A trip into political antiquity is just what the medicus ordered. Three totally unrelated geopolitical facts
In Washington, D.C., and Jerusalem, D.C. (David’s Capital, h/t to a series of pro-Trump banners in Yerushalayim a few years ago), filibuster is the name of the game. Some Senate Democrats want to ban the maneuver to enable Biden to pass his agenda. In the Knesset, the parliamentary tactic (spelled as above), is used on a wholesale basis by the Bibi-led opposition to harry the fragile coalition and turn voting into all-night wars of attrition. United Torah Judaism MK Yitzchok Pindrus employed the filibuster to recite Birchos Hashachar in the plenum.
The tactic has paid off with Knesset Speaker Miki Levy himself mistakenly voting with the Opposition out of sheer fatigue, killing an important bill. But the question is, how many of the learned Knesset members know that the filibuster tradition is not a Jewish one, but in fact originated with a Roman senator, Cato the Younger?
Whatever the move’s origins, its enthusiastic adoption in Israel’s parliament is not surprising, given the national propensity for a good drashah. And the filibuster itself might be in Shas MKs’ DNA, as some have shown. After all, it was first used by Cato against Julius Caesar on his return from conquering Spain.
Most modern politicians are a dull lot (barring the odd appearance of a President Trump). But for a colorful political figure out of the distant past, look no further than the ineffably grand Jacob Rees-Mogg. A long, languid aristocrat who is a parody of a bygone Briton, the leader of the House of Commons lives in a country pile in Somerset, has a comically posh accent, and has told national radio that he doesn’t change nappies, because “nanny does.”
Create a free account to keep reading.
