Israel
turned 67 years old on Thursday and although it was observed with great pride
and excitement all over Israel on that day, our Lincoln Jewish community will celebrate
Yom Ha Atzmaut on Sunday. We live at a
time within Jewish history which is quite unique. We are experiencing what might be called the Third
Commonwealth of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. The First Commonwealth ended with the
destruction of the Temple built by Solomon when we were taken into captivity by
the Babylonians. The Second Commonwealth
ended with the destruction of the second Temple by the Romans. After 2,000 years we are once again a free
people in our own Land. Yet, we Jews are
still finding ourselves faced with those who seek to undermine the existence of
the State of Israel.
It is not
hard to determine the intent of those who outright call for the destruction of
Israel. It takes little intelligence to be able to ascertain the objective of
those countries or terrorist organizations that declare openly that they seek
the annihilation of Jews and the Jewish state.
It appears to be more difficult to determine the intent of those who
couch their words in the guise of claiming that Israel is an apartheid
state. Those who try to convince others
that the BDS movement which attempts to demonize Israel is indeed deserved are
less likely to be recognized for the lies they spread. Perhaps it would be easier, if there were
some outward sign that would occur to the individuals spreading such hateful
messages…perhaps a skin disease like Tzaraat!
In today’s
Torah portion, we read about a skin disease that evolved as manifestation of a
spiritual ill. Those who were inflicted
with tzaraat were isolated from the community and had to offer a sacrifice, all
of which were supervised by the kohanim.
The Rabbis took the idea of tzaraat and linked it to a disease caused by
improper speech, bullying, slander, and gossip.
“The Gemara explains that the word tzaraat can be read to mean one who
makes up stories about another. This is
called Motzi Shem Ra…to create a bad name for someone.” Perhaps you can hear the relationship of this
word with the name of the second portion we read today, Metzorah. (Sparks of
Life/Gideon Weitzman).
We all know how
terrible it is to make up stories about another individual that can ruin their
standing in the community, but do we also recognize how destructive it is for
those members of the media to misrepresent Israel with their biased or
fallacious statements? When watching
youth on college campuses or members of mainline churches calling for the
boycott and divestment of Israel, do we equate their words with MOTZI SHEM
RA…creating a bad name for someone?
Perhaps as I said before, it would help if the world could see the
outward manifestations of tzaraat on their skin as they spread their platform
about Israel being an apartheid state.
I believe
most of us are aware of the power of words. Whenever we conclude the Amidah we
utter the words, “G-d keep my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking guile.
Help me ignore those who slander me.” Although as individuals, such a prayer
may seem comforting, I would like to suggest that as a people, we cannot afford
to ignore those who slander us. We must
learn to recognize the pathologies of hatred that influence their words and we
must learn to speak out against their lies.
As we gather
on Sunday to celebrate the miracle of Israel’s rebirth during our lifetime, may
we also commit ourselves to ending the vicious cycle of motzi shem ra against
Israel….the creation of a bad name for her with the hopes of isolating her
among the nations of the world. May we be proud of the fact that Israel is a democracy where the courts emphasize the
right to equality and show no tolerance for discrimination on the basis of
race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, gender or sexual preferences. (Gary
T’har-Lev) and continue to hope and pray for the time when G-d’s shelter of
peace will spread over the Land.````````````````````````````````````````````````
Shabbat Shalom.
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