Words

Words

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

Richmond, Virginia

January 14, 2011

 

After the torrents of words in the media and the President's eloquent words the other night, it seems that there is little left to add. The media commentators, needing to fill up endless hours of air-time, will recycle and regurgitate much of what already has been said. Yet there are a few pieces of Jewish teaching and a few reflections upon this tragedy in which six were murdered and another twelve were wounded, others besides Congresswoman Gabrielle Griffords. This Shabbat is called Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of Song, because the great piece, "The Song of the Sea" is the core part of the Torah portion, and the prophetess Deborah's song is the core piece of the Haftarah. The joy engendered by both songs is mitigated this Shabbat, is tempered and abated, by the senseless tragedies as well as the death of the world renown Debbie Friedman, who twice performed here on our bemah in concerts arranged by my wife. Debbie, a woman with medical issues, died from pneumonia, contracted during her participation in the Jewish learning program called Limmud, which took place in England. Both events, vastly different but united in death, diminish our joy.

 

Debbie Friedman brought joy, contemplation, innovation and elation into so many Jewish hearts through her music and her soul. I remember her here on our bemah, not quite sure where she was, she began singing "West Virginia" until someone corrected her and said that she was in Virginia and not West Virginia. That was a scene. But then, in vintage style, she opened her heart and her mouth and had us both deeply meditating and later dancing in the aisles. While a great deal of her music was not meant for liturgical purposes, the music and its purpose inspired myriads of the next generation of song writers and singers, including our son Menachem, to create vibrant, searching and uplifting music for our tefillot as well as our Shabbat dinner tables. In recent times she joined the faculty at HUC-JIR in New York City, to bring the influence of her work and her life upon the current students. Her memory and her contributions to Judaism will long endure.

 

There is no simple, rational or sane explanation for the tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. There never is for such a calamity.

 

We may blame the sellers of guns who must have looked into his eyes and seen someone who should not have a gun in his hand and sold it to him never the less.

 

We may blame the lack of laws regulating gun sales, or the procedures or lack thereof for background checks. It seems to me that if he wanted bad enough, he could always get a gun from somewhere.

 

We may blame the culture of violence that is projected through every media imaginable and on every single device. I, too, enjoy a good "James Bond," NCIS, and CIS. But there comes a point that the violence is beyond gratuitous. It creates an ambience, an attitude, a milieu, an expectation. I don't really know why that when I am in Israel, where so many of the general population have been in the military, when they bring their guns home with them on leave, when they bring them to synagogue and put them under their seats, and learn how to shoot guns and do, where violence is frequent in wars, in suicide bombings, in Hamas bombardment of the South and Hezbollah in the 2006 war in the North, that you do not feel or experience such a culture as we have here. Believe me, it is not a tame world over there.

            Why are we so violent?

            Why do we have some much road rage?

            Why do we have so many assassinations or JFK, RFK, and poignantly, MLK?

I am sure that this tragedy will not change our culture, but it must give us pause to ponder. Our values are stacked up against money makers, global trade and other vested interests. But where and when will sanity prevail?

When will TV moguls, cable tycoons, and manufacturer magnates decide to present a different image to youth and adult, and join in shaping a different world?

Is this why God created us, so that we can bludgeon and shoot, maim and batter each other, on the streets, in our homes, in the shopping malls?

It doesn't matter if the screens are large or small.

            Who will stop this?

            When will this carnage end?

 

We may also blame the disgustingly low level of discourse. Unfortunately the abuse and misuse and exploitation of language in the world is rampant. Sarah Palin's reference to "blood libel" just takes the cake. In Judaism, usually said with a Yiddish intonation, there is a term called "lashon ha-rah" which is said "loshon hur-rah" meaning gossip. But in truth, the Hebrew "lashon" means tongue and "rah" means evil, thus yielding "evil speaking." That is what we have had in this country. It isn't gossip, which can be bad enough, but rather how we say –not only - what we say. It is helpful that the Times-Dispatch has the new "truth-o-meter" and follows up politicians' statements to see how truthful they are, high, low and not-at-all. But it is beyond that.

            Is there venom in their voice?

            Is there vindictiveness in their words?

            Is there malice in their hearts?

            Is their meanness on their tongue?

            Is there malevolence in their speech?

Are we arguing ideas and concepts, discussing directions and designs or are we slinging mud, shooting arrows, darts and bullets into crosshairs?

 

Are people running for prestige or power or to serve our citizenry and the greater good of society?

 

Is there not enough suffering to heal, pain to reduce, hunger to cure, unemployment to diminish?

 

Don't all levels of government have enough to do without reducing it to the English jousts whose only purpose is to unseat the opposite rider, and nothing more?

 

To this end I have signed on to the following letter for the Anti-Defamation League:

In the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona, join ADL in the call for a more respectful political debate.

Urge Congress to lead by example and bring us back to a more civil discourse by asking your elected officials to:

• Act to dramatically to change the tenor of our national public discourse.
• Use their bully pulpit to set a tone of civility.
• Refrain from overheated rhetoric that inflames passions and stokes hate and violence in America and speak out against others who employ these base tactics.
• Rededicate themselves to engaging in reasoned and thoughtful debate on the very difficult issues confronting our nation.
• Work together with other Members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle to restore a level of respect and civility to public life that will reflect the best of America.

This has been sent this afternoon to our Representative Cantor and Senators Webb and Warner. I urge you to go to the ADL website and sign on and have this letter sent to them and enlist them in this sacred cause, to change the temperature and temperament, the language and linguistics of those elected to represent us, who can by example, on the floors to Senate, House and Legislature, set a new temperate tone and tenor to be followed by young and old.

 

This is where I conclude. Debbie Friedman's use of words in her music and the exact reverse in the vituperativeness of the public space is a challenge to us in our own lives, with our families and friends, in shul and at home, at work and at play. How do we speak? What do we say? How do we say it? What behavior do we model to our children and grandchildren?

 

The following comes from one of my favorite Psalms that appears in the Shabbat and Yom Tov Pesukay D'Zimra, that we perforce omit of the necessity of time:

 

Psalm 34:

Come, you children, hearken unto me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

            Who is the man that loves life,

            And desires long life, filled with joy?

Then keep your mouth from evil,

And your lips from speaking guile.

            Depart from evil, and do good;

            Seek peace, and pursue it.

 

Shabbat Shalom