The following is a sermon I delivered last Friday night at Shabbat services at Temple Emanuel. I have been shocked at the vitriol directed against me, the Muslim Community and the ADL in the days following our press conference announcing the campaign combatting racist anti-Muslim ads on RTA buses.
Love Thy Neighbor – Parashat Vayechi
December 28, 2012
Rabbi Joseph R. Black
Temple Emanuel – Denver, CO
This week we read the end of
the Joseph story and the book of Bereshit
(Genesis).
From
here on - our story moves from the private to the public - we have moved from a
story about a family – the Children of Israel (B’nai Yisrael) – to a story about
people – the Nation of Israel (Am
Yisrael).
Exodus begins a story that
unfolds to impact the whole world. The
second book of the torah is very different than the one which precedes it. The rabbis note that the 1st words
in the book of Exodus are“v’ehleh shemot b’nai yisrael. - and these
are the names of the children of Israel.” They observe that it is highly
unusual to begin a chapter with the word “v’eyeleh”“and these”. This teaches us, they say, that the book of
Exodus, although radically different in style and scope than the book of
Genesis, is a continuation of the story.
The “vav” in V’eyleh shemot - is a storytelling
technique. In other words: “OK, you’ve heard the beginning, now let us
proceed with the rest....”And ..... here it is....”
In Genesis, the scene is set
for the foundation of a people. Exodus
picks the story up - not as a separate chapter - but as a continuation of an
epic story - with a new dimension added - that of national consciousness.
This weeks parasha is about
tying up all of the loose ends of Bereshit - it is also about what comes
next - the connection between the past , present and future - the stage is set
for God’s liberation and divine plan to unfold.
One of the most powerful and
telling narratives in this week’s parasha
comes when Joseph and his brothers have returned from burying their father, Jacob
in the cave of Machpelah in the land
of Canaan. We read:
Genesis Chapter 50
4. And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke
to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak,
I beg you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5. My father made me swear, saying, Behold, I die; in my
grave which I have dug for me in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.
Now therefore let me go up, I beg you, and bury my father, and I will return.
6. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury your father, according
as he made you swear.
7. And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went
up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of
the land of Egypt,
8. And all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his
father’s house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they
left in the land of Goshen.
9. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen;
and it was a very great company.
The
Rabbis ask an interesting question. Why
did Joseph and his brothers go to bury their father with such a large company
of Egyptians – chariots and horsemen?
Also, why did they leave their wives and children behind?
Perhaps it was because of the
honor that was bestowed upon Jacob – the father of Joseph – 2nd only
to Pharaoh…. Or maybe it was for another
reason.
Maybe, the children were
being left behind as hostages – to make sure that the brothers would
return. Maybe the horses and chariots
were guards….
Maybe this is a deliberate
foreshadowing of what is to come in the next chapter – when we are enslaved in
Egypt by a new king.
The rabbi’s paint a very
explicit picture of Egypt’s duplicity vis-à-vis the Israelites. In the midrash
we read of how, shortly after Joseph’s death, a new king arose – who gradually,
almost imperceptively, enslaved our ancestors.
At first, they were asked to build cities – for pay. Indeed, even Pharaoh himself, the midrash
teaches, was in the trenches with Egyptian and Israelite together. After a while, Pharaoh and the Egyptians
stopped working, but the Israelites continued. After a while, their pay was
reduced and their freedoms curtailed until they found themselves enslaved.
It is chilling to read these
midrashim in light of modern history. We
know that the Nazis, in their attempt to dehumanize the Jews, also gradually
restricted Jewish rights and began a process of enslavement that progressed to
the horror of the Shoah. We also know
that had people spoken up in the beginning – if there had been protest from
within Germany – or anywhere in the world, for that matter, Naziism may not
have succeeded.
Many, if not most Jews, share
a passionate concern for civil rights and liberties. We who have experienced the terror of
dehumanization and extermination understand better than anyone how vitally
important it is to safeguard the dignity and humanity of all peoples – friend
and foe alike.
I speak of this tonight because
this past Monday morning – December 24th, I participated in a joint
press conference with Imam Karim Abuzaid of the Colorado Muslim Society, Jeremy
Shaver – director of the Colorado Interfaith Alliance, Scott Levin – Director
of the Mountain States Region ADL and other members of the Denver Muslim
Society. The purpose of the press
conference was to call attention to the advertising campaign that the Muslim
Society was launching entitled “Love Thy Neighbor.” For the next few weeks, several busses in Denver
will be displaying banners with the words:
“Love Thy Neighbor” prominently displayed alongside verses from the
Torah, the New Testament and the Koran that reflect these values. The banners were created in response to ads
placed on buses for four weeks in Denver, New York
and Boston. Paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, the ones in
Denver read: "9,757 Deadly Islamic
Attacks Since 9/11/01. It's Not Islamophobia. It's Islamorealism.[i]"
Rather than
combat these racist ads with lawsuits or demonstrations, the Colorado Muslim
Society, along with the ADL and the Interfaith Alliance decided to teach us
that we need to focus on ways to build bridges between peoples – not demonize
them. Hence – “Love Thy Neighbor.”
Some of you may have read
about the Ad campaign in the Denver Post this past Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised to see that our
little press conference generated a lot of publicity – not only here in Denver,
but in websites and blogs around the world.
Many people have responded positively to our initiative, but there also
have been some negative responses. The
other day, I received an email from someone I did not know which read, in
part:
Rabbi Joe Black, have ever heard of
taqyyia,have you ever read passages of the quran full of hate for Jews, and how
muslim duty/ jihad is to kill till the last Jew, do you listen or watch the
news, do you see how they destroy Churches and slaughter Christians? In Nazi Germany some Jews tried to be friends
with the SS, they where called Capo. Please,
make us, Jews, proud, and stay away from the muslim snakes. They laugh at you
in private.
I understand that Imam Abuzaid and I
differ on many theological and political issues. But, I also believe that he is an honorable
man. If we allow our fears and ignorance
to blind us to the humanity of any group of people – if we allow the
hate-mongers among us to demonize others because of their ethnic or religious
heritage, or the color of their skin, or how they love and who they love then
we are giving in to hopelessness and bigotry.
Are there Muslims who hate us? Yes, of course there are. But there are extremists in every
community. The author of the original
bus ads is a Jewish woman named Pamela Geller. Her organization, the American Freedom
Defense Initiative (AFDI) has likened Muslims to Savages in her previous
attempts at Defamation .[ii] As Jews, as a people who are committed to finding and celebrating the
sacred in every aspect of life, we must be extra vigilant to ensure that
justice is celebrated and protected – for all.
Next week we read how fear and suspicion
plunged a nation into bondage and servitude.
If we do not speak up for those who are wronged, who will speak up for
us? As Rabbi Hillel taught:
Im
Eyn ani li mi
li? U’kshe ani l’atzmi mah ani? V’im lo achshav ey-matai?….. “If I am not for myself, who will be for
me? But if I am ONLY for myself, what
kind of person am I? And if not now,
when?”
Let us pledge to work together to rid the
world of hatred and violence. But let us
do so from a framework of justice and hope.
Shabbat Shalom.
