For Whom the Bell Tolls
Rabbi Gary S. Creditor
Richmond, Virginia
May 13, 2011
When I was in seventh grade in public school we took a trip to Philadelphia. With a box camera I took a series of black and white pictures of the Liberty Bell. I was old enough and aware enough to feel a quiet pride that a verse from my Bible was inscribed on such an important piece of American history, not that I really understood the verse, nor how that verse came to used instead of any other. Today, removed from seventh grade by a series of decades and with a deeper understanding of Torah, I have a few answers about a most critical verse from tomorrow's Torah portion: Leviticus 25:10: "And proclaim 'd'ror' throughout the land and to all its inhabitants." I really wish they might fix that bell, for this verse still needs to ring out across the land and around the world.
The official website is http://www.ushistory.org/libertybell/. It was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's Charter of Privileges, which had served as their first constitution and was remarkable for the framing of liberties, including that of religion. As the verse refers to proclaiming d'ror in the 50th year, and d'ror was usually translated freedom, it seemed like a fitting verse for the commemorative bell. I really couldn't appreciate at Larson's age that this big hunk of metal before me was part of a process that enabled me as a Jew to be an equal American and go to public school without being coerced into being a Christian. I now realize how remarkable and phenomenal that is. There is a direct line from William Penn to the American Revolution and to the Bill of Rights in the Constitution.
I have resisted translating d'ror into English though on the bell it says "liberty." The dictionary uses a synonym for definition of liberty: "freedom; the right to do as one pleases, power or opportunity to do something." That misses the point and lacks the punch of the original Hebrew language of the verse. Therein lies the tale.
Our Hebrew d'ror has its antecedent in the ancient cognate language of Akkadian. In that context the word "designates an edict of release issued by the Old Babylonian kings and some of their successors….issued by a king upon ascending the …(which) declared a moratorium on debts and indenture." In the Babylonian world the king owned the people. They were his slaves. They owed him everything. It was only he who could release them from their servitude to him and annul the debts they owed him. This word d'ror is a very specific, very precise word. It defined the relationship of the people to the king. By its very use it specified their lowly and subservient condition.
In the Torah God uses this word, with this language and background and commands the Israelites to religiously institute its proclamation throughout the land. By transposing the language this verse decrees: no human being is king over another; no one is the enslaved subject to another. It is the cornerstone verse to democracy. That is why it is really engraved on that bell. Instead of the colonists being subject in an abject manner to the British King, rather than imbuing him with Divine right, William Penn and the Founding Fathers employed our Torah's understanding that no one owns us, no one enslaves us, no one demeans our humanity, no one controls our holiness. In the history of the Israelite people, this idea was a revolution. In borrowing it, the American colonists used it for their, for ours. Democracy, the entire concept of voting to elect leaders who do not inherit their place nor rule over us is based on this teaching in the Torah. Only God has Divine Right. Humans are not divine. They don't have this right; they do not yield such might, over others. This is what makes America different. This is what makes Israel different. This is our unique contribution as Jews to America and to the world.
This verse needs to ring out in America.
This economy had indebted more people than ever before. I try to understand the concept of foreclosures. How many families, adults and children, young and old have lost their homes? Where did they go? How do they go to school? How do they have a sense of normalcy? How do they take care of their health? Does this democracy proclaim d'ror? Where is the protection from greed and from criminality? Whatever was done was too little, too late, and unless you were affected, we turned our backs.
How many people use the emergency room as the primary care while congressmen who serve in one term have the most exquisite health care for free? Most of us are concerned about how much we will pay, not whether we will have it. Most seniors might have to pay a little more each month, but will have their Medicare and Medicaid. What about those who have nothing? What about those who will lose what they have? The debt of this country must be lowered, but they must use wisdom and never forget the d'ror inscribed on the bell.
I could embellish the list, for there are many, from issues of the rights of workers, of gender discrimination, of forced child labor to sex-trafficking that occurs in this country. But we are a good country because at least we know that d'ror must exist, that in its silence the bell still tolls, that while not perfect, we demand from our leaders keep on trying to perfect our country. I am proud to be a Jew, of the people who wrote the verse. I am proud to be an American, the country that enshrined it.
This verse needs to ring out to the world.
I would be extremely careful to misread the events in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria as the birth of democracy. They are not necessarily proclaiming d'ror to their people. It would be nice if they were truly fighting for democracy, but then the Muslims would not be killing the Copts in Egypt. Then the atrocities of Darfur and the Sudan would not be happening. Then women and children would not be smuggled across the Middle East to be slaves even as the fighting is going on. Then children wouldn't be working in old fashioned sweat shops across Asia so that you and I could buy cheap clothing and shoes, and we don't have a choice because there is nothing more made in America! If there was true d'ror in the world this wouldn't be happening.
As a Jew I am proud that Israel is a democracy. It, too, is not perfect, yet the heart of the legal system is based on the value in Torah that each person is holy, is free from the tyranny of any other, and is entitled to d'ror, complete release, liberty, to live only under the rule of God, to whom we owe our lives, and endows us with holiness.
Perhaps it is because the United States and Israel proudly proclaim this verse that we draw the ire and hatred of others. Both countries are checker-board, multi-colored, patch-work societies that proclaim the holiness of each citizen, and through their political systems, strive to make a more perfect union. I am proud to be a Jew that brings this verse to the world. I am proud that Israel is our homeland, a country that implements it.
So if you are looking for a car trip that won't use too much gas and for a religious, national meaningful place to go, I suggest Philadelphia. Stand at the Liberty Bell. Look at its crack. See the verse from Leviticus inscribed in its metal. In its silence the bell still tolls.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Gary S. Creditor
Temple Beth-El
3330 Grove Avenue
Richmond, VA 23221
Phone 804-355-3564
Fax 804-257-7152
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