Montgomery County, MD, like all of the DMV is diverse. MoCO, is particularly diverse, and so Charlottesville hit people here hard. Here is the faith response from our community.
(I begin speaking at 1:04)
I was pleased, although not surprised, to run into several of my fellow-speakers yesterday at the Ministers March in DC. I would like to think that progressive faith has finally awoken again.
Here is the text (more or less) of my remarks above:
Here is the text (more or less) of my remarks above:
I’m going to be a bit unseasonal for a minute. The Jewish holiday of Purim is celebrated in
the late winter/early spring - February or March. It is, superficially, a
festive holiday marking the salvation of the Jewish people from the evil
advisor to a foolish king (yes, really). The advisor takes umbrage at the fact
that a Jew refuses to bow down to him, and so he marks the entire population in
that kingdom for slaughter. This fate is averted by the actions of a woman, the
niece of the man who refused to bow, who earlier in the story had just happened
to become the consort of the king. She takes her life in her hands and goes to
see the king to ask that the decree of slaughter be averted.
A very abbreviated version of the story of the book of
Esther -- but what is remarkable about this religious book is that nowhere is
God explicitly mentioned in it.
Nevertheless, the tradition teaches that God is, indeed,
present in the story, but hidden. The
sages say (Hullin 139B), “From where do the Hebrew Scriptures [the Torah] bring
the name Esther? From the verse in Deuteronomy 31:18. ‘But I [God] will surely
conceal my face הַסְתֵּר אַסְתִּיר פָּנַי [“haster astir panai“ ]. '” The name Esther is
interpreted the phrase for a “concealed God.”
In the Purim story, it is left to humans to act. In the
story of Esther, God is not missing, merely hidden. God is never directly
mentioned in the story, but God acts, unseen, through us. In the fourth chapter of the book of Esther,
Mordechai, Esther’s unbowing uncle, comes to her and tells her that she must
use the power and privilege that she has to save her people, and adds, “and who
knows if it were not for just such a time as this that you were raised to
power?”
Just as in that story God moves the characters into place
but leaves them to act, so it is up to us to act. Those of us with privilege
must use it. We must all stand together at this time, and at all times.
It is, I think, not merely serendipity that the portion in
the Hebrew scriptures that Jews read last week begins with the command: to see.
“See, I place before you the blessing and the curse,” it says. Which we will choose?
Although this is a moment in which many of us are afraid, it
is also, partly, a blessing. The fear that some of us have always lived in
because of racism has become recognized by many who did not really see
it before. Anti-semitism, which is often dismissed as unimportant because some
Jews are light-skinned and benefit from that, has been revealed as a
still-powerful force. Racism, sexism,
Islamophobia, anti-semitism: these have
the same root, and when you see one, you will see the others. All the
intersectional forces which strip power from some of us can be seen clearly –
if we have the will to see it.
And whether we choose to see or not – that
will determine which path we walk down.
Jewish tradition
warns elsewhere (Midrash Tanhuma, Mishpatim 2 )“‘With the justice that a person
with power does, he sustains the earth, but the fraudulent person destroys it.
If one …[sets oneself] aside in the corner of the house, and says, ‘What have
the affairs of society to do with me? What’s in it for me to take part in their
disputes? Why should I listen to their voices? I’m fine [without this],’ this
person destroys the world. This is the meaning of ‘the fraudulent person
destroys [the world].’”
Tomorrow there will be an eclipse. Light will seem to be
swallowed by darkness. But it isn't really. It's just that the view of it is
blocked for a few minutes. Just now in
the world, we too look around us and the world appears to be darkness. Like an
eclipse the light seems to be blotted out, but that glorious light continues
whether we see it or not. But in this world, to make sure that the light is
revealed, to uncover the concealed face of God, it is upon us to act: first for
those who are threatened, to help keep them safe; second to our lawmakers and
leaders and anyone who by words or by silence, by acts or by inaction, lets
racism and white supremacism flourish. They must know not only that we oppose
them, but that we will act to oppose them and to vote them out; and third, to
the people who believe such evil and especially those who act on it and teach
it to others. We have to find ways to reach them, and educate them and end the
cycles of ignorance, poverty, and violence in our nation.
Esther had to choose, Do I risk my life and go before the
king to save my people or shall I pretend nothing is wrong and live my life of
luxury unruffled by the storm outside my door? We too, must learn to see, and
then we must choose.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said in 1972: "… morally
speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of
human beings, that indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, that in a
free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible."
And here's a bit of lagniappe. I didn't say it, but it seems appropos to the events of Charlottesville and their tiki torches.
Isaiah 50
י מִי
בָכֶם יְרֵא יְהוָה, שֹׁמֵעַ בְּקוֹל עַבְדּוֹ--אֲשֶׁר הָלַךְ חֲשֵׁכִים, וְאֵין נֹגַהּ
לוֹ, יִבְטַח בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה, וְיִשָּׁעֵן בֵּאלֹהָיו. {ס}
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10 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeys the
voice of His servant? though he walks in darkness, and has no light, let
him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
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11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves
with firebrands, begone in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that
ye have kindled. This shall ye have of My hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
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