Being a little more Universal in our actions

Last year on Yom Kippur I posted my essay on Jonah called ‘Lessons from a Fish’(read it here). This year on Rosh Hashanah I have been struggling with what to write about. There’s so much one can pick from that I was finding it hard to focus. It seems, however, I can not stray far from the same message I wrote about last year – caring for people who are different, primarily our Muslim neighbors.

The Torah portion for Rosh Hashanah includes the story of Abraham making a truce with Abimelech, the King of the Philistines. For those who do not know the background, the Philistines are the ancestors of the Palestinians; Palestine and Palestinian are what the Roman’s called the Philistines. The story of Abraham and Abimelech comes after the story of Hagar and Ishmael being kicked out (this is also part of the Torah portion for Rosh Hashanah) where G-d tells Abraham basically not to worry that Ishmael’s children will also become a nation because Ishmael, like Isaac, is a son of Abraham. Ishmael’s descendants are the Semitic peoples of the Middle East commonly referred to as ‘Arabs’ - I try to refrain from this label as it implies a connection to Saudi Arabia and MOST Middle Easterners are NOT from Saudi Arabia.

So where am I going with this? Well lets start with the 1st story – that of Ishmael and Hagar. Ishmael is the father of Islam. What pains me the most about Jewish anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rants is that we (and I use we because whether I like it or not we are all counted among the numbers and responsible for how as a group are viewed) are raging against our FAMILY. One of the most pervasive ideologies of Judaism is the importance of the Family. I find it very hard to be represented by people who are so blind when it comes to our reality. This is our reality – all people of Semitic background are related – G-d says so! We are all family and we need to look TO one another and look AT one another in this way. Until we are able to truly embrace what our G-d has said to us in his own words we will never know what it is to have Peace. We are a warring household, perhaps the perspective we need is to see ourselves as such. So far just being democratic and trying to recognize each others right to ‘exist’ and right to ‘be’ isn’t working – on BOTH sides.

The 2nd story proves to both the Jewish people and the Philistines/Palestinians that we have had peace once before, we can have it again. I won’t even begin to pretend that I know the solution to the problems in Israel. We read this Torah portion EVERY YEAR on Rosh Hashanah how is it that we have yet to try and renew this peace? How is it that we can casually let this slide by in our minds and not actually sit and think about what is being relayed to us by G-d in this Torah portion? Could it possibly be that this isn’t just a filler story but it is G-d trying to send us a message?
I understand that in Judaism the most important part of this Torah portion is the ‘Binding of Isaac’ and from this many things begin in Judaism and that’s fine I won’t deny it’s a pretty important part of the story of the Jews but maybe for once we can pay more attention to the story of the peace, between the Philistines and the Jews, and if we can grow from it and learn from it, from here on the Torah portion can have 2 important events for the Jews instead of the one.
In years to come we can recount how it was that like our Ancestors Abraham and Abimelech the Jews and the Philistines were able to live peaceably with one another and on Rosh Hashanah we celebrate this with a New Year of life and a New Year of Peace for all of G-d’s children.

I sometimes worry that as Jews we’re too busy only looking inward and not really looking around. It really isn’t all about us. In Judaism we call this Particularism – where we only focus on the Jewish community verses Universalism where we focus on the entire world as a community that we are a part of.
I would like for us as Jews to really pay attention this year to what is really being told to us in the Torah. Consider every story – there’s a lot of not so fun stuff in there. My future in-law mentioned to me the anger he feels about how Islam is a religion of war and preaches such, I kept my mouth shut but what I wanted to say to this was, Judaism isn’t no Saint of a religion its self! We took what we wanted because G-d said it belonged to us, and we killed a lot of people on the way. We are STILL doing this to this day. People who are for all tense and purpose our FAMILY.
And this is what I mean when I say read the stories and really digest each and every one, BIG and small. They are all important because they are ALL the word of G-d. You’ll learn more then you thought would be in there. Maybe if we all did this, something THIS YEAR, this Shana Tova, this New Year of Life, things might actually change for us and the world we share.

As a side note: I find it very interesting that Both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mention instances where G-d points out that it is important for us to care for our Muslim friends and discusses peace with them as well as showing that we are family. There are many directions one can go with this and why/how it relates to these holidays in particular but I’ll let your mind do that walking…

Lessons from a Fish

Lessons from a Fish – learning to care for people who are different


There are a lot of things one learns at the oddest of moments. In my experience the moments where I learn the best lessons usually involve a child taking me to task or a student of mine making an extremely profound statement (5th graders’ insight on the Holocaust is quite remarkable I must say).
So it’s no surprise that one of those “AH HA” moments came to me when teaching my 5th grade class about the Reluctant Prophet Jonah.

The story of Jonah is read as the Haftarah portion on Yom Kippur as a lesson in forgiveness. Recent political goings on in the world and USA have made me audience to some unacceptable hate speech from people I consider friends regarding people who are different then us Jews.
Although Yom Kippur is still fresh in our minds I feel like the lesson Jonah teaches us was either not headed or fell on deaf ears. So I feel the need to revisit it because I find it very relevant at this moment in time in US history and there is something for us all in this story of not just forgiveness but of TOLERANCE and ACCEPTANCE.

To make the somewhat long story of Jonah short, G-d asks Jonah to do something and Jonah refuses. For this refusal of G-d’s wishes Jonah ends up in a fish…fun. After being spit out by the fish Jonah submits (and whines about it a lot) and does what G-d asks.
What G-d asked of Jonah was to go to the people of Nineveh – a town located very close to present day Mosul, Iraq (remember this) – and tell the people to ask for forgiveness of their sins and repent to G-d (they were misbehaving badly) or their city would be destroyed and everyone in it die – and according to the Haftarah portion it would have been more then 120k people and animals.
No big deal right? Why would a prophet be reluctant to “save” people who were misbehaving? That’s his job right?
Well yes.
But…this is Jonah and he was a reluctant prophet.
Jonah said to G-d, “these are not Jews and they do not worship you as G-d why do you care whether they live or die? Why do you care whether they ask for forgiveness?” and G-d’s response to Jonah was, “it doesn’t matter whether they have entered into a covenant with me like the Hebrews did, what matters is that they are my people, my creation, and they deserve salvation if they ask for it.”
Did you catch that?
G-d said I don’t care who they are, Jew or not I love them just the same and you should too!

Now on Yom Kippur we use this Haftarah portion to talk about the idea of forgiveness and it’s definitely in there. G-d wants the people of Nineveh to ask for forgiveness or be destroyed. They do ask for forgiveness and do acts worthy of forgiveness and G-d lets them live. Ok.
But to me the most important part of this story isn’t G-d’s forgiveness its what causes Jonah’s reluctance. This is the message I feel that is often lost. On Yom Kippur we’re very busy with receiving forgiveness and Biblical examples of people receiving forgiveness that we lose sight of the more important message in this story.

The message we forget is the message about loving people who are not like us; people who are not like us in many fundamental ways. More importantly we forget about loving our neighbors and doing what we can to create a bridge of understanding (and in many cases needed peace). Jonah was reluctant to create a bridge of understanding – he refused to try and understand 1) who these people were and 2) why G-d cared so much for a people he had no relationship with prior to Jonah walking into town and telling them about G-d. People who were essentially polytheistic Arabs. Remember where they lived? That’s right G-d loves Arabs! G-d told Jonah to care for these people as if they were Jews and in this G-d is telling us the same thing. Too often as Jews we get caught up in the fervor of the Middle East conflict and forget who as the People of the Covenant we are supposed to be. We stop living as Jews who are required to Tikun Olam – Heal the world and we begin to live as people who are close-minded and angry. Reluctant to build that bridge of understanding and refusing to do as G-d asks of us – to heal the world with peace and understanding and most importantly with forgiveness. We are and have been hiding out in a fish for a very long time and its time we as a community of Jews world wide come out and do as G-d bids us.

So here’s where I stop beating around the proverbial bush. Yes, this is specifically directed to Jews who feel every Arab needs to be killed or blown off the face of the Earth.
Every Shabbat you sit there and have the nerve to say prayers such as “Shim Shalom”, “Shalom Rav” and the “Osay Shalom”. And on top of that you also have the nerve to repeat the words of another prophet, Isaiah, who speaks of a day when, “They [the nations of the world] will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” But then you spout such hateful words of contempt and show a complete lack of understanding. You are blind to what G-d requested of Jonah and thus us. You are as blind as the sinners of Nineveh. But the difference is that they never had G-d until Jonah came along. We have all along had G-d. He never left our side. We have always had G-d’s guidance and words to live by, his promise and his covenant. We don’t have an excuse of not knowing we are doing wrong like the people of Nineveh. To behave with such intolerance and hate has always been inexcusable and will continue to be. As long as we choose this behavior we will never see a Messianic age.

I for one choose not to be trapped in a fish with a lack of understanding and tolerance that Jonah had. Instead I choose to build that bridge he so reluctantly built and turn our “enemies” eyes to G-d and Heal the World as I have been commanded. Leading a life with my ears closed and an unwillingness to come to the table for peace talks has gotten us no where on either side and has cost us both so much in lives. G-d gave Adam and Eve a commandment, to preserve life and create life. Every minute we waste with our ears closed and guns in our hands is a minute more of breaking those commandments.

Cheers,
Miss S