3/19/2023 0 Comments Shaiya beginning register![]() ![]() ![]() Roughly a thousand years ago, an unknown sage bequeathed to us a guiding pillar made out of words. Where is our divine guide today? Where are the pillars of cloud by day and fire by night to lead our encampment out of danger and forward on its divine mission? We are the People of the Book, and lacking physical pillars of cloud and fire, we can build them out of words holy words that are too grand to fully grasp but that can shed light on a dark way. They lifted their eyes to the guidance of God. They struggled to climb high even as sometimes the earth opened up to swallow them from below. They fought hate, fear, war and death, just like we do. Like all people in crises, we sometimes give in to anger and fear, and so lose communication with the world, and with each other.Įverything was at stake for the Israelites in the desert, just like it is for us now – the Israelites in the Holy Land. In this reality, when the human race is so broken and down-trodden, it’s no wonder that we can’t pull it together. We are a stiff-necked species, and while there has been progress, we still refuse to use our immense resources to redeem humanity from poverty and oppression. We live in a global reality of unfathomable cruelty and injustice. Today’s international order should be understood as part of the barbaric pre-history of human civilization. In Israel and abroad, our frequent failure at respectful dialogue weakens the foundations of the nation. The public discourse of the Jewish body politic wanes acrimonious, irrational. We try to figure it out, figure out what we need to do, but others reach conclusions that contradict ours and so each side watches the other as it undermines what’s most important with its dangerous words and behavior. We become terrified and filled with rage. There is real horror: the children of our people are murdered in our streets people die or are maimed, terrible injustice is wrought upon thousands. Our lives our husbands, wives and children our homes our name in the world as Jews and as Israel the meaning of Torah justice and oppression the survival of our people and of the species. That sounds easy enough! But then comes the real world in which everything is at stake. There is no holiness without justice and there can be no justice, and no good government, without loving free open-minded debate. What should government be like? How should the legal system work? These are the foundations upon which we build a human collective in the light of the Divine Ideal that was revealed to our prophets and sages a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. When we speak to each other about politics, we step into the shoes of Moshe and Yitro, who struggled with questions of justice at the very beginning of the Jewish project (Exodus 18:14-27). Used in keeping with copyright instructions on site (linked to image) Tabernacle at Sunset – Art by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. ![]()
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