Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Reflection for These Troubled Times



This past week was a difficult one for our nation.  

Within days of the celebration of our nation’s birth and independence last week, a time when we reflect upon and express gratitude for the promise offered by America, we have witnessed images of senseless deaths across our country.  Our world seems inverted, as the loss of life has come at the hands of police and the lives of police have been taken.  Families have been shattered and communities torn apart as loved ones are mourned and buried. 

In the aftermath of the turmoil and tragic events many question what is happening to our nation.  The voices of hate, of division, of violence and of racism seem to be so pervasive that we cannot help but feel a sense of overwhelming despair and anguish.

Yet at precisely a time such as this, we must raise our voice, a voice of reason, of hope, and of tolerance to counter the darkness that threatens to envelop us, for the Bible introduced the notion that we should hope, work for and strive to make our world a better place.  And so we turn to our tradition for inspiration to persevere and for the encouragement to carry on and to cast light on dark places. 
 
The prophets eloquently proclaim that, “we have not come into being to hate or to destroy.”  Rather, our tradition affirms that our purpose is to create, to make the word a better place, and to love God.  We do this by performing acts of lovingkindness, by the sacred task of working for tikun olam, and by recognizing that all of humanity is created b’tzelem Elohim, in the Divine Image. 

Our sages taught that the story of creation in the Torah focuses on the creation of the first human being so that we would know that we all have the same origins, that we share a common lineage and that every single life is precious.  

Let us pause in the face of such horrific acts. Let us reflect on what unites us. Let us be encouraged by the acts of goodness and see in them rays of hope. Let us look beyond stereotypes and work for unity, understanding and tolerance so we will be counted among those who work to bring peace and healing to our fractured nation.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt
July 11, 2016

Sources and Texts:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”   Leviticus 19:18
Rabbi Akiba proclaimed that this is the greatest principle of the Torah.

“Justice, justice shall you pursue.”  Deuteronomy 16:20

“Great is peace, for even the angels in heaven need peace, since as we say, ‘God makes peace in the heavens above.’  If peace is necessary in the heavens, how much more so is it necessary on earth, where there are so many conflicts.”   Numbers Rabbah 11:7

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

In Memory of Elie Wiesel


I first heard Elie Wiesel speak when I was a college student at the University of Maryland in the 1970’s. Sitting behind a desk on an empty stage before several hundred students he spoke quietly and forcefully about the importance of remembering. Long before I thought about becoming a rabbi he had a profound impact on my thinking and the direction my life was to take.
At that lecture he said that to forget the victims of the Holocaust and what happened would be to cause them to “die a second death.” He spoke of the importance of asking questions, even if we do not have answers, for the questions and the act of questioning is what is most important. He spoke of faith, of the world that was lost, of the cruelty of humanity, and the inexplicable silence and indifference of the world, as well as of the importance of honoring the victims by keeping Judaism alive.
As a result of his experiences, he lived the words of Hillel, cited in the Talmud, “If I am not for myself who will be for me. If I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?” He taught that when we speak and act as Jews, out of our unique experience is when we are most effective and our values are most universalistic. He advocated passionately on behalf of oppressed and persecuted Jews around the world, and spoke out for other victims of genocide as well. In a collection of essays entitled “A Jew Today” he wrote that we are a people with a mission, but that we have forgotten that mission, for the role of the Jew was never to make the world more Jewish, but to make it more human. Recognizing that we are such a fragile people and such a small minority, with so many enemies, he refused to engage in public criticism of Israel, preferring instead to encourage love and support of the Jewish state.
His most famous book, “Night” is an important account of the Holocaust. If you have never read any of his other books, I encourage you to read them. I am sure you will also be profoundly moved, as I was, to seek to live a life of meaning, and to appreciate and work to perpetuate the beautiful heritage he describes, a world the forces of evil sought to destroy.