I would like to share a recent difficult conversation that I had with a member of our Jewish community about potential educational programs.
As the High Holidays approach, and as we are also nearing the one year anniversary of October 7th, as well as being six weeks from a Presidential election, and the anniversary of Kristallnacht is less than a week after this election, there is a lot to consider. As my friend and I discussed programming, it led to a greater discussion about Jewish identity and antisemitism, and how antisemitism is becoming a broad term that perhaps can now be more accurately referred to as Jew Hate.
As we talked about ways we could remember the past, accurately discuss the issues we face today, and how we can create a better future, my friend became emotional and concerned that despite our best efforts that our potential programs may not make a difference. I was taken back by their pessimism, but I was thankful that they shared this doubt and concern.
Yes, we have problems. We cannot deny this. Yes, polarization, and growing tribalism appears to have permeated our politics, our educational systems and our social structures.
There is great uncertainty in our daily lives. It seems that any hour brings breaking news of death and destruction from our fellow man, and I think it is very normal to suffer anxiety based on current events. Just over night we have learned that Israel has again degraded Hezbollah leadership with another precision attack.
There’s an old joke about a Jewish telegram back in the old days when we still communicated with telegrams instead of letters, emails or texts. It read “Start Worrying. Details to Follow.”
It seems as if we live in the worst of times:
Israel is at war and with its own internal issues of divisiveness and conflict,
Israeli and American political relations are not great,
The Middle East is in constant turmoil,
Antisemitism in the USA has dramatically increased in the last few years,
Political and Societal polarization abounds in our local communities and across our country,
Climate disasters all over the world,
The War in Ukraine persists,
A new cold war emerging with China,
Science and facts are dismissed as opinion,
And studies show that loneliness and social isolation are at an all-time high.
And I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but on my drive to synagogue every shabbat morning the car radio is always playing a show called American Greed So every Saturday morning as I am preparing my mind for spirituality and holiness I am regaled with stories of sinister and evil people committing fraud and murder, and stealing innocent peoples life savings.
My friend’s worry was two-fold, not only about our current state of affairs but they felt that despite all of our efforts to promote unity, justice, kindness, and interfaith respect, we are still facing and fighting the same challenges. How on earth, this person wondered, is our world stilled plagued with hatred, warfare, and genocide. Where is the progress?
It is easy to think we live in the worst of times, but:
We have a Jewish homeland that has been able to defend itself when needed,
We have the ability to protect Israel with fundraising and through lobbying our governments,
We can rally to support organizations that protect democracy, justice and human rights,
We can campaign and we can vote,
We can engage in thoughtful conversation and attempt to build bridges for the common good,
We can support activities and companies that are consistent with Jewish values and sustainability.
So, despite all the evil and hatred, and efforts to restrict minorities we have come a long way:
There is less racism, police now accountable,
Corporate American gets it, almost every tv commercial is a melting pot of faces driving new cars,
There is Less homophobia, gay marriage is the law of the land, with pride events/parades,
There is Less sexism with Women’s rights and Women in positions of power,
There are wins in the battle for the Protection of Reproductive Rights,
We acknowledge bullying and are making attempts to combat it,
There is increased minority representation in leadership positions in the public and private sectors.
Certainly, progress is not a straight line. In parsha Vayeilech, God tells Moses that despite all that has been done for the children of Israel, as soon as you die, “this people will there upon go astray after the alien gods in their midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake me, and break my covenant that I made with them.” (31:16)
God is telling Moses to create a written statement that explains that when hardship comes it is not God that has abandoned the people but it is the people that have abandoned God.
Clearly, God and Moses are frustrated…….If I ever get on the show Family Feud and the questions is, name the number one emotion in a relationship, I am slamming the buzzer and shouting FRUSTRATION.
So back to my friend, I said I too feel your frustration, but I believe in the MLK quote that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” I believe we have made progress toward freedom, equality, and that justice is inevitable. But it requires that we, the people, remain committed and undaunted with continuous and persistent force and pressure.
Furthermore and more importantly, I said that you, my friend, HAVE made a huge difference. You have inspired me. My philanthropy and volunteerism is a direct result from watching the example you have set, and I have learned the importance of showing up from you. I am involved in our Jewish community as a direct result of your efforts to make our world a better place. You are a friend, a mentor and you have changed my life, and I know there are countless people feel the same way about your efforts, but may not have thought to tell how much you have meant to them, and how you have moved them to action.
I reminded my friend that yes the big victories and celebrations of humanitarian progress are great, but in Judaism it is also the little things that make a huge difference. When we have a film festivals and interfaith services that educates hundreds of our neighbors it is a big win. When we raise tens of thousands of dollars for emergency relief in Ukraine and Israel, and other humanitarian disasters, it is a big win.
When we say a prayer before we eat, or light the shabbat candles we bring holiness to simple daily tasks. When we help a neighbor with yardwork, or open the door for a stranger with a smile and a greeting, we are also making a difference. And when we make simple ordinary tasks holy we make our world more kind, more just, and more compassionate.
So doing good deeds not only helps our neighbors, our community, our world but it also is good for our souls, and is indeed very important to our humanity. No gesture, no effort of tikkun olam, or repair of the world, is too small and without significance or without merit. Every mitzvah adds value and says I love you and I value your humanity. It all matters, and as I told my friend, I believe our next education program will make a difference.
Next week we celebrate Rosh Hashanah and get a formal opportunity to reflect and commit. Our ability to choose our actions is what make our lives the great adventure they should be. We cannot control outcomes but we can control how we contribute to the greater good and whether we want to live with purpose. However, regardless of how hard we try, it is likely that the work will never be completed.
Each Shabbat we recite many of the same prayers, and each holiday we perform the same rituals. I’m sure Groucho Marx started his Passover seder with “If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me, because I’d like to hear it again.”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks best summarizes why Judaism is so important, why our covenant with God is so critical and unique, and why Judaism has endured despite great challenges:
“Covenant societies exist not because they have been there a long time, nor because of some act of conquest, nor for the sake of some economic or military advantage. They exist to honor a pledge, a moral bond, an ethical undertaking. That is why telling the story is essential to a covenant society. It reminds all citizens of why they are there.
Unlike a myth, which merely claims to say what happened, a covenant always contains a specific set of undertakings that bind its citizens in the present and into the future.
Covenant societies – of which the USA is the supreme contemporary example – are moral societies, meaning not that their members are more righteous than others but that they see themselves as publicly accountable to certain moral standards that are part of the text and texture of their national identity. They are honoring the obligations imposed upon them by the founders.
Covenant societies see their very fate as tied up with the way they meet or fail to meet those obligations. “If we keep its terms, we shall flourish” – implying that if we don’t, we won’t.
Covenant societies are not ethnic nations bound by common racial origin. They make room for outsiders – immigrants, asylum seekers, resident aliens – who become part of the society by taking its story and making it their own, as Ruth did in the biblical book that bears her name (“Your people will be my people, and your God, my God”) or as successive waves of immigrants did when they came to the United States. Indeed conversion in Judaism is best understood not on the model of conversion to another religion – such as Christianity or Islam – but as the acquisition of citizenship in a nation like the USA.
It is utterly astonishing that the mere act of telling the story, regularly, as a religious duty, sustained Jewish identity across the centuries, even in the absence of all the normal accompaniments of nationhood – land, geographical proximity, independence, self-determination – and never allowed the people to forget its ideals, its aspirations, its collective project of building a society that would be the opposite of Egypt, a place of freedom and justice and human dignity, in which no human being is sovereign; in which God alone is King.
One of the most profound truths about the politics of covenant is: If you want to sustain freedom, never stop telling the story.“
So to my friend, and all my friends, and to all those who believe in kindness and justice, we know the greatest leader in the history of our people never reached the promised land, because life’s purpose is not achieving a destination, but to journey with integrity and to live in the moment and continue to strive to recreate a Garden of Eden, a place of peace, safety and tranquility with our fellow man. May we be blessed to have the strength to continue this mission.