A name made great...

At Avot 1:13, Hillel teaches that a name made great is a name destroyed (there are many nuanced translations of the original words, but this is their gist).

I have been reading today that Eric Lander, head of President Biden's Office of Science and Technology Policy, has stepped down from his important and high-profile position in the wake of the findings of a White House review that he had mistreated staff.

Although Lander was well-known in his field of expertise, genetics, he was unknown to many of us until June 2021, when he was sworn in on a 500-year-old edition of Pirkei Avot in preference to the more conventional choice of a bible. This decision attracted a great deal of publicity, and indeed much approval too. For, while the bible is a closed book to many people today, the choice of Avot -- a treatise on ethics and good behaviour -- sent out a message of commitment to its content.

While Avot calls for us to treat other people with respect and to control our anger, the findings of the White House review are reported to have found that Lander's conduct did not match up to those standards.

Now, sadly, the name of Eric Lander is all over the internet. He is not merely a high-placed official who has left his post on account of work-related issues. While the mainstream media do not pick up on Lander's commitment to Jewish ethics (or at least have not yet done so to my knowledge), the Jewish media have been quick to do so. Thus, for example,

• "Lander, who is Jewish, was sworn into office on a 1492 edition of Pirkei Avot ... and has spoken about Jewish values guiding his work" (Times of Israel)
• "White House science advisor who was sworn in on book of Jewish ethics steps down after review finds he mistreated staff" (Jewish Telegraphic Agency).

What should our response be? Avot tells us not to be hasty to judge others (1:1), to look on the conduct of others favourably where it is possible to do so (1:6) and to remember that we are not in the position of the person we judge (2:5). Had we been so, are we so sure that we would have done any better? This is not to condone any acts of wrongdoing, but rather to help us to focus on judging the acts and not the entirety of the person who commits them -- and also to strengthen our own commitment to compliance with the standards set by Avot whenever we are able to do so.