|
Shabbat Shalom,
A colleague of mine recently shared with me a pithy quote: “If there were no world events, we would all live lives of ease.”
Now, this is obviously not true. There is unfortunately plenty of illness, loss, and interpersonal struggles to make “ease” a distant dream for many. Yet especially in the past few years, our standing as Jews, as American Jews, influenced by global events, would hardly qualify as “at ease”.
Israel’s recent escalation against Iran, a regime that has been committed to Israel’s destruction for many years now, has opened up a truly multi-front war in the Middle East. This episode is currently in its infancy, and I along with the rest of you am watching to see what happens next.
One thing we have learned is that our status as Jews living in America is intimately connected and affected by what happens abroad, and because of this, I want to highlight two things:
1) Our voices and perspectives are vital precisely because we haveperspective. Unlike our Israeli friends and family, we are not running in and out of shelters. We are able to see, digest, react, connect, critique. We have plenty of blind spots, but as war rages on across now 3+ fronts, American Jews owe it to ourselves and the State of Israel to share our stances, questions, insecurities, and hopes, because the fate of Israelis, Palestinians, and American Jews are in many ways tied together. It’s ok to be a walking contradiction, and to take some pride in that.
2) As a Temple community, we are deeply committed to the safety and well-being of every single person who walks through our doors. We continue to take our security seriously and follow recommendations from our security company, local authorities, and Federation.
A synagogue is first and foremost a community committed to serving God through the mitzvot, our 613 commandments. There’s a famous debate in the Talmud that I’ll paraphrase below:
Is study greater or is action greater? Rabbi Tarfon answered and said: Action is greater. Rabbi Akiva answered and said: Study is greater. Everyone answered and said: Study is greater, but not as an independent value; rather, it is greater because study leads to action.
I often feel like we are living in the center of this argument. Action is difficult, and learning for its own sake only gets one so far. The goal is to unite the two - to take in and give out. So in that vein, I hope our prayers this Shabbat are efficacious not just for God to hear them, but for us to hear our own words and act on them.
May Israel’s inhabitants be safe and secure through this next wave of war. May the civilians of Iran be seen as humans deserving of life, not potential victims of “collateral damage.” And may our prayers bring us from principle to practice and back again.
Shabbat Shalom,
Max
|
