Rebuilding America: Independence Day 2020
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
Not often, but just sometimes, I long for the simpler days of the past. Not even the recent past, but rather those ancient days of the Torah and Prophets. In truth, I don’t look at those days through rose-tinted glasses. I don’t think there were fewer problems then—only simpler solutions. Take this week’s Torah portion, Chukat, and specifically the sacrifice ordained in its first few verses, Deut. 19:1-12, the ritual of the Red Heifer.
Little is known about this strange and mysterious sacrifice. Intended to atone for unspeakable sins committed by an individual or community, it’s said to have been offered either seven or nine times during the entire time that the Temple stood in Jerusalem.
Some commentators say that the original sin which necessitated this law was the worship of the Golden Calf. Another story, from the Midrash, explains that it was meant to exorcise demons. In either case, it was a purification ceremony. Its hopeful effect was to remove guilt from the community, so that all could go about their business with a clear conscience. Simple, neat, and effective. How sad that we don’t have this kind of reset button in our own day. How much we could all use it, as individuals and as a nation.
244 years ago, this country was founded on the principle of freedom, justice and equality for all. A wonderful ideal—but like all ideals, difficult to achieve. Several things stood in the way.
For one thing, white settlement in the New World was based on colonialism, the belief that countries could impose their religious, cultural and economic systems on other nations and lands. And even though religious freedom was one of the goals of the original Pilgrims, not all religions were equally accepted. The right of Jews to practice Judaism was a hard-won freedom. And then, of course, there was slavery, born of economic necessity, greed, and inherent racism.
The inevitable conflict between the ideal and the real led to disastrous results that are still with us today. Throughout America’s history, the sins of the fathers were visited upon the children, and today we still find racism, anti-Semitism and white nationalism ripping apart our society.
If only there were some simple ritual that, like the ancient Israelites, we could undergo to solve these problems!
Unfortunately, there isn’t one. And although we have been making headway, step by step, amendment by amendment, the road ahead is still unclear and perilous.
Now it feels as though America is under attack again. Not only from the COVID virus, nor so much from foreign countries (though this danger is always there)—but rather from within. Today, our society and nation are suffering from wounds that have never healed and are still painful, still bleeding.
How did we get here? From a group of individualists seeking freedom and unity, today we are a people who have turned against one another, with some groups intent on imposing their own beliefs, their own way of looking at God, lifestyle and mission, upon others, with little or no tolerance for other possibilities. The prejudices of our past are still an inseparable part of who we are today. They determine where we live, what we do, where and how we educated our children, and how we protect ourselves from real or perceived danger.
It would be easy to put the blame on the virus, or the political system, even climate changes. But though these are powerful factors, they are not in themselves the root cause of the riots and demonstrations that have been taking place in almost every city in America. Yet they do serve to tear the veil from our eyes, making visible what we so conveniently veered our gaze from until now.
As we look forward, in a short six years, to the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation, we have much to contend with. Though the goals of the Founding Fathers were noble, our path has not been guilt-free. Our nation was founded on colonialism, our homes built on land taken by force and violence from Native Americans. Our entire economic system is based on cheap labor—and until not too long ago, on actual slavery. To this day, our socio-economic system is defined by gender, color, race and religion. This is what has delineated property lines, demarcated our inner cities from outlying suburbs. This is what led to an hierarchical education system; a healthcare system that discriminates between those who can afford medical attention and those who can’t; and a judicial structure that singles out and victimizes People of Color.
The United States is a political experiment unique in all history. Unlike nations that can claim a past going back to ancient days, sharing a common history and fate; unlike empires that sought to unify through domination and subjugation, our country was formed with these unique ideals: That freedom is the right and privilege of every individual; that Government is neither exempt from the law nor above it; that unity emerges from the collective effort and contributions of the many. This, at least, is what the Fourth of July has always meant for me. When I look at the Stars and Stripes, what I see is the potential for greatness, just as the millions who arrived at the shores of America looked through the harbor mists and saw the Statue of Liberty standing for the promise of acceptance, opportunity, and equality. But this glorious vision is only true for some, not for all. For those who came as slaves, for those who were driven from their native lands, America was far less than all that.
And that is what we—we, I say, all of us, of all genders, races, religions and philosophies—must fix if this nation is to find healing. Once upon a time, it was possible for a high priest to slaughter an animal and offer ablution for our sins. Today, we must be the priest. It’s up to us to atone for those sins by which we have benefitted. “You shall not stand idly by your brother’s blood,” the Torah teaches us. We must not profit from the suffering of others—that’s the basis of human morality and the teaching of every creed, faith and religion.
On this Independence Day, it is incumbent upon us not to look with arrogance and self-righteousness at our past, but rather with humility and questioning at our future. At his inaugural address in 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged us to, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Today we must ask ourselves a similar question: What can each of us do to heal our nation, to bind our wounds, to make us whole again, whether by voting, demonstrating, patronizing businesses owned and run by People of Color, or simply by engaging in conversation and learning about conditions we turned a blind eye to in the past.
Perhaps, in the end, it’s just as well that the Torah’s Ritual of the Red Heifer isn’t practiced anymore. It made it too easy to find forgiveness, to go on with life, to return to a situation that we called normal. What we know today is that there is no silver bullet, no magic reset button, only the hard work of reconciliation and rebuilding America.
244 years ago, our Forefathers laid the groundwork for a great nation. Today, we must be its builders, replacing worn structures with new ones, paving roads and bridges that will take us forward, not backwards; making sure that when we say, “with liberty and justice for all,” we really mean “all” and not “just some.”
May the day come soon when prejudice and intolerance will be gone from this nation and this earth, when true equality will enable each of us to reach the potential for which we were placed on this earth.
May this be God’s will.
© 2020 by Boaz D. Heilman
No comments:
Post a Comment