Rav Avigdor Miller on Asking the Chachmei Hatorah About Nixon

Q:
Is President Nixon an אוהב ישראל? Does he love the Jewish People?
A:
Well, that’s a very big order to expect of a gentile. The question we ask is: How much is a gentile not a שונא ישראל? And therefore, I think that on that question he would pass. President Nixon is not a שונא ישראל.
And since I understand what you’re getting at, I presume that I will have to speak a few words on this subject of President Nixon. But I’ll make it brief because we already spoke about it at length. And I’m going to ask all the people who are with me to sign the petition supporting the President that I will be circulating as soon as the lecture is finished.
Nothing has been brought forward to demonstrate that President Nixon ever did anything wrong to the Jews. The radio and the newspapers have said so many things, they have hinted at so many things, that by this time the public is thoroughly confused. The public in America has no mind of its own because everyone thinks along with the media. That’s a fact. And therefore the people have, unfortunately, gone along with the radical liberals, the iconoclasts and the vandals who are trying to tear down, not only the President – don’t think it’s this President that’s the problem – they want to tear down anything of authority.
Before President Nixon, do you know how much trouble there was about Vietnam?! And he didn’t start the Vietnam War. It was a Democrat regime that started the Vietnam War. But Nixon was blamed for it and that blame carried over to everything else. And therefore, as I explained last week, we should have some humility. Let’s understand that we do not have such independent minds. Let’s admit that we’re very much influenced by the radio and television announcers. And let’s turn to our great Torah teachers who don’t listen to radio all day long, who don’t look at television and who don’t read newspapers. They learn Torah all day long. And they’ll tell us the verdict of the Torah – what does Hakodosh Boruch Hu want of us? And they’ve told us in no uncertain terms: הוי מתפלל בשלומה של מלכות – Pray for the welfare of the government. The government means the President and the whole government behind him.
And don’t think that our great teachers don’t understand. Don’t think that they have closed eyes. What you have in your brain, and in all the brains of all the other Jews put together, is nothing compared to what our Roshei Yeshivah and Gedolei Ha’Rabbonim have in a fingernail.
Now, that’s a big order for you American Jews to accept. American Jews think that they’re smart. Everyone thinks he’s smart and that the rabbis are all numbskulls. And the extreme opposite is the truth. You American Jews, you – the ones who are here are among the best we have, and still, you have no brains in your heads except for what’s put in by the newspapers. That’s the truth!
And therefore, let’s lean back and relax and let’s rely on the chachmei hatorah – don’t rely on your own seichel. They told us to back the President and to pray for him. You’ll get a mitzvah and Hakodosh Boruch Hu will reward you for it.