Jews are not alone in fighting hate
Editor’s Note: The following are remarks delivered by Rabbi Micah Greenstein at Sunday’s Memphis Jewish Community’s Solidarity Gathering and Vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
My dear friends, religion is where Judaism begins but clearly not where it ends. As a religious Jew in the Reform stream, it is the faith of Israel and the loving attributes of God which ground me.
However, Judaism is not only about believing, it is also about belonging. We Jews are a faith-family and the entire Jewish body is aching tonight from Pittsburgh to Memphis, from Jerusalem to wherever Jews live.
The Torah says that after Aaron lost not one but two sons, “Kol beit yisrael yivku” – “The entire household of Israel cried.” The early rabbis taught: “Tzurat rabim, chatzee n’chama” – “Pain shared is half a comfort.”
Perhaps one of Judaism’s most precious gifts which is so obvious this evening is the concept of community.
That the mitzvah of comforting mourners, that saying the mourner’s kaddish in a minyan takes place in the midst of community, was a brilliant stroke on the part of our Jewish ancestors to remind us that we are not alone in our grief. Even and especially when there are no words.
A Jew is never alone within the Jewish community, but so many Jews find themselves alone in countries outside the Land of Israel. Jews are virtually alone in combating anti-Semitism in France, Hungary and Poland. Jews are even feeling alone right now in the UK, but we are not alone in the United States, and especially in what is arguably the most remarkable interfaith community of all right here in Memphis.
Within just over an hour after yesterday’s Shabbat service at my synagogue, I received 8 voice mails, 15 texts, and 64 e-mails. There have been nearly 200 more since.
The first three texts and calls were from a physician, professor, and Imam who are Muslim (one even drove to our synagogue to express his sadness and solidarity). There were private expressions of deep sadness from our mayors and other elected officials, faith leaders from the Christian community, business and civic leaders, none of whom were Jewish.
These friends from other faiths reminded me of the Protestant pastor who when asked why he saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust and fought the Nazis said, “I do not know what a Jew is, we only know what human beings are.”
Dozens of churches throughout the Mid-South included the Jewish community in its Sunday prayers this morning, and so many have written me, like this Methodist minister: “Rabbi Greenstein, we have been praying for you all, our sisters and brothers at Temple Israel, and our sisters and brothers at the Or L’Simcha congregation in Pittsburgh during our worship services today. Know that you are not alone. Hate will not win. God’s love will prevail.”
Anti-Semitism will only lessen when those who are not Jewish end it. So if there are any Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, or other faith traditions which command you to care about “the other” in attendance this evening, please stand.
It is your voice and valued presence here tonight that brings comfort and is an important reminder that Jews are not alone in fighting hate.
No matter what our path to the One God Who Loves us all, whenever tragedy strikes, religious leaders sometimes try to explain why bad things happen to good people. Beware of that.
An even better question than “Where is God?” at times like this is “Where is Humanity?”
As for God, please remember two recurring phrases in our Sacred Scripture.
The first, “Ehyeh Imach” – “I am with you through it all.” I learn from my study of Judaism that God weeps with us not against us.
The second is “Al Tirah” – “Do not be afraid!” or “Do not live in fear,” meaning, do not ever turn your synagogue into a bunker, turn it into a sanctuary like the Tree of Life and Or L’Chayim congregations created which drew those 11 to their building from ages 54 to 97.
What characterized these Jewish men and women we mourn as one community was their deep and abiding faith in Judaism well into their later years. We can honor them by modeling them.
Branches of the Tree of Life may have been gunned down, but their Jewish roots are as strong as ever. These Jewish roots are intertwined with every Jew worldwide.
A fitting tribute to these 11 would be to emulate their fidelity to Judaism, whether we are in our 20’s, 50’s, or 90’s. You can kill the Jewish dreamer, or in this case 11 Jewish dreamers, but you cannot, and you will not kill the Jewish dream of the world we pray for – one of wholeness and shalom, a world filled only with tears of joy instead of the tears we are shedding tonight...
The Pittsburgh shooter specifically chose to attack a synagogue that was working with an organization that ought to make every Jew proud -- the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Its mission fulfills the Jewish command to welcome the stranger, especially refugees. As the director of HIAS said, “We were founded in 1881 to assist Jewish refugees, now we assist all refugees because we are Jewish.”
I mentioned that the roots of the Tree of Life congregation can and will somehow weather this storm, and I close with the other name on that Pittsburgh synagogue building, “Or L’Simcha” – “A Light for Joy and Happiness.”
Israel’s most famous poet, Rachel, was among the pre-1948 pioneers in the northern part of the Galilee. Rachel and those who survived the malaria-infested marshes and awful conditions are always hailed as heroes, but interestingly, before her young death at age 40, Rachel said something different about herself and the other pioneers: “We were not heroes. We were not martyrs. We dared to be happy. We dared to live.”
After we take the time we need to mourn both the lives lost and the loss of our own communal innocence, may each of us follow Rachel’s example and the 11 members of the Tree of Life/Or L’Simcha congregation – 11 people who were filled with love and light and life, and who dared to live and be happy no matter what.
May this be not only God’s will, may it also be our will, and let us say, Amen.
Micah Greenstein is senior rabbi of Temple Israel in Memphis. Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. Psalm 120:2
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