Shabbat Shalom! I
want to begin by sharing two stories from this week’s news that relate
to the Torah reading from Chukat in the book of Numbers. First, we will examine the contemporary
examples, and then then we will look at the Torah reading.
Before Game three of
the NBA Finals this week, San Antonio native Sebastien de
la Cruz, a celebrated competitor in last year’s America’s Got Talent, sang the
national anthem. He was wearing a
mariachi outfit, but, after all, 63% of San Antonio citizens are Latino. Some of the immediate responses on
twitter to Sebastien’s appearance
were full of prejudice and racism, exemplified by this one: “This kid is Mexican - why is he
singing the national anthem?” That user added the twitter hashtags:
#yournotamerican #gohome.” Because
of this reaction, the San Antonio Spurs asked Sebastien to sing the National
anthem again last night before Game 4.
On Good Morning America on ABC this morning, Sebastien responded to his
detractors with an incredible amount of class. He said, “To the people that do have hatred in their hearts,
I just want to tell them that they should think before they say things.”
A second story from
the news this week comes from Israel. Times of Israel reported the story of Nadrah, a four-year old girl
from Syria whose heart had only a single ventricle. It wasn’t expected that she would survive past her 18th
birthday. She received surgery and
follow-up treatment in Israel. Her
8 month pregnant mother had accompanied her. This opportunity for treatment was made possible by Shevet Achim, an Israel-based Christian organization
that has been arranging for Palestinian, Jordanian, Kurdish and now Syrian
children to come to Israel for almost two decades to undergo life-saving heart
surgery.
Among Nadrah’s visitors at the
hospital was Meir Hazan, a Syrian Jew who left his home at the age of 17. He introduced himself to Nadrah and her
mother Raha as “Abu Salim,” his name from his childhood. They were afraid that
he was one of Bashar Assad’s intelligence agents looking for them. Hazan explained that he was, simply, a
native Syrian Jew who left for greater freedom in Israel. Hazan spoke later
about his visit with Nadrah: “She
told me, ‘In Syria people are slaughtering each other, but you came here to
visit another Syrian you don’t know, and there is no hatred in your eyes.’”
Hazan had initially
wanted to take the family for a drive to a local Syrian restaurant, but
Nadrah’s health wouldn’t allow it. Luckily, in the Syrian tradition, he had
prepared kubbeh, tabbouleh, pickled vegetables and other Syrian foods for them,
and set them out in the hospital room. . The success of Nadrah’s experience has
opened up the possibility for other Syrian children needing heart surgery to
come to Israel in the future.
And meanwhile, in
Syria, it is likely that any group that the United States or any other nation
would back would eventually commit some minor or major atrocity or massacre
against another group or village, be it Christian or Muslim.
The Torah reading for this week
described the request of the Israelites to peacefully pass through the
territory of the Edomites. They
told their story of oppression and their flight to freedom in their plea to the
people of Edom. The Israelites promised to pay for any natural resources they
might use. The Edomites,
however, responded with verbal refusals at first, and, finally, by sending out
an army to be sure that the Israelites would take another route.
This
passage reminds me of the closed hearts of those who tweeted hateful statements
about Sebastien de la Cruz.
It makes me think of the ill-fated
journey of the St. Louis, the ship with over 938 Jewish passengers on board on
its 1939 voyage. Bound for
Havana, Cuba, the St. Louis arrived at its destination, but the 908 passengers
who had no valid American or Cuban visas or passports were not allowed to
disembark. Later, the ship set
sail for Miami and was turned away by the United States Coast Guard. All the passengers returned to Europe,
receiving permission to settle in a variety of countries.
The response of the Edomites can
relate to times when people close their hearts towards fellow human beings who
are in need of help, or support, or refuge.
The Edomite approach calls
to mind times when individuals or groups judge others only through their own
eyes, rather than trying to empathize with those whom they judge in order to
truly understand their situation.
Those who supported Sebastien de la
Cruz against an onslaught of hatred, and everyone who helped Nadrah from Syria
through her experience of healing and hope, exemplify the best of the human
spirit – as expressed by the reading in our prayerbook:
“May
the door of this synagogue be wide enough to receive all who hunger for love,
all who are lonely for friendship.
May it welcome all who have cares to unburden, thanks to express, hopes
to nurture. May the door of this
synagogue be narrow enough to shut out pettiness and pride, envy and
enmity. May its threshold be no
stumbling block to young or straying feet. May it be too high to admit complacency, selfishness and
harshness.”
And
may the words of Torah that we read tonight inspire us, as members of the human
family, to keep our attitudes and our hearts open to all who would journey our
way.
No comments:
Post a Comment