Embedded in
today’s Torah portion, Vaetchanan, is the first paragraph of the Shema. We recite its words quite often, twice a day
during prayer, at night in bed, in front of our Ark when removing the Torah,
and at the end of our Yom Kippur service.
It is also recited immediately before dying and by individuals converting
to Judaism. Young children learn it and
old men and women never forget it. It
binds us together as a people that accepts our covenant with G-d and recognizes
that we are bound to the moral order G-d established along with the creation of
the world.
I was
thinking back to my studies about Rabbi Akiva who was one of Judaism’s most
outstanding teachers, living approximately between the years 50-135 C.E. When he lived, studying and teaching Torah
were capital offenses according to the edicts of the Roman empire. Perhaps you remember hearing the parable Rabbi
Akiva told about the fish and the fox when he was urged to stop his practices.
A fox was
standing by the side of a river urging the fish to come up on the dry
land. He assured the fish that if they
did so, they would escape the fisherman’s net.
The fish answered, “If we are afraid in the element in which we live,
how much more should we be afraid when we are out of that element. We should then surely die.” Akiva recognized that the study of Torah
which would lead to the practice of living according to G-d’s will was to be
for the length of his days. For Akiva,
loving G-d unconditionally and totally even during dark times, was essential
even if it meant his life would be taken.
When Akiva
spoke it was evident that loving G-d meant loving life and valuing life. It meant maximizing human potential, finding
meaning through one’s study of Torah, and loving humankind because everyone is
made in the image of G-d. He was an
individual who understood that you not only study Torah, but you live Torah
even up to the end of your life.
I think the
very idea that for a Jew loving G-d actually means loving life and valuing life. It is one marker that sets us apart from the
extremists in this world who profess love for G-d while destroying life! It is part of the value system that makes it
possible for us to try to maximize human potential. It is part of our understanding that
righteousness is not limited to Jews, and that we can still hold onto a vision of
a world in which the presence of G-d will be felt by all humankind.
Our vision
of the world is based on the belief that life is a gift from G-d; that our
resources in this world are G-d’s gift to us that we can use to better life for
all; and that the purpose of having a nation as Jews is to try to bring a
message to the world that justice and righteousness are to fill the earth as
waters fill the sea.
When many of
us gathered on Thursday evening to hear and watch Gary Hill’s presentation
about STOP THE SIRENS, it was evident that valuing life is part of our mind-set
as Jews. When the world is watching news
reports about what Ruth Thone would call, the “genocidal desires of the Jewish
people.”…we must make sure that the world understands to what extent we as the
Jewish people try to better life not only for ourselves but even for those
living in lands which try to harm us.
Educate yourself, talk to individuals from this congregation who have
spent significant time living, working, and traveling in Israel. Do not sit silently while hate-mongering
finds its ways into all forms of the media.
What Gary showed us is that we can be proud of the ways in which we
respond to difficult situations, ways in which we try to promote caring for
others.
Yes, there
have been those throughout Jewish history who have died professing love for G-d
as their lives were martyred. But, the
secret of Jewish survival is our ability to see beyond our tortured history, to
maintain hope for a better time, to show our love for G-d through actions that
attempt to bring goodness in the world.
May we always have the strength to show the world what true actions look
like that reflect love for G-d.
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