I am reposting an article from Michael Twitty’s blog Afroculinaria because it is a beautiful teaching about racism, a subject that surrounds us but which most of us don’t understand.
I encourage you to read it and pass links to it among your circle of friends. I also encourage you to click the “Donate” link on the right side of Mr. Twitty’s blog. Supporting a teacher of Torah is an important mitzvah, because it preserves Torah for the next generation.
– Rabbi Ruth Adar
Image: Elie Wiesel (Photo: AP/Bebeto Matthews) Mr. Wiesel was a tireless advocate for the underdog, based on his own experience as an enslaved person in Auschwitz.
What need have I of all your sacrifices? says the Eternal.
I am sated with burnt offerings of rams,
And suet of fatlings, And blood of bulls;
And I have no delight In lambs and he-goats.
That you come to appear before Me— Who asked that of you?
Trample My courts no more!
Bringing oblations is futile, Incense is offensive to Me.
New moon and sabbath, Proclaiming of solemnities,
Assemblies with iniquity, I cannot abide.
Your new moons and fixed seasons Fill Me with loathing;
They are become a burden to Me, I cannot endure them.
And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you;
Though you pray at length, I will not listen.
Your hands are stained with crime— Wash yourselves clean;
Put your evil doings away from My sight.
Cease to do evil; Learn to do good.
Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged.
Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow.– Isaiah 1:11-17
The prophet Isaiah made it abundantly clear in Chapter 1 of his great book that the Jewish mission is not merely to perform rituals but to aid the wronged in the world. He he closes this salvo with specific directions about two of the most woeful elements of Jewish society in his age: orphans and widows. He did not specify Jewish orphans and widows, and later commentators made it clear that if only for the long-term good of the Jewish people, we were never to limit our efforts to fellow Jews. We were to devote ourselves to justice for all the oppressed.
For most of Jewish history since that time (these lines were written just before the Babylonian Captivity) the Jews themselves have been a persecuted and often homeless people. Still, relief for the poor and the weak and the disenfranchised has been part of our portfolio, indeed it has BEEN our portfolio.
However, our investment in social justice did not begin with the Prophets. Look at this passage from Genesis:
Then the LORD said, “The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave! I will go down to see whether they have acted altogether according to the outcry that has reached Me; if not, I will take note.”
The men went on from there to Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
Abraham came forward and said, “Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty? What if there should be fifty innocent within the city; will You then wipe out the place and not forgive it for the sake of the innocent fifty who are in it?
Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
And the LORD answered, “If I find within the city of Sodom fifty innocent ones, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham spoke up, saying, “Here I venture to speak to my Lord, I who am but dust and ashes: What if the fifty innocent should lack five? Will You destroy the whole city for want of the five?” And He answered, “I will not destroy if I find forty-five there.”
But he spoke to Him again, and said, “What if forty should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not do it, for the sake of the forty.”
And he said, “Let not my Lord be angry if I go on: What if thirty should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”And he said, “I venture again to speak to my Lord: What if twenty should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not destroy, for the sake of the twenty.”And he said, “Let not my Lord be angry if I speak but this last time: What if ten should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not destroy, for the sake of the ten.”When the LORD had finished speaking to Abraham, He departed; and Abraham returned to his place. – Genesis 18:20-33
Image: A Protest Sign. Lady Liberty captioned “I’m with her.” Photo by Rabbi Ruth Adar.
I am exhausted. I spent the morning at the synagogue and the rest of the day (when I thought i was going to take a nice nap) at a protest at San Francisco airport. Now it’s late and I want to post something but the body is saying, “Lie down, already!”
Our president chose to celebrate Holocaust Remembrance Day with an executive order. It barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for the next 90 days and suspends the admission of all refugees for 120 days. (CNN) Our immediate protest was on behalf of the people detained at SFO who had the bad luck to have planes that took off while their visas were still good, and landed after their visas had been Trumped. I have spent some time as an innocent airport security detainee (a story I’ll share another time) and it is terrifying and miserable. I felt for those folks.
I had planned to blog tonight about the social justice tradition in Judaism. I know I’m blogging a lot about what some readers may think of as “politics” and I wanted to explain why I feel that I’m still blogging about Basic Judaism. However, that was before I spent 2.5 hours in a crowd screeching “Let In the Lawyers” and “No Bans, No Walls” at the top of my lungs.
Another time.
A couple of random thoughts:
Big dogs are in a different kind of danger in a crowd. They can scare people, and scared people do dumb and/or mean things. When there are police around, it is advisable not to scare them, either. So leave the giant pit bull at home, too.
Yes, I have a dog and I love my dog. This is not about hating dogs.
This also goes for selfies: think about the people in the background. I have sinned once in this respect, but I won’t do it again. Moreover, it took my son so long to take this picture that I’m pretty sure people who didn’t want to be in it had a chance to cover their faces. What’s done is done (nothing ever disappears from the Internet) but I am determined never to do it again.
Alternatively, you can take photos of people facing the other direction. I have some “scooter’s eye view” photos that will not be of any interest whatsoever to Big Brother. (See doggie photo above.)
I’m rambling, because I am exhausted. Those were my two points. Go to bed, rabbi!
I received this from the co-chair of the Social Action Committee at my synagogue. I’m passing it along to each of you, my regular readers, and I hope you will join me. – Rabbi Adar
Diana Chapman Walsh was president of Wellesley College 8 years ago. She recently emailed her former colleagues the following idea:
Received this today. Creative idea … easy and worth a try.
Listen Up! The Republicans need to get the message from the majority of Americans that we value and need the benefits of Obamacare. Here’s how we do that.
On January 23rd, everyone who feels that way (our numbers are legion) sends a note to Donald Trump with a simple message:“Don’t make America sick again. Improve Obamacare. Don’t repeal it.”
One envelope for every ACA supporter in your household…even if they are under 18 years old. Just that simple message. Put it in an envelope, and put a stamp on it.
Mail it to:
Pres. Donald Trump
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20500
Can you imagine the picture of 53 MILLION letters arriving at the White House by January 26th? It will be a mountain.
Do it today! Drop it into a mailbox near you on Monday, January 23rd.
Please send this email to 20 (or more) of your friends, neighbors ann fellow Americans. Ask them to do the same.
This also helps out the US Postal Service, with about $20 Million of stamp sales.
Don’t send emails to Trump…they don’t photograph well.
This is about images, since words and ideas are falling on deaf ears.
And if you can’t mail it until the 24th, don’t let that stop you! Mail it on the 25th!
Are you IN?
Image: Signs from the March. Collage by Yahoo News, photos via Instagram, Twitter, Getty and Reuters.
On Saturday, January 21 we astonished ourselves. Millions of women and supporters around the globe turned out to demonstrate peacefully for human rights and against hate. It was a marvelous moment.
The question now stands: how do we take a moment and make it into a movement?
The Women’s March organizers are offering a new campaign: 10 Actions / 100 Days. I don’t know what their long-term plan is, but the first action they suggest is writing a postcard to our elected officials telling them what we want. Postcards sound like a great way to go: simple, cheap, and written, so guaranteed to get attention from politicians who want to be re-elected.
That’s good. I have some additional ideas. Feel free to do these, or not, or improvise upon them. If you have great ideas, please share them in the comments!
(Note that none of these are partisan steps. You can do them no matter what your party affiliation because they are about making America better for everyone, not about supporting a political party.)
I am resolved to do all seven of the above. Maybe you want to do all seven, or maybe three, or maybe just one. That’s fine, but do something. Don’t let the marvelous, miraculous energy of the Women’s March wither and die – because that is exactly what will happen if we don’t take next steps.
See you on the barricades.
Image: Family photo at the Oakland Women’s March. Linda, Marisa and I are center; Jim is the guy in the sunglasses taking the selfie. Photo by Jimbo Scott, all rights reserved.
The March would officially begin at 11. At 9:30, the the Jews of the SF East Bay began to gather at a tiny Chinatown park by the Lake Merritt BART station in Oakland, and at 10 we began singing. At 10:30, with wall-to-wall humanity surrounding us, we began a short Shabbat service. Rabbis David Cooper, Steven Chester, and I led prayers.
Jews rarely go out to do political things on the Sabbath. I am not sure how many Jews were there, but we were there in force (at least 200 from Temple Sinai, Oakland, plus Kehilla Congregation and Congregation Beth El Berkeley, and maybe more.)
Early on, I was anxious about safety: my own safety, on a tiny scooter in a big crowd, and the safety of everyone marching with Temple Sinai.
Gradually my anxiety lifted, as people kept pouring out of the BART stations, from the buses, from everywhere. The small park in Chinatown where we’d been told to gather was a mass of humanity. Total strangers greeted each other like old friends. We were all so tired of being alone with our TVs and computers, so glad to find out that we were not really alone.
My mood and the mood of the crowd was warm, almost joyful. We were standing together after the last few weeks of transition to an Administration that alternately shocked and confused us.We held downtown Oakland in the embrace of an absolute gridlock of bodies. The age range ran from the seventies (at least) to infants in strollers. One very old lady smiled and waved down on us from a Chinatown apartment, showing us “V for victory” with her fingers.
Linda and I were together on scooters, and our son Jim and his wife Marisa joined us. I thought about all the times I’d gone to peaceful demonstrations of one kind or another holding tightly to his hand; now he and Marisa were watching over us two aging boomers: sweet role reversal. They were kind enough not to mention that they were looking after us.
Eventually the crowd began to move, slowly. No one was upset or angry; we were all happy to be together. The March was marching! By 3pm, police were suggesting detour routes to those who were getting tired. One cop said that he estimated the crowd at 100,000. There was no violence at all.
A gentle rain fell. I don’t know how many made it to City Hall for the rally, but many of us dispersed as gently as the rain. We’d made our point.
Some great signs today:
“Paul Ryan Health Care Plan: Die already, and hurry up about it.”
“Not My President”
“This is NOT a DRILL”
“Sing for our Rights”
“It’s Not a Hot Flash, It’s Climate Change”
“Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue”
“Freedom and Justice for All.”
“Nurse Practitioners against Trump: Leave Pussy Grabbing to the Professionals”
All day I kept thinking about the Holly Near song, “We Are A Gentle Angry People:”
Image: DREAM Act Protesters for President Obama’s Visit to Austin by Todd Dwyer (some rights reserved) Listening to protesters goes with the job, Mr. President.
No one who knows me well will be surprised to know that I’m going to be in the Women’s March in Oakland this Saturday. I and a lot of other women are going to go to the street to raise up our concerns about the expressed agenda of the new administration.
It sounds like there are going to be a bunch of us. 31,000 people have said they are going on Facebook; 45,000 more have registered as “interested.” From my synagogue alone, we have over 100 people registered. I’m going to be there on my scooter.
To those who say “give him a chance” I say, I’ve been working on that since November 10. What I heard during the campaign was a lot of hateful rhetoric about Mexicans, and immigrants, and Muslims, and African-Americans. What I have seen since the election has been a swift upsurge of violence against those groups, with the President-Elect saying hardly a peep about it, despite the fact that he tweets about many other things. For a man who prides himself on plain speaking, he is very coy about saying “Cut it out!” to people who do violence in his name.
So I am going to hit the streets with a few friends, and we will engage in a peaceful demonstration of our concerns. Peaceful, because I am a law-abiding person. Peaceful because what I want for this nation is peace.
Normally I would not participate in a political event on Shabbat, but this is no longer a normal situation. Nothing about the past transition period was normal, and I have the impression that many of Mr. Trump’s supporters are happy that it was not a normal transition. This fills me with alarm. If I am wrong (I would love to be wrong) then at worst I am being foolish. I am willing to look foolish when I believe lives are at stake.
About hats: I’m not wearing any headgear named after a vulgarism for a body part. I have no judgement on someone else, it’s just not my thing. I am serious about what I’m doing.
About signs: I’ve been thinking all week about what to put on my sign. I finally settled on this:
לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל-דַּם רֵעֶךָ
Do not stand by while your neighbor bleeds. – Leviticus 19:16
That seemed to me to be the verse that best applied to my concerns. I am worried for friends who have health insurance through the ACA but who have pre-existing conditions. I fear for disabled people. Right now there does seem to be a guarantee that the ACA is going away, but no equal guarantee that it will be replaced by something better.
I am worried for friends: African-Americans, Latinx, Muslims, and trans persons who have been targeted with hateful rhetoric and by outright violence. I know some young DREAMers who are terrified. They haven’t been “given a chance” – no, even before the new administration came in, the fans of that administration have been giving us what I fear is a preview of the Trump years. I don’t like seeing and hearing threats to my neighbors; I am horrified by accounts of violence against them.
And honestly, I’m worried for the Jews. In the past two weeks there have been two waves of bomb threats against 30 Jewish institutions in 17 states including two JCCs in my area. JCCs more often than not have daycare centers. We heard not a peep of concern from President-Elect Trump. (I know, his daughter is Jewish. This does not explain his silence.)
I am done waiting for Mr. Trump to have an awakening of conscience. I am planning to bring my concerns to his attention on the first full day that he sits in the Oval Office. Get used to it, Mr. President: listening to protestors is now part of your job.
Image: Delane Sims at work. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Sims, all rights reserved to her.)
Maimonides taught that the highest form of giving, of tzedakah, is to assist a person in becoming independent, so that they will not need charity. That might take the form of an interest-free loan for a business, or money for tuition, or a partnership in business.
There’s a program here in California that personifies Maimonides’ teaching. Steps to Success is transforming the lives of single mothers on welfare, helping them move off welfare and into employment and entrepreneurship. This transforms not only their lives but their children’s lives and the life of their communities.
The back story, as told by founder Delane Sims to the San Jose Mercury News:
“My husband was a veteran, an engineer, and we were looking at being a solid, middle-class family,” she said, sitting atop a luxurious red-leather bench in one of the salon’s treatment rooms. “Literally overnight I was plunged into being a single mom in poverty when my first husband suddenly became addicted to drugs. I felt like a turtle in the ocean with all my babies on my back. I had to find a way to survive for them. So I promised myself, if I make it through this period in my life and ever had my own business, I would do something for single mothers who are struggling.”
Fast forward to today: Delane is now the co-owner of Delane’s Natural Nail Care, a salon that provides manicures and pedicures that meet medical standards of care. The women who work at Delane’s are all on their way up: they are single moms whom Delane has mentored through cosmetology school and into a unique paid internship in her shop. They make a living wage while they learn how to run a business, how to balance parenthood and career, how to deal with the public, and things as basic as how to balance a checkbook. They benefit from networks of resources and relationships that Delane has built over the last 25 years.
As proof of this pudding, meet Myeshia Jefferson, who is co-owner of Delane’s Natural Nail Care. Myeshia is herself a graduate of Steps to Success, the single mother of a 5 year old boy. One of the great beauties of this program is that the women who rise through it become mentors for the next generation of success stories. Other Steps to Success grads have their own businesses in a variety of fields.
So now I invite you to participate with me in building Steps to Success. They have just launched a year-long effort to put the program on a firmer financial footing. Their initial very modest goal is to find 300 people who will contribute $35. The campaign page will tell you more about specifically how they will use your funds to lift up Steps to Success to serve more women.
Remember, this is the highest form of tzedakah, of charitable giving! You are making it possible for women with so much going against them to beat the odds and break out of generational poverty.
Another form of support, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area: contact Delane’s and make an appointment for a manicure or pedicure. Meet Delane and Myeshia, meet their employees, and get the safest, healthiest manicure available. (I originally met Delane when I went for a pedicure, to check them out for a diabetic friend.)
Some ways to learn more about Steps to Success:
Recent article in the San Jose Mercury News
Interview on KGO Radio with Brian Copeland
“Holiness in the Nail Parlor” (on this blog)
Want to make my day? Contribute to Steps to Success via my fundraising page. Anyone who contributes $35 or more to their campaign by the end of January 2017 through that page will receive an hour of study with me via Skype. Your choice of text or topic!
For all our sins, may the Holy One who makes forgiveness possible forgive us, pardon us, and make atonement possible.
For the sin of Arrogance, that makes it difficult to see our own failings
For the sin of Brutality, that makes it possible for us to stand by and think, “He must have deserved it”
For the sin of Credulity, in which we have believed “news” from unreliable sources
For the sin of Disregarding facts that were uncomfortable for us
For the sin of Executing those whose offenses did not merit their death, and for standing by as our civil servants carried out those acts
For the sin of allowing unreasoning Fear to dictate our behavior towards others
For the sin of Greed, underpaying for work or over-charging for services
For the sin of baseless Hatred, that demonizes entire groups of other human beings
May the Eternal forgive us, pardon us, and make atonement possible.
For the sin of willful Ignorance, not wanting to know things that are embarrassing to us
For the sin of Jailing massive numbers of people for nonviolent crimes, separated from opportunities to better themselves and their families,
For the sin of Killing the hope of young men who believe that their only futures lie in prison or the grave
For the sin of Laziness in speaking up, when we hear racist language
For the sin of Minimizing the discomfort of others
For the sin of Non-Apologies that failed to express true sorrow
For the sin of Omission, when we failed to act upon our expressed convictions
For the sin of Presuming on the basis of skin color
May the Eternal forgive us, pardon us, and make atonement possible.
For the sin of Quiescence in the face of the racist behavior of others
For the sin of Racism, in all its myriad forms
For the sin of Self-congratulation for acts of common decency
For the sin of Taking umbrage when someone calls us on a racist word or act
For the Unconscious acts which have injured others without our awareness
For the sin of Violence against other human beings
For the sin of using Words in ways that perpetuate racism in any way
For the sin of Xenophobia, fearing and hating those who seem foreign to us
May the Eternal forgive us, pardon us, and make atonement possible.
For the sin of Yakking when we should have been listening
For the sin of Zoning out when we assumed this list wasn’t about us
For all of the sins of commission and omission, all the sins we committed consciously and unconsciously, for those that were simply accidents and those for which we failed to make an apology
May the Eternal forgive us, pardon us, and make atonement possible.
For it is through true acts of genuine repentance and a sincere desire to change that we will open the future before our nation: a future of fairness, justice and peace. May all troubled hearts be comforted, may all wounded souls be healed, and may we live to see the day when the scourge of racism is truly behind us.
Amen.
Image: Rabbi Stacey Blank of Kehillat Tzur Hadassah in Israel blows the shofar. Used by permission of Rabbi Blank, and all rights to it are hers.
Last night Meryl Streep modeled good resistance to bad behavior. She pointed out behavior that was reprehensible. She did not name-call. She did not even name names. She simply observed that it is a scandal when a powerful man uses his national pulpit to mock someone who is less powerful.
This week there are several confirmation hearings scheduled by the U.S. Senate for cabinet appointees. (Click link for the schedule.) This is our opportunity to speak up. Call your Senators, and tell them what questions you want the candidates to answer. This is something you can do regardless of party affiliation: you call tell your Senator what you want. You don’t need to name-call. Just say politely that you’d like Senator Jeff Sessions to be asked XYZ in his confirmation hearing, or that you hope that Ms. Betsy deVos will be questioned about XYZ. You can tell them you support those nominations, or that you oppose them.
If you are phone-averse, call your Senator’s local office late at night. You’ll get the voicemail. Keep those phone numbers. Call regularly about things that concern you.
If your Senator is already someone you feel will do what you think is right, still call them. They need to be able to say, “10,000 of my constituents have called me.” They need to know that you support their point of view.
Chatter on Twitter means nothing. Chatter on Facebook means nothing. A phone call from a constituent always gets the attention of an elected official, because they want to be re-elected.
And someone out there is saying, “What does this have to do with Basic Judaism?” To that I say: everything:
Once there was a gentile who came before Shammai, and said to him: “Convert me on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot. Shammai pushed him aside with the measuring stick he was holding. The same fellow came before Hillel, and Hillel converted him, saying: That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and learn it.” – Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a
