Thinking about Kristallnacht and Walking in the footsteps of Abram, Sarai, and our ancestors....
You don’t know me.
But you think you do.
You told my grandfather that he killed your father.
You meant your Heavenly Father, but not God.
You meant, in your view, a Jewish teacher who lived in the First Century
Who became something much greater
When his followers saw him as much more than human.
So your accusation leveled against my grandfather
For causing a death 2000 years ago
Likely rang hollow for him.
But it stung. No doubt that it stung, because, otherwise, he wouldn’t have told his sons the story that happened in South Africa in the late 19th Century.
My grandfather left Lithuania so that he would not be swept up in the Russian Army for so many years, that he would never be able to join his family in freedom.
He made it, eventually.
Did some of his family witness the worst of the evil perpetrated against Jews in Europe?
Perhaps. We aren’t sure, but we know that some distant relatives made their way to Israel in the early 1990s, once the doors opened and the walls had come down.
But the walls are being built up again, emulating the Reich that destroyed synagogues and arrested Jews without cause 81 years ago this week.
Today, misguided, hateful people attack, or plan to attack, synagogues because they see Jews as different, Christ-killers, former refugees who would help newcomers whom these violent individuals believe would destroy our country.
They attack churches that open their doors to asylum seekers, people with brown skin, like the man who was attacked with Acid last week for walking while Latino.
They accost and assault Jews on the streets of New York.
They dress in stereotypical Jewish garb and hand out flyers that claim that six million Jews could not have been murdered in the Shoah.
They walk into a Walmart to kill Mexicans who would dare to cross the border to shop.
They see Jews as the root of all evil in the world, espousing contradictory views. They say:
Jews are Socialists and Communists. Jews are using their power to dominate the world.
Jews are rich. Jews are poor.
Jews are too open. Jews are too klannish.
Jews are evil, outcasts, pariahs, insidious, disloyal, spies, and traitors.
Jews are the cause of all of our problems, so we must get rid of them, deport them, imprison them, eliminate them.
We read in the Passover Haggadah: “For more than one enemy has risen up against us, to destroy us. In every generation, in every age, some rise up to plot our annihilation. But a divine power sustains and delivers us.”
We cannot define ourselves by the negative lens through which the haters see us.
How should we see ourselves?
We are persistent and resourceful.
We are dedicated and faithful to our heritage.
We are supportive and caring.
We are compassionate and giving.
We are strong and peaceful.
We are realistic and hopeful.
We are loving towards God and to our fellow human beings.
We realize that there is a spark of God even within those who hate and despise us.
Is it our mission to unleash that spark deep inside of even those people driven by bigotry and violence?
Yes.
But is it also our mission to join with others who believe in preserving human dignity and in declaring holy spaces as off limits to the point of a knife and to the barrel of a gun?
The divine power that can sustain and deliver us resides inside of each of us, and within our community, but it can also be found when we make common cause with people whose hearts and minds are truly open to the notion that all people are created in the image of God.
Eternal One, help us find those who honor your divine spark that dwells inside of each of us, so that we can discover and declare Your ongoing and holy presence that will protect our holy spaces and preserve our very lives.
On this Shabbat, we remember Abram and Sarai, whom You, Eternal One, commanded to leave their native land and their ancestral home, in order to journey to a place that you would show them. We pray that You will now stay by our side and walk with us on our journey, leading us to create a community founded upon safety, understanding, love and hope.
Oh, and you...not You, God....no, I am talking to you people who assert that you cannot give up your hatred of Jews and others who are different from you...you should know...you will never find God until you do.
