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

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.

Thoughts about the Recent Tragedy in Orlando

I turn to our tradition for guidance, comfort and wisdom when looking for answers and trying to make some semblance of sense of some senseless act.  

The Torah’s assertion that each and every human being is created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God is a clarion call to treat people, all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or choices with derekh eretz, with dignity and kavod, respect.  The murders at the Pulse Night Club was a hate crime that violates the Torah’s injunction to “love your neighbor as yourself.”   As Jews we understand what it means to be singled out, what it means to be vulnerable, what it means to be a victim.  Knowing that the Talmud equates each and every life with an entire world, we feel the pain of the families who lost loved ones.  

As a prayer in our prayer book which is inspired by the prophets states:  “We have not come into being to hate or destroy, but to love.”  

Based on what is currently known, the violent act was clearly directed against LGBQT individuals and was inspired by the hate-filled teachings of the Islamic State which claims to speak in the name of Islam.  As a recent article in the Washington Post points out, unfortunately these teachings are not inconsistent with the prevailing attitude towards gays in most, if not all predominantly Muslim countries.  

Just last week after the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv I shared the powerful poem by the Hebrew poet Zelda called, “Everyone Has a Name” in my Shabbat sermon.  The words of the poem, excerpted in part below, are as applicable to the victims in Orlando as they are to those gunned down in Israel the previous week.  

Everyone has a name
given to him by God
and given to him by his father and his mother.

Everyone has a name
given to him by his stature
and the way he smiles.
and given to him by the fabric he wears…

Everyone has a name
given to him by his sins
and given to him by his longings….

Everyone has a name
given to him by his enemies
and given to him by his love….

Everyone has a name
given to him by the sea and
given to him
by his death.

The poem reminds us not to forget that each individual life that was taken was precious and more than just a name or a statistic.  

The last insight comes not from our traditional texts, but from what we can learn from how Israel has handled similar attacks, for regrettably they have become unwilling experts on how to respond to deadly attacks.  After a terrorist blew himself up at the Dolphinarium night club in Tel Aviv in 2001 during the height of the Intifada resulting in the deaths of 21 young people, Israelis were in a similar state of shock to what we in America are currently feeling.  Outside the disco a makeshift monument of flowers and notes was created.  The sign at the center simply said, “Lo nafsik lirkod:  We will not stop dancing.”  

Ultimately, that attitude of perseverance and of not giving in to hatred, terror or fundamentalist religious intolerance is what is needed to prevail and be sure that the terrorists do not succeed in their goals of terrorizing us and of disrupting our lives and of threatening our way of life.  

May the Source of comfort send consolation and comfort to all who mourn.