in the Knesset in a speech.  He did so in the context of insisting that the Jewish Sabbath be kept in the Jewish State.

The passage in the Lecha Dodi that we recite every Friday evening about the Shabbos – is, “Ki hi mekor haBracha – for She, Shabbos observance is the source of all blessing.”

Perhaps it can be suggested that notwithstanding the idea in Sanhedrin 58b proscribing the actual observance of Shabbos of an aino ben bris – there is still a concept of honoring Shabbos.  We find a Rashi in Yevamos 48b “Ger Toshav” that indicates this concept in a Ger Toshav – particularly in the way the Baalei Tosfos understand that Rashi.  By the same token there is a Gemorah in Krisus 9a that states that a Ger Toshav does his malacha on Shabbos to himself – this seems to indicate an element of honoring the Jewish Shabbos.  Rav Aryeh Leib Shapira, a mashgiach in Ponovich writes about the gentile’s obligation to believe in Shabbos as part of his Emunah Bashem (see Chazon laMo’ed Maamar 6).

Of course, no one is privy to the upper inner workings of Hashem’s cheshbonos and perhaps we should not even speculate about such things – but this idea does fit in with what we know about the remarkable nature of Shabbos.

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