Breaking News
We interrupt this broadcast…again.
We don’t know all the details.
But we do.
Sadly, we do,
Again. Yet again.
We know how it happens.
Columbine. Sandy Hook. Parkland.
JCCs, Tree of Life, Colleyville
Over and Over again.
I am a praying person.
But thoughts and prayers
Ring hollow.
They are empty words
They deflect responsibility
They make it someone else’s problem,
They make it G-d’s problem.
They think they are bringing comfort.
They are not.
The words.
They are a lie.
A bald-faced lie.
This is our responsibility.
All of our responsibility.
So I pledge. Again.
To continue to work for gun control.
To continue to work for mental health access.
To sit with the wounded, the hurting, the scared.
And to not say anything.
Because words?
They are empty.
Unless they are accompanied by action.
Not tomorrow. Today.
And now for the real sermon…
Next weekend we celebrate Memorial Day, an opportunity to remember those who gave their lives in service to this country. In service to this country to protect our freedom.
This week we read the verse that is engraved on the Liberty Bell. “Proclaim liberty throughout the land.” This is an important verse and one with historic implications. And many, many meanings. Our translation uses the word release rather than liberty. Here, then are three words we need to understand:
Liberty, Freedom, Release.
These are core to our values, as Jews and as Americans.
As it says in Simon’s complied haggadah we celebrate as members of two communities, both the Jewish community and the American community and we cherish our freedoms:
It spells out what some of those freedoms are that we celebrate:
freedom from bondage and freedom from oppression,
freedom from hunger and freedom from want,
freedom from hatred and freedom from fear,
freedom to think and freedom to speak,
freedom to teach and freedom to learn,
freedom to love and freedom to share,
freedom to hope and freedom to rejoice,
Or as the Declaration of Independence declares that we have certain inalienable rights that among them are life, liberty,,and the pursuit of happiness.
But as one of my rabbis once pointed out with Mi Chamocha, with freedom comes responsibility. She didn’t like any of the upbeat, happy versions of Mi Chamocha. She would say, correctly, that “We have to work for these freedoms.” The Hebrew “rodef” would tell us that, in fact, we need to pursue them, chase after them, run after them. “Tzedek, Tzedek tirdof, Justice, Justice shall you pursue.” (Deuteronomy 16:20) “Seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34). We can apply this concept to freedom and liberty as well.
Rabbi Lord Sacks , of blessed memory teaches another important lesson about this portion:
“All of this makes the social legislation of parshat Behar a text for our time, because the Torah is profoundly concerned, not just with economics, but with the more fundamental moral and human issues. What kind of society do we seek? What social order best does justice to human dignity and the delicate bonds linking us to one another and to God?”
He sees a tension between freedom and equality. Genesis reminds us that each of us is created in the image of the Divine, b’tzelem elohim, and that we need to care for each individual—or there are consequences of G-d’s gift to humans of individual freedom. A good point. One I make frequently. Judaism sees the Divine Spark in everyone, Everyone needs to be treated as a reflection of the Divine.
Then Exodus comes to remind us that we need collective freedom, not just individual freedom. It is very clear what happens when a people is enslaved. Over and over again we are reminded that we must treat the stranger the way we should be treated because we were slaves in the land of Egypt. 36 times. More than any other commandment in the Bible. We see that motif in today’s portion again. It is a core value.
But the idea of equal dignity of human beings in the image of G-d and under the sovereignty of God was not realized in the biblical era. It was aspirational. There were hierarchies. Kings. Priests. Men. Yet there was no class system. Sacks says, “In the community of the covenant envisaged by the Torah, we are all God’s children, all precious in His sight, each with a contribution to make to the common good.”
Go ahead, sing along with me “All G-d’s children got a place in the choir.”
“The fundamental insight of parshat Behar, namely that economic inequalities have a tendency to increase over time, and the result may be a loss of freedom as well. People can become enslaved by a burden of debt. In biblical times this might involve selling yourself literally into slavery as the only way of guaranteeing food and shelter. Families might be forced into selling their land: their ancestral inheritance from the days of Moses. The result would be a society in which, in the course of time, a few would become substantial landowners while many became landless and impoverished.”
Our portion, as complicated as it is with far reaching consequences, is a radical way to reorganize society. It turns the world upside down. G-d’s world. This is because as Sacks points out, over and over again we are told that we don’t own the land, the land is G-d’s. So it takes this entire system out of the hands of human legislators. It rests on two fundamental ideas about capital and labor.
“Since the land is Mine, no land shall be sold permanently. You are foreigners and resident aliens as far as I am concerned.” (Lev. 25:23)
Second, the same applies to people:
“Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves.” (Lev. 25:42)
This means that personal and economic liberty are not open to political negotiation. They are inalienable, God-given rights. Seems we are back to the Declaration of Independence.
Perhaps, Sacks, of blessed memory, was a prophet, looking forward and understanding some of the economic issues facing this country today even though he lived and worked in Great Britain. What should we do with student loan debt? It seems to enslave students. Can we use this portion to talk about forgiving that debt every seven years? That would be radical. And currently being discussed. Would it be unfair to those who have already paid off their student loan debt? Is this the modern equivalent of a prozbol?
What about medical debt? The single largest reason people are forced to file for bankruptcy in this country is medical debt. 44 million Americans have medical debt in collections, which then pay the provider only 7% of the total due. RIP Medical Debt (RIP) is a tax-exempt charity that buys and abolishes medical debt. RIP typically works with donors, such as private foundations, to abolish debt for a specific target population. Since the debt forgiveness is considered a gift, it does not count as income and is therefore not taxable. There are many churches that are working on this very topic. Again, it would be radical. I believe, however, it would help us live out the vision of this country to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
There are other freedoms we want. How do we explain the terror young parents face not being able to find formula? Not having to worry about supply chain issues would be a form of freedom from want. What about the very ability to go to the grocery store or the movies or the public school or even a house of worship without fear? We are just a week after the mass murder shooting in Buffalo. George Washington in his letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, RI made explicit the Jewish values and the nascent American values, that “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” That last quote is from Micah 4:4.
When we pause next weekend to remember our fallen soldiers, I believe that these are some of the freedoms that our soldiers were fighting for. This is the liberty and release that our portion demands. Something to think about as we enjoy our Memorial Day picnics and parades.