“Judaism is a sustained struggle, the greatest ever known, against the world that is, in the name of the world that could be, should be, but is not yet. There is no more challenging vocation.”
These powerful words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks encapsulate his masterful essay on Jewish hope (read the whole essay here).
The struggle of which Rabbi Sacks speaks is one that continues to this day. The rabidly racist and antisemitic idea that immigrants, people of color, and Jews are intentionally and deviously destroying America’s essence is at the root of white supremacist terrorism. It is the ideology that drove the murders of innocents at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, and at the Chabad in Poway. It drove the killing at the Walmart in El Paso, and of course, the most recent atrocity at the Tops grocery in Buffalo. In 2021 alone, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 19 incidents of white supremacist-driven mayhem, murder, and violence. This racist, antisemitic lie is endemic, pervasive, and most alarmingly espoused in a slightly sanitized (but still recognizable) version by a number of influential politicians and mainstream TV personalities.
The first Kavanah of this week spoke of hope in the presence of tragedy and loss. In keeping with this theme—and the words of Rabbi Sacks—it is clear that our response cannot (must not) be to throw up our hands and accept such violence as the price for living in this country. The answer cannot only be to hire more security guards, install more cameras, and arm ourselves. That, in itself, is a form of acquiescence to the status quo.
We are Jews. When the world is broken, we push back against the brokenness and seek to mend the shards of discord. Now is the time to speak out, to support the organizations that call out the hatred spewed by too many in our country, and, of course, to not only vote, but to extend our reach into other regions of the country by supporting those candidates that stand in opposition to the voices of hatred. To quote Rabbi Sacks again: “To be a Jew is to be an agent of hope in a world serially threatened by despair … There is no more challenging vocation.”
Addendum in light of Tuesday’s murders: The shooting in Ulvade, Texas is the 27th school shooting in 2022. The anguish of the families, the unending cycle of senseless violence, and the fear that these events evoke in our own hearts bear the risk of descent into hopelessness. From the depths of our despair we must be “the ones who sing in the dead of night,” and, despite the immensity of obstacles before us, advocate for a nation where all may know שָׁלוֹם טוֹבָה וּבְרָכָה חֵן וָחֶֽסֶד וְרַחֲמִים “peace, goodness and blessing, kindness and mercy.”
—Rabbi Ron Stern