“All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, and the voice of the shofar, and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it they fell back and stood at a distance.” Even after all that the Israelites had witnessed in Egypt the connection to the Holy was so overwhelming that they said to Moshe “You speak to us, and we will obey, but do not let God speak to us lest we die.”
How often in life are needs put before us but we simply do not want to see? Whether it is a need close to home, such as the kosher food bank, or to speak out against injustice elsewhere, be it the horrors in Sudan or the constant condemnation of Israel. How many of us offer opinions over our dinner tables, but do nothing beyond our homes? Why do we wait for our politicians, rabbis, and community leaders to speak for us instead of speaking directly to the needs ourselves?
The Jewish community has a history of activism and speaking out against injustice. Since the Hebrew midwives defied Pharaoh and delivered Jewish babies alive, Jews have stood up against that which is clearly wrong. We have banded together as a global Jewish community to fight anti-Semitism, to bring our people out of darkness into light, and to fight social injustice and inequality all over the world. Our activism and unified belief in justice crossed denominational lines to bring about change. Unfortunately, recently there has been splintering of this Jewish unity. The question of who is a Jew is raised all too frequently. Rather than working towards inclusion, social action, and the building of Jewish identity, we challenge individual’s membership in the Jewish people. Midrash states that we all stood together at Sinai, not only those physically present, but those not yet born. The message of this Midrash is clear- we are one community. We all stood at Sinai together. Rambam wrote that whoever separated himself from the community, even though he commits no transgressions, but simply disengages from the community of Israel loses his portion in the World to Come. Why is this? Rambam states that it is because when one separates from the community s/he does not perform mitzvot with the community. That person no longer feels communal pain, doesn’t fast when tragedy strikes. S/He merely lives a solitary life in an individual way.
This week the Jewish community lost a beautiful voice of unity. Debbie Friedman, zichrona livracha, whose music has become so normative across the Jewish community that many do not know it was she who wrote it, had this to say about unity, “It was kol isha (the voice of women) for col isha (every woman) that inspired me to write inclusive music. It is beneficial not only for women, but for men and children as well. Singing helps us learn how to be vocal…. The more our voices are heard in song, the more we become our lyrics, our prayers, and our convictions.”
We must sing together so that we can continue to “become our lyrics, our prayers, and our convictions,” and to continue to stand together as one community.
