COVID-19 - Ending or Maintaining Caring and Compassion - It depends - October 22, 2020

172 new cases of COVID-19 in Dona Ana County.   

Meanwhile, the President holds rallies in other parts of the country with masks worn by attendees that show up for the camera but not worn by most  of the other attendees, and with no social distancing.  The Conronavirus can spread even outside, folks, if you are close enough to each other.  This behavior encourages people not to behave in a way that can limit the spread. 

  And meanwhile, a fundraiser held in a private local space for a congressional candidate who supports the current administration was supported by the business leaders who do give generous charitable donations but who also flatly opposed an increase in the minimum wage for the longest time in 2014.  I know.  I was there and I heard them. 

   And meanwhile, a member of the Pandemic response team still goes on the news and spouts unprofessional advice because his expertise is not in dealing with pandemics.   

   And meanwhile, President Obama spoke at a socially distanced drive-in rally in Philadelphia. 

   And...meanwhile, go vote in any way you want to vote that, you think,  will give the best chance for your vote to be counted.

On Separations...and Cruelty - October 21, 2020

So, what if, 100 years ago, the immigration authorities at Ellis Island routinely separated parents from children (they didn’t) as they entered, and assumed that anyone who was trying to enter the US was from the worst part of humanity and needed to be kept out?   And parents were put in distant jails or camps while children were detained in facilities in the area.   And then, a year or two later, someone charged with reuniting families discovers that they had records of the children but no records of the parents who were sent away.   Even with the beginning of restrictions being placed on immigration 100 years ago by lawmakers with anti-immigrant and isolationist attitudes back then (much like some leaders today),  it seems that they did a good job of keeping records.    The fact that 545 children cannot be reunited with their parents reveals a breakdown in such record keeping.  It may also reflect a disdain for asylum seekers as unworthy of human consideration.    This is certainly where some people are now in our country.   One of my FB friends had recently posted something about how one party wants “open” illegal immigration (NOT TRUE) and the other party wants legal immigration.  For the party in power, it’s not about legal immigration only.  It’s about LITTLE TO NO immigration, as far as I can tell from executive orders and other suggested rules and legislation.   We have been enriched as a nation by immigrants.    Vote in a way that such historical enrichment will not come to an abrupt end. 

   And pray for the reunion of these children with their parents.

48 years of voting - a personal history - October 19, 2020

I am the grandson of naturalized citizens, who, I am sure, relished the freedom to exercise their right to vote. 

 I think I have a memory of joining my dad at the polls at least once.   

  My elementary school was a polling station.  In November, 1964, I remember a few of us on the playground asking a man, who had just emerged from the station, whom he voted for. 

  “GOLDWATER!”  He exclaimed. 

  “Not Johnson?”   We asked. 

   “GOLDWATER” he repeated. 

  I remember my Junior High School holding an assembly at which representatives of the Humphrey and Nixon Campaigns spoke.   Speaking for Humphrey was Richard Bolling, the Congressional Representative from our district.  We were about to hold a school-wide “election” for president a few days later.  Nixon won, by the way.  

   I remember waiting at the Urbana, Illinois town hall to register to vote in the 1972 election.   I believe I had to go back there to vote on Election Day.  My candidate lost.   Oh, and, by the way, my draft number at 105, at a time when there were no college deferments.   The peace talks in January of 1973 led to the end of the draft.  

     Four years later, I completed my absentee ballot (as a registered voter in Missouri) for the 1976 election at the United States Consulate in East Jerusalem.   

     Since then, I have voted in Ohio, Kansas, New Hampshire and New Mexico.    

    It’s not only about whom we support.   It IS about making sure that everyone has the right to register their choice, which is, unfortunately, contrary to the views of some who would term certain modes of voting as “rigged,” “illegal” and “fraudulent, or who would be surprised if their opponent wins because they think that person is a “loser” or the “worst candidate ever.”  

    Of course, if you have heard those words, and agree with them, then vote, and, please, speak your mind respectfully without the vitriol.  

   If you have heard other expressions that elevate respect and bi-partisanship over ridicule, then vote.   

   Just, simply, because you are a registered voter, vote.    Don’t ever sit it out.  And don’t believe anyone who says your vote won’t count or that it won’t be counted.    It will.  Or, at least, vote as if it will count, because it SHOULD count.   

   Many of us have voted already, so please join the club.    

   It is probably the most American thing you can do...ever.

Fighting for our lives - still

As soon as I heard of the plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, I thought of the videos I saw in a documentary a couple of years ago of Netanyahu speaking at rallies against the Oslo Accords that featured extreme rhetoric against Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, portraying him as Hitler and calling him a traitor, all of which created an atmosphere in which someone could think of assassinating Rabin. 

    Setting rules to keep citizens safe, while trying to be sure that there would be aid for people unable to work during a lockdown, is not treason.  It’s wisdom.  The same person who tweeted “Liberate Michigan” (the real DJT) and STILL criticized Governor Whitmer after the plot was revealed.  I doubt that he will stop those statements.   While he has offered condemnations of militia groups and other similar organizations, he has done so only after an incident when he did  NOT make a condemnation. 

    With every attempt to keep citizens of New Mexico safe, and with cases rising in many places in the state, we have business owners who still keep ramping up the rhetoric, providing echoes of what has been seen and heard in Michigan, at least in some measure.  The new restriction on High School sports produced even more criticism.   Their calls for freedom are not about freedom.  They are about power.  I doubt they would say anything if a Governor they favored was in office. 

    

  

Do not let Gretchen Whitmer become the next Rabin - From The Forward

Oblivion can wait - October 10, 2020

As a citizen, I have never had a President that wanted to me to disappear into oblivion because of my views (just heard that from his “rally” at the White House, an inappropriate use of the people’s house).  

   I have had just that since January, 2017. 

   I am not alone.  

   And if his supporters also want me to disappear, so be it on their part. 

   For my part,  I just want to see the power of respectful dialogue across the ideological spectrum that doesn’t demonize, bully, or dehumanize anyone.  

    I also see that Senator Lindsey Graham said last night that young black people and immigrants can “go anywhere” in South Carolina, adding, “you just need to be conservative, not liberal.”

     Think about how “Liberate Michigan” in a tweet likely influenced the creation of a plot to kidnap and execute a governor, and then the source of the tweet told her, like a monarch, that she needed to thank him for “his Law enforcement” helping her and that she brought on herself the plot because of her politics.

     Don’t you love the empathy?  

     And...The Law enforcement is NOT HIS.   IT’S OURS.  

    They are working for US.  ALL OF US. 

    If some of you stop saying SOCIALISM and COMMUNISM, maybe I will consider pulling back from the term FASCISM. 

     The former keeps happening, though. 

    We should not be like elementary school or middle school students on a playground, paying obeisance or running scared from, or trying to combat, the bullies of the moment.   

    It’s always the bullies who should stop being bullies.   

    Shabbat Shalom and Chag Samayach, everyone.   As we end and begin the Torah today in the Jewish world, let’s remember that “love your neighbor as yourself” is near the exact center of a Torah scroll. 

    It should be our center as well.

Reminders of the virus of hatred - October 8, 2020

The juxtaposition of criticism (by the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue) of Michigan Governor Whitmer this morning in a television interview with the announcement of arrests related to a plot to kidnap and execute Governor Whitmer by members of a Militia, likely connected to the armed protests at the Michigan State Capitol earlier this year, is uncanny.   This is not a coincidence.  

   I am reminded that there were people like this in Kansas when I served as rabbi there, which may have been connected to the phone message that came to Temple after the beginning of Desert Storm, “I’m gonna kill me a rabbi.”  

    I am reminded that it was a militia network in the mid 1990s that broadcast one of Pastor Fred Phelps’ sermons around the Jewish High Holy Days, “warning” me, by name, and my congregation that our sins would not be forgiven by God because we did not have the blood of Jesus’ crucifixion cleansing our souls.   

   I am reminded that there are people in my current state of residence who are using militia tactics.    I am reminded that there are people in this state, including business owners, who have portrayed our governor as a fascist dictator, trying to take away their freedom, when the rules for dealing with the pandemic were meant to PROTECT everyone’s lives. 

  And I am reminded of the words of the “resident” of 1600 PA Ave this morning, calling the law enforcement response (directed by the NY Governor and NYC mayor) to sometimes violent protests (which were also in favor of the “resident”) by Chassidic community members as fascist.  Sorry, it’s too hard to use the real word. 

   Of course, to this “resident,” protests in HIS favor are all right, whereas protests that oppose him and his policies are not.  

    WE ARE WATCHING, WE HEAR EVERY WORD YOU SAY.

Cautious, not afraid - current thoughts on COVID-19

I choose to continue to be cautious because of COVID-19.  

   I choose to view any response to COVID-19 that would belittle or ignore the deaths of over 200,000 people in the United States as lacking in awareness and empathy.   

   I choose to look with astonishment and disdain at a leader who, in order to look busy, apparently staged two photos in two different rooms in a hospital, with some claiming that one of those photos showed the signing of a blank piece of paper. 

    I choose to acknowledge that most any administration would not give the full story about a president’s illness if it was serious.  

   I choose to describe the eschewing of masks, accompanied by a reliance only on testing, as unwise and dangerous when dealing with COVID-19.  

    I choose to hold all people who have COVID-19 in my prayers for healing, to pray for strength and comfort for the family members of those who have died of COVID-19, and to pray that people will, somehow, realize that science and knowledge are God-givens gifts on which we MUST rely during a serious and widespread pandemic.   

    I choose to oppose abuse and bullying that are firmly based in vindictiveness, selfishness, narcissism, and hatred

Sukkot NOT Deferred- Introduction to Sukkot Video Retrospective for Temple Beth-El Las Cruces - October 2, 2020

It was one of those dreams one doesn’t forget. 

At least not now.  

The rabbi had retired, but he was preparing to lead a service for Sukkot. 

He knew that the Lulav, with its palm, willow and myrtle branches, and the etrog were waiting patiently in the Temple refrigerator. 

There would be no physical Sukkah, but there would be familiar prayers, the same ones recited during past Sukkot celebrations. 

The night before the service, the rabbi was having a restless night.  He finally fell back asleep.     

Suddenly,  he found himself in the Temple playground. 

Two figures materialized - a man and a woman. 

They were dressed in clothing that looked like....branches, leaves, artistic decorations, and fruit.  

They were covered from head to toe in these strange and unique garments.

To the rabbi’s delight - and even slight horror, they spoke, but with gentle, reassuring voices.   

The man said, “Rabbi, I am ARAV,”

The woman introduced herself, “I am HADAS.”

The Rabbi said, “Mr. Willow and Ms. Myrtle.   Wonderful names! Which is why you both look like... 

“A Sukkah.   Yes, Rabbi!” Exclaimed Hadas. 

“Why are you here?” Asked the rabbi.  The Temple did not build a Sukkah this year because...

“Yes, we know all about the pandemic,” ARAV said.  “We know that more people than ever before are building a Sukkot at their homes, if they are able.  We know that fewer congregations are building Sukkot outside their buildings.  We just came to tell you what you might do to remember what it’s like to be together in a community Sukkah .”   

The rabbi said, “What can we do?  ARAV, HADAS, tell me!”

HADAS spoke first.  “Rabbi we know you have quite a collection of photos of past Sukkot celebrations.  Making and hanging decorations, building the Sukkah, and then images of people gathered in the Sukkah for that really cool service.  We love the way you play ‘Turn, Turn, Turn,’ by the way.”   

  ARAV continued, “Rabbi, take some of those photos and add them to a song about Sukkot on — what is it called? - a computer.”  

  HADAS chimed in, “ARAV, don’t you know about iMOVIE?  Rabbi, you know what to do.   All of those memories will come flooding back when you see those photos: they will carry you through this year’s Sukkot until you can be together in the Temple Sukkah again next year.”  

     ARAV added, “All true, HADAS, but you know that they can still take a photo in their Sukkot worship space - just like before....all right, almost like before.   Their faces will all be together in their virtual Zoom Sukkah.  Aren’t you amazed, HADAS, that they have figured out how to join together to celebrate the holiday?  They could have thought of themselves as lost in the desert.  They are not lost at all! They are joyful!  And they are hopeful!”  

    HADAS said, “YES ARAV - you are so right.   Rabbi, make that video from the pictures from the past.  Next year, you can include photos from this year to remind you of how you all overcame obstacles to celebrate as a community.” 

   The rabbi thought for a moment.  “ARAV, HADAS, what great ideas and thoughts.  I will start looking through my photos.  I have just the song, too, as the soundtrack.   I promise I will get to work....” 

   Before the rabbi could say, “as soon as I can,” he was awake.  He got out of bed in the middle of the night and created a retrospective:  a reminder of Sukkot celebrations past, and of those yet to come.  

Do justly, love kindness and walk humbly with God - Column for Las Cruces Bulletin - October 2, 2020

        Recently, a Temple Beth-El study group which I lead read Chapter 6, verse 8 from the book of the prophet Micah.  These words may be familiar to you:  “It has been told you, O mortal, what is good, and what the Eternal One requires of you: only to do justly, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.”

  Six years ago, that verse served as the centerpiece of a discussion I facilitated for Temple Beth-El congregants. 

    Participants first had the opportunity to comment on each of the three parts of Micah’s statement.  

     They explained that “to do justly” expresses the societal principle of equality of opportunity,  along with the elimination of obstacles to equality.  There was an acknowledgment that not everyone sees justice from the same perspective, but it is through justice (in the legal, personal, cultural and social realms) and fairness that we survive as a community.   

  We discussed how Jewish commentators explained that “love kindness” actually means that people should perform acts of kindness with a whole heart and a generous spirit. This can refer to charitable giving or to helping people in all sorts of significant ways.   

    Participants in that conversation noted that we “walk humbly/modestly with God” when we listen to other people and see the divine spark in everyone, recognizing our common humanity.  One person commented, “Practicing justice, love, kindness and mercy ensures that you will walk humbly, modestly and wisely.” 

     I believe that we are doing justly, practicing kindness, and walking humbly as we respond to the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Many of us, in some way, have answered the call to provide support and comfort for those who are ill and for their family members, to donate supplies to people in need, and to hold up, as much as we are able, individuals who need financial help due to loss of or reduction in their income.  

   Micah’s proclamation has the power to bring us close together, encouraging us to overcome our differences so that we can discover what we hold in common. Some people may believe that the divisiveness and polarization which, too often, rule the day, precludes such a possibility. 

   The recent death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (may her memory be for blessing, we say in the Jewish tradition after a person has died) offered a reminder of how two people, who were usually vociferous opponents in their judicial approaches and opinions, could forge common ground.   

     Justice Ginsburg’s friendship with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was based on their shared love of opera, and, just as much, on the judicial expertise, which they each possessed, that made them worthy adversaries.   

      In her eulogy for Justice Scalia in 2016, Justice Ginsburg said, “Once asked how we could be friends, given our disagreement on lots of things, Justice Scalia answered: ‘I attack ideas. I don't attack people.’”   

     Justice Ginsburg concluded:  “I will miss the challenges and the laughter he provoked, his pungent, eminently quotable opinions, the roses he brought me on my birthday, the chance to appear with him once more as supernumeraries at the opera.”  

       Perhaps they were friends, also, because the late Justice Ginsburg believed that “We the People” means “all the people.” 

     Are we capable of such a friendship?  I believe so, especially when we seek fairness, act with kindness, and remember that, because we are walking, side-by-side, along the same road, we can be, for each other, beacons of hope.