A few weeks ago, after a long day, I
was lying on my couch reading the New York Times, when I came across an opinion
piece that stopped me in my tracks.
Perhaps you saw it too? Dr. Anton
DiSclafani is a Professor of Creative Writing at Auburn University. She’s a proud Democrat living in ruby red
Alabama. And she loves the south. She speaks fondly of southern hospitality as
well as the kindness of strangers. But
these last few weeks have caused her to lose faith in her neighbors. Lee County where she lives has only 34% of
eligible adults vaccinated. On a local
Facebook group, people compare wearing a mask to experimental medical
procedures. While a local pediatrician
is bullied for enrolling her children in a vaccine trial.
But it’s Dr. DiSclafani’s words that
hit home: “[The pandemic has upended] one of my deeply held beliefs – that
living among people who are different from you is a good thing. That it is good because it challenges you to
think and act compassionately. To love
your neighbor. I still believe that, but
to be honest, right now I’d rather live in a place where everyone thought the
same way I do, simply because I’d like to live in a place where everyone was
vaccinated.”[i]
How true are these thoughts! How difficult it is to live amongst those who
think and act differently from us! How
much easier would it be to just walk away!
One person who walks away is the Prophet
Jonah. Later today, we’ll read his
story, but here’s a quick refresher. Jonah was minding his own business when
God called him: “Get up! Go to the great
city of Nineveh and proclaim against it – for their evil deeds have risen up
before Me.” So, what does Jonah do? He flees!
He finds a boat leaving the port city of Jaffa and heads in the opposite
direction. He sails as far away from
Nineveh as possible.
Like Jonah, Dr. DiSclafani sometimes
dreams of walking away. Like all of us,
she’d rather live in a place where everyone was vaccinated. And let’s be honest, unlike Dr. DiSclafani, we
aren’t living in a red state surrounded by anti-maskers. Most of us are living in our bubble with
those who often think and act similarly to us.
We might mock the vaccination rates in Mississippi, be horrified of the
anti-maskers in Florida, or angry at the policies enacted by the Governor of
Texas, but at least we’re here in Maryland, far from them! We might pretend that we can protect
ourselves with our mask mandates, our covid prevention policies, and our high
vaccination rates.
Unfortunately, that’s a fallacy. We are one country. Whether we like it or not, those who think or
act differently from us are still fellow citizens. Covid has shown that we can’t escape, that we
can’t walk away. If we can’t convince
those in our country to wear a mask, take the vaccine, or protect the
vulnerable, then we can’t get rid of covid.
We are fighting for our health and safety. We are fighting for science and
medicine. We are fighting against
cynicism, selfishness, and fear. We
might dream of walking away, but we know that this is simply not possible.
Even Jonah finally realizes that he can’t
flee. God sends a huge storm, so ferocious that the ship he’s on is about to be
shattered into pieces. The sailors cast
lots to see which person caused the storm.
The lots fall upon Jonah. He
tells them, “Throw me away into depths and the sea will calm down for you.” But the crew refuses. They continue to row towards dry land even as
the sea rages more and more fiercely around them. Jonah was able to see something that the
others could not. The sailors on the
ship needed to change direction, but they continued to do what they’ve always
done. Jonah made the brave decision to speak out;
that a new path needed to be taken.
It reminds me of the story of Nahum Goldmann, the Jewish leader in the diaspora after World War II and a fierce Zionist. Goldmann co-founded the World Jewish Congress and served as one of the leading figures in the World Zionist Organization. In the 1960’s Goldmann as an American Jew was a thorn in the side of Prime Minister David ben Gurion. The Prime Minister believed that Goldmann and American Jews had no right to tell him how Israel should or should not act. Even still, Nahum Goldmann spoke out. He was critical of Israel’s military might. He was also a realist: “There can be no future for the Jewish state unless agreement is reached with the Arabs.” Goldmann felt strongly that if American Jews had the right to support Israel, we also had the right to critique Israel. Even David ben Gurion agreed. As he shared with Goldmann: “I have had one concept of Zionism since I was a child, and I hold to that concept. I live in a free country, as you do, and both have the right of free speech.”
This is a difficult moment to be a
liberal and a Zionist. I love
Israel. I love the people of Israel, the
state of Israel, and the land. It is my
spiritual homeland, a place of deep devotion to me. But, that doesn’t mean that I’m not also troubled
by many of the Israeli government’s policies.
It has been unsettling how many of the values that I care about and that
I fight for here in our country are ignored or even worse abused in
Israel. To see anti-Arab sentiment,
homes being destroyed, Reform Judaism lambasted, and women’s rights diminished,
has personally been difficult.
And so, should I, should we walk away from Israel? Should we ignore what’s troubling us and pretend that it’s not happening? Or should we badmouth Israel and trash everything about her? No! Neither! It’s much more difficult to engage with Israel in a more nuanced and complex way.
Israel can’t continue to hide behind
walls or fences. If these policies
continue in the long term, the Israel that we love: a Jewish state, a
democracy, a country where all religions and people are free will no longer
exist. We already see that Israel’s
relationship with the world is fracturing, that its moral position is weakening,
and that our Jewish community especially the youngest amongst us is losing its
deep connection to the Jewish state.
Nahum Goldmann reminds us that we are all interconnected: Israelis and American Jews. And that we have an obligation as American Jews to show our love, always our love first, and our critique. And our words and our actions work. Goldmann changed Ben Gurion, American Jews vision on civil rights help reframe the occupation. Like Jonah, our perspective is needed more than ever to help Israel make the brave decision that a new path must be taken.
Jonah also takes a new path. After his time in the big fish, Jonah arrives
at the great city of Nineveh. He
proclaims: “Forty more days and Nineveh shall be overturned!” And amazingly, his words and actions
work. The people of Nineveh fast, they
put on sackcloth, from the richest to the poorest. Even the king of Nineveh gets off his thrown
and declares, “Let all turn back from their evil ways and from the violence.”
Every single citizen, from every
single neighborhood, came together for the betterment of their city to end the
violence and to lift up the fallen. The
wealthy could have said, “not my problem!”
They could have stayed in their homes, ignoring the problems that
surrounded them, but they didn’t.
Jonah’s words impelled them to act.
I’m sure you know where I’m
going. Our city is broken. Murder rates continue to rise, crime
unabated, hunger, and poverty. Thousands
are about to be evicted from their homes.
It’s so much easier to just look
away. If we only stay in the White L and
ignore the Black Butterfly. If we only
we walk in our safe neighborhoods. If
only we drive on specific streets and never after dark, all will be ok. But will it?
What happens when we walk away? When we turn a blind eye? Further population decline in the next
census? Increased crime? Loss of city services?
More poverty and hunger?
Jonah was one person, but he
represented the entirety of the Jewish community in a very non-Jewish city of
Nineveh. As a Jew, his words mattered,
his voice was heard, his actions helped transform a community. As one of only a few synagogues in Baltimore
City, our congregation has a unique voice when we join together with our
interfaith allies. We can have a greater
impact. Whether with partners like
BUILD, ICJS, the Black Lives Matter Interfaith Coalition, Jews United for
Justice, or so many of the other organizations that you are working with, to
better Baltimore. We have the power as a synagogue and a Jewish community to change
the trajectory of the city that we love.
So many of us have already done this hard work, but have we done enough?
The Book of Jonah ends in a peculiar
fashion. It’s the only Book of the
Jewish Bible that ends with a question.
God says to Jonah: Should I have compassion for the great city of
Nineveh and the more than a hundred and twenty thousand human beings that live
there? This is a question not only for
Jonah. This is a question for each one
of us. Do we have compassion? Do we care?
Will we fight? Will we fight for
our country, for our democracy and our kids’ safety? Will we fight for our city
and for the most vulnerable? Will we fight for Israel to succeed as a
democratic, free, and Jewish state? It’s
so much easier, so much simpler, to walk away and pretend that the anti-vaxxers
can’t hurt us, the crime in our city can’t reach us, the continued violence in
Israel is not our problem. We’re all
interconnected, whether we like it or, whether we believe it or not.
That’s the question at this
moment. The question asked of each one
of us. Will we engage with those who
think, act, and view the world differently from us? Will we walk away or will we fight?
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