During the Rosh Hashanah service, Rabbi Tzemah gave this sermon. Watch the video or read the transcript below.
Watch a recording of the sermon:
THE COVID TEST
On so many days this past spring and summer, life seems to fray at the seams.
I can’t tell you how many times I have felt like screaming.
At the cashier at Rite Aid for not wearing a mask.
At people not socially distancing on the driveway near my house.
At my computer screen after hearing a stupid thing uttered by particular know-nothing pols.
At my wife for forgetting to pay a bill.
At my son for reversing the contents of his plate onto the floor.
The reason for this rage is that this has been a summer of deep discontent permeating into every pore of our being. The United States is the richest country in the world, and yet we have handled the COVID crisis so ineptly. Our case load is the highest in the world. Our death rates are among the worst. And so many of our leaders willfully ignore science and pretend that the virus doesn’t exist. The rest of the so-called first world countries have left us behind; they managed to flatten the curve early and resume a quasi-normal life.
I can’t see my new nephew in Canada.
I can’t celebrate a wedding in Israel.
I can’t hug a friend who has lost a father.
In this relatively sane corner of the United States we gaze in horror at Florida and Texas and at the gross and criminal ineptitude of their leaders, and at individualism gone amok.
COVID has tested us and we have seemingly failed the test. But we will have other chances.
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One of the traditional readings at Rosh HaShanah is the story of Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac.
Seemingly out of nowhere the God character of Genesis 22 commands Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain in the south. Abraham saddles his donkey, takes his young son, and goes into the desert. On the third day they see the mountain in the distance. Abraham takes his son with him and they go up. Isaac asks his father, “I see the knife and the wood, but where is the sacrifice?” Abraham answers, “God will choose”. On the mountain, Abraham places his son on the altar and binds him. And then he raises his knife….
American society is achingly situated at the point of this knife. Will we survive this crisis and become stronger for it, or will this devolution into anger continue to ravage us unabated?
I think we will come out stronger.
I think this because I have witnessed so many, many people rising to the occasion.
I have seen such astonishing acts of selflessness by nurses and doctors, who cry in fear and despair, wipe their tears away, and try to save another life.
I have seen teachers work around the clock to try to teach children remotely, while they care for their own families.
I have seen delivery trucks driven by brave souls, distributing food to the ravaged population of New York City.
I have seen my wife, who after a sleepless night with our baby, wakes up to lead her community in song and greet another beautiful day full of death.
I have seen all of this and I am filled with hope.
But what shall we do with our anger? What of the maskless man who invades our personal space and speaks of freedom.
Instead of kicking him, you could quote Mordechai Kaplan’s ethical aphorism to him:
The indulgence in freedom unrestrained by self—discipline is intrinsically the source of conflict.
But for some reason, I don’t think that will be particularly effective.
In mid-July I read an article in the NYTimes about how one doctor tried to understand the motivations of the maskless. Truly tried to listen, and having heard, tried to affect change. She got thousands of responses, and was a force for good.
Maskless behavior through one lens is reckless and is indicative of a complete lack of empathy towards others.
Viewed through another lens it is a coping mechanism against the powerlessness we feel toward this virus which has upended our lives.
“I am not afraid of the virus, therefore I will not wear a mask.”
That person may not believe that there is anything he or she can do to prevent community spread, so why should they wear a mask?
That person may believe that since they have already been sick with COVID they no longer spread the virus.
Or that person may believe that the virus is fake, and that Fauci is the anti-Christ.
There is a valuable discussion and debate to be had regarding individuality versus collectivism. At what point does our individuality, our right to choose the right path for ourselves, infringe too greatly upon the greater good? If we don’t have these debates, if we don’t grant our maskless fellow due consideration, if we label that person with a pejorative, we exacerbate and inflame the horrible tensions that already exist in our society.
We must listen. We must see the other as valuable, even as we are balanced upon this knife. It is so hard.
Back to the story of sacrifice. Abraham raised his knife. At this point there are two versions of the story. In one version Abraham kills Isaac, in another version an angel stops him.
Both versions of the story are horrible.
Any and all orders to kill are horrible.
The situation we are in is horrible.
But in the second version of the story Isaac is saved, and that version of the story, highlighting the value of human life, is the one which wins out.
I believe with all my heart that we will win our battle against COVID, against intolerance, against systemic racism, against those who seek to divide and enflame.
And the numbers support this. At first blush it may not seem that way, because of the existence of such horrible inflammatory rhetoric. But they do.
The United States is a less racist country than it has ever been. Survey after survey confirm that this is true. Mississippi, the state that is emblematic for some of the Deep South has finally taken down its Confederate flag. It took them only 150 years or so, but they did it.
It is no longer legal to discriminate against people at work on the basis of their sexual orientation. That is amazing and the majority 6-3 opinion was authored by none other than Neil Gorsuch.
Deep and very painful conversations about privilege are occurring in every corner of our society, and marginalized groups are leading this dialogue. I find this nothing short of amazing.
As I write this in late July, I look at the raging pandemic in the south, and I tell myself through the tears that this too shall pass, and we shall come out stronger.
I believe this to be true.
Shanah Tovah!
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