Today is Day 25 of the counting of the Omer. Half way to Shavuot. This is what I said at services this morning:

“Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: Be holy for I the Lord your G-d am holy.”

What does it mean to be holy?

This is the center portion of the Torah—half way between the very beginning of Genesis, and the very end of Deuteronomy.It is also what we believe to be the center, the core of what we need to do.

Within minutes of the tragedy in Boston, people wanted me as their rabbi to explain it. My former pre-school teacher, and dear friend was the first. In chatting on Facebook I said I wanted to crawl into her welcoming pre-school lap and have one of her big pre-school hugs and have her make the nightmares go away. She answered that she wanted her rabbi to explain it. I can’t. My rabbi intervened and said that hugs work better in the face of what appears to be evil. I can point out that the title of Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book is When Bad Things Happen to Good People, not Why. I can tell you that like Anne Frank I still believe that people are good and that I haven’t lost all my ideals. I can tell you that I believe that G-d was present. That G-d cried with the people who were injured, that G-d was present with the people who rushed in to help, giving them strength and courage, that G-d was angry with the senseless acts of violence and with the people who planned them and perpetrated them. But I can’t tell you why this happened. I can tell you that I personally found tremendous comfort in this very week’s Torah portion.

Be holy…

At times like this we do want to return to our pre-school selves. It is easier to fix a skinned knee than a broken heart. Many turned to Fred Rogers, a Boston University graduate and the soothing presence of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He said,  “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” — Be holy.

The helpers are holy. So this morning, we give thanks for those who rushed in to help—the EMTs, the first responders, the doctors and nurses who just happened to be watching or running the race, or who lived in the neighborhood and went back to their hospitals because it was the right thing to do. Even a friend of Sarah’s, a fellow drama student making a little extra money as a birthday party entertainer on her way to a child’s birthday party. She wasn’t sure how she could just smile at a party knowing what was going on, but she got dressed as Belle and cut through Mass General Hospital on the way to her car. The pre-schoolers were blissfully unaware. On her way back, she stopped again at MGH and entertained the rest of the day, keeping kids calm in those first chaotic hours. Turns out the adults needed her even more.  Be the helpers. Be holy.

The helpers—those who lined up to give blood. Today’s Torah portion says, “Do not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds.” Go give blood. I did. There is always a need. Be holy.

The helpers—Through a great deal of due diligence, a lot of film clips and some very brave law enforcement officers working lots of overtime, they believe they caught those directly responsible. Today’s Torah portion says, “You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich: judge your neighbor fairly.” Now it is up to the court systems. At least one of them will be brought to trial. I pray that it is a fair trial and the best that our American justice system has to offer because it is the best in the world. Be holy.

The helpers—those of us who served at Food for Greater Elgin were this week. Today’s Torah portion says “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the Lord am your God.” Come back tomorrow when we plant the first of our community garden beds so that we can live this out in reality, so that we can feed the widow, the orphan, the stranger. Be holy.

The helpers— “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I, the Lord, am your God.” 36 times in the Hebrew Bible it tells us to take care of the widow, the orphan, the stranger. The least among us. The most marginalized. Only three times does it tell us to not eat portk. For many, this commandment  may be the tough one this week. The Boston Marathon is a symbol of all that is good with Boston, all that is right with the United States. We are a nation of immigrants. Every one of us sitting in this room is descendent of immigrants, or may even be an immigrant ourselves. One of the most haunting images of the attacks on Boston, for me, were the international flags toppling over. Those flags represent each country that a runner came from. The rights of immigrants must be preserved–even when we are afraid. Be holy.

Yesterday I was at the conference on domestic violence sponsored by the Faith Committee of the 16th and 23rd Circuit Court. During lunch I was sitting with two Muslim women. Becky who was catering made sure we knew which items had pork. I had just spoken about the concept of “shanda” shame in my presentation, the idea that includes, “It is bad for the Jews or good for the Jews.” People had called me this week, I received emails this week from national organizations that in light of Boston we should increase our security. The attacks on Boston made all of us feel more vulnerable. The Muslim women were no exception and now that the perpetrators were known Muslims, they were afraid, visibly afraid that this attack, perpetrated by Muslims would put them at greater risk. One even described being spat at in the last week. Is it bad for the Muslims or good for the Muslims, is not so different from our question. Martin Neumoeller said about Germany in the 30s.

“First they came for the communists ,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

We saw people this week in Boston be upstanders, not just bystanders. We all need to speak up. We all need to act. We all need to be helpers. Planned long ago, but perhaps even more relevant this week, the Coalition of Elgin Religious Leaders, together with the City of Elgin and ECC are sponsoring an event on May 19^th at ECC from 2-5. Who is my Muslim Neighbor.  Come to the event. Be holy.

The helpers— “You shall not hate your kinsman in your heart. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinfolk. Love your neighbor’s welfare as if it were your own. I am the Lord. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Hillel and Jesus both said that this is the most important commandment. I learned yesterday that this idea is in the Hadith, the additional sayings of Mohammed. Hillel said the rest is commentary, go and study it. We have the rest of our lives to study it. Today we act it out in big ways and small ways. This was a week that saw widespread flooding, road closures, school closings and more. People were generally cheerful, loaning a shop vac here, checking on elderly neighbors, filling sand bags. Keep doing it. Be holy.

I have run the Boston Marathon five times, and the Sea of Galliee Marathon once. A rabbinic colleague I don’t know ran Monday. This is part of his reflection: “Today, we saw what looks like hate and violence. But what I also saw was a day of togetherness and community and caring and support — much like the mara­thon itself. Every marathon is about celebrating the human spirit and supporting one another. It’s about people from around the country and around the world, from different backgrounds and different religions running together. That is what I will remember from today, from before the bombing and right after it.“Tragedy reduces things to the most primal and most important factors,” he said, echoing his own father’s words: family, friends, community and helping strangers.” Family, friends, community and helping others. That is what this portion is about. The command is simple. Be a helper. Feed the hungry. Give blood. Don’t put a stumbling block before the blind. Honor your parents. Be holy for I the Lord am holy. This is how we live out the holiness code. This is how we don’t give into the fear and the terror. This is how we love G-d with all our heart with all our strength with all our might. This is how we are holy.