The immortal words, “the
envelope please”… along with, “and the winner is…” or “And the Oscar goes to…” have
captured everyone’s attention and taken on new meaning after the fiasco at the
Academy Awards presentation earlier this week.
In one of the biggest mix-ups of all time, an incorrect announcement was
made for the Best Picture award.
Unfortunately for the two people from the accounting firm
responsible for the calculations and presenting the envelopes, when La La Land
was mistakenly announced, they did not know what to do. Apparently, once they stopped tweeting and
playing with their phones and realized something had gone terribly wrong, they
simply froze. Although there was a
protocol in place of what to do should something like this happen, calling upon
them to go on stage immediately, and which they had told people about in
several interviews when asked what they would do should the very scenario that
occurred take place, they stood there and did nothing.
The real hero of the night was Jordan Horowitz, (an “MOT”, by
the way), the producer of La La Land who assertively had the presence of mind
to come forward to the microphone and calmly and firmly announce, “There’s been
a mistake. You guys won best
picture. This is not a joke. Come up here,” he said motioning to the
Moonlight team to come up and receive their award as he grabbed the correct
envelope and held it up for all to see.
He was a model of class and graciousness, as well as of assertive
action. Because he acted decisively, he will
be remembered positively, whereas the two who stood by and said and did nothing
are out of a job. The truth is, in the
grand scheme of things the Academy Awards are really relatively trivial and
insignificant. But I think there is a
lesson to be learned from the contrast in the way the two acted.
And I thought about what happened, believe it or not, in
light of the reports about the hate crimes and anti-Semitism that we are
reading and hearing about of late.
Since the beginning of this year alone, there have been over
120 bomb threats in 36 states against Jewish institutions. Almost 100 Jewish institutions, 12 Jewish Day
Schools, and 2 ADL offices have received threatening calls. At least three Jewish cemeteries have been
desecrated, with twice as many anti-Semitic hate crimes reported by the New
York Hate Crime Task Force than the same period last year. All of this has led Malcolm Hoenlein, head of
the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish organizations to call upon world
leaders to take forceful action because as he pointed out, the threat is global
and must not be left unchecked.
Anti-Semitism is not a new phenomenon, which is why it is
correctly called, “the world’s oldest hatred.”
Some suspect that the current political climate and extremist
rhetoric moving to the mainstream is the cause and reason for the current spate
of anti-Semitic acts. Others have
pointed out that there might not be a rise in anti-Semitism, but just that it
is being perceived that way because it is being reported more. An interesting article I read pointed out
that The New York Times ignored and
did not report on Jewish cemetery desecrations in years past and questions if
the new-found interest in reporting is politically based.
There was an undisputable and disturbing rise of anti-Zionist
and anti-Israel activity especially on college campuses in the previous eight
years, with Jewish students confronted and accosted on their way to class and
in their dorm rooms. The anti-Zionist hostility
was often accompanied by its fraternal, if not identical twin, anti-Semitism. Too many were silent and excused the
inexcusable, ignored, or offered feeble rationalizations or justification of
unjustifiable acts.
Just because it was wrong to be silent then does not,
however, mean that the current acts should be minimized or excused. Anti-Semitism in all forms is wrong and should
be universally condemned regardless of its source or origin, by those on all
sides of the political spectrum.
The heightened awareness of what is happening today offers a
unique opportunity for us as a people and as a nation to reflect on what it all
means, how to respond, and to evaluate our values.
On Friday I attended an extraordinary outpouring of support
at the JCC in Rockville. Those who
participated included both of our United States Senators, three members of
Congress, our County Executive, 7 of the 9 members of the County Council and
other public officials. They were all
there to send one common message. A
message first stated by George Washington in a letter he sent in 1790 to the
Jewish congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, in which he assured the Jewish
citizens that America would not tolerate anti-Semitism, writing the famous
words, “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”
But most impressive about yesterday’s gathering was the
outpouring of support and display of unity by over 100 clergy of all faiths and
denominations who came in a massive show of support and solidarity with the
Jewish community at a time when we are being singled out and threatened.
As I stood on the stage next to Protestant ministers,
Catholic priests, Muslim imams, representatives of the Sikh and Hindu faith,
and others, I felt deep appreciation for the embrace.
While the purpose of terrorism or threats is to frighten and intimidate,
this was a welcome antidote and sign of unity and affirmation that hatred is
not the dominant voice in our community.
The source of anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice and hatred stems
from stereotypes and preconceived notions of the other. It occurs when we generalize and do not see
the humanity or individualism of those who are different than us.
And I realized that just as I was so glad to see that we Jews
were not alone and that others joined in this expression of support, I thought
about how important it is for us as Jews to stand with others who experience
similar forms of hatred. Based on our
values and experience we must lead the way and be in the forefront of efforts
to oppose those who make similar prejudicial judgments and who intimidate or
terrorize members of other faith groups.
How else should we respond?
As JCRC Director Ron Halber said yesterday, “The purpose of
these phone calls is to sow fear and anxiety in the Jewish community, to make
us think twice about going to synagogue to pray, to send our children to
school, or to use our community centers to access all the extraordinary
programs and services they have to offer.”
And the best response is to not let whoever is making the calls
succeed. We do that when we continue to
celebrate our faith, when we attend Jewish celebrations and when we reinforce
and recommit ourselves to practice our tradition.
Today’s Torah reading, where we are commanded to build a mishkan, a place of holiness so that
God’s presence would rest on earth is especially relevant. The rabbis pointed out that God told Moses
that he would dwell among the people and that His presence would become felt
and manifest on earth as a result of our building a sanctuary.
A debate among the rabbis is recorded in the Talmud and
midrash over whether the commandment to build the Tabernacle came before or
after the people built a Golden Calf. I
would like to suggest a novel interpretation this morning. The command
to build the Tabernacle, which became the paradigm for the Temple and the model
for the synagogue was issued after the battle with the Amalekites, after the
struggle with the archetype anti-Semites, who sought to prey upon the weak and
to destroy the Jewish people. The
response then, as now, was to build a House of God! That is why the command to the Children of
Israel to build the Tabernacle was issued when it was.
Let us therefore follow in the steps of those who came before
us and like them resolve to build and strengthen the very places those who hate
us want to destroy. Now more than ever,
we need to assert the centrality and importance of the synagogue. Let us come and fill our places of worship,
as well as our day schools and Jewish community centers.
So on this week before the holiday of Purim, a holiday when
another villain sought to terrorize and to annihilate our people, let us
resolve not to let hatred win and to do what we can to turn back the forces
that continue today, as they have throughout history to intimidate us. Let us stand against hatred and intolerance in
all forms and against bigotry towards all minorities and all who are different
than us.
We can either act forcefully and decisively, or we can be
like the two who stood on the side of the stage and did nothing.
Rabbi Stuart
Weinblatt
Congregation
B’nai Tzedek
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