Have no fear, election season is almost over.

For the last several weeks I have been inundated with phone calls, texts, emails, and even people shouting at me from the sidewalk, about the various political decisions coming due on November 3. All-consuming is the presidential choice, which every four years captivates our nation, and the world, like almost no other contest on earth. Many of us seem to pour our whole selves — emotions, reason, values, beliefs, and even friendships — into the presidential content. This year the effect seems amplified.

There’s good reason why we’re naturally drawn to such a race. Political anthropologists studying the ancient world tell us that the transition from tribal systems to state systems occur when power is concentrated at levels higher than local kinship. That is, instead of a system of autonomous tribes of close family units, those tribes band together in a confederation that places a leader at the top of the pile to allocate and oversee a broad array of resources and decisions. Hence a “king,” or, today, a “president.” There are advantages and disadvantages to such a system but either way, decisions about hierarchy — about who is justified in leading — have consequently higher stakes. That is especially the case here in the United  States, where the president occupies a position of enormous political, economic, and cultural power.

If you are overwhelmed (or just annoyed!) by this moment of maximum national obsession, rest assured that there is an antidote. Even state systems preserve aspects of tribal semi-autonomy, in which those lower-level kinship units still act as the center of local and family life. In other words, you can use your community as a shield.

Here at the Taube Center for Jewish Peoplehood, we are hard at work rounding out our Fall 2020 calendar and preparing new compelling programs for 2021: online and, hopefully, in person. Our programs offer a community in which we can partake in Jewish culture, thought, and practice to bring us closer together. As the whirlwind of the state threatens to overtake us, we can retreat into the smaller familial units that help bring meaning to our lives. 

• Creating a haunted house or candy scavenger hunt in your home
• Having a scary movie night and Halloween-themed activities (pumpkin carving, face painting) at home
• Participating in online parties/contests (e.g. costume or pumpkin carvings)
• Attending car-based outings where people do not leave their car including drive-in events or contests or movies; driving through an area with Halloween displays
• Eating a Halloween-themed meal with your household (alone or with up to 2 other households, not including your own, for a meal outside following all other gathering guidelines)
• Enjoying a Halloween-themed art installation at an outdoor museum with your household
• Dressing up homes and yards with Halloween-themed decorations
• Giving treats at home only to those in your household.
• Send a curated playlist and/or themed treats (or tricks) to your friends ahead of time.
• Designing face masks that reflect your child/ren's Halloween costumes
• Prepare a Halloween basket for your children or Halloween hunt in your backyard