Shabbat of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

On the Shabbat of Martin Luther King weekend at the Hebrew Center, we celebrated the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. We also began the book of Exodus in the Torah reading cycle.  Two days later, on Martin Luther King Day itself, our country was presented with two competing visions: the vision of beloved community of Dr. King; and the vision of pharaonic power fed by words of division at the inauguration.

This past week, I have been thinking about Dr. King and his teachings.  My mind went back to 2018, when I and our Hebrew Center teen group, joined with the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury in a Civil Rights trip to Atlanta.  I remember visiting the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial whose outdoor walls are engraved with words spoken by Dr. King.  On the North wall is engraved the following:

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” (Strength to Love, 1963).

We are now undeniably in such a time of challenge and controversy, and the measure of our true values will indeed be put to the test.  How can our Judaism strengthen us in such as time?  How can we as a Jewish community with differing beliefs and experiences, yet rooted in the wisdom of Torah, prophets and the presence of the divine, strengthen each other to stand for our highest values and answer our highest calling?

I want to suggest three words that describe how our Jewish tradition and faith heritage can guide us at such a time:  truth, courage, and hope.

Truth

From Moses to Jeremiah to Job, we learn that in order to have a better future, we must face the truth, painful as it may be.  And the truth of what we are facing now was clearly on display at the inauguration on Monday.  The Nazi salute displayed twice by the richest man in the world, in the halls of power during the ceremony marking a transfer of power, was exactly what it was.  A brazen display of a new regime of authoritarianism, threatening in its historical resonances, and ominous in its clear warning.

As Jews, we understand that this authoritarian salute takes us back to the 1930’s and the most violent antisemitism in our history.  But just as Pharaoh incited fear against the Hebrews in the service of his own power in Egypt, such displays of threatening authoritarianism only use antisemitism to attain their larger goals.  In truth, the salute indicates a future in which all vulnerable people could be targeted, and  many powerful people silenced.

Courage

Yet we must not be silent. And in order to speak we need courage.  As Moses said to Joshua, hazak v’ematz, be strong and courageous.” Isaiah says, harimi bakoach kolekh, “raise your voice in strength.”

Judaism and other faith traditions are a source of courage in challenging times.  Our prophets directed their words of challenge to the most powerful.  And so it was a great act of faithful courage for Bishop Mariann Budde to teach words from Torah in her sermon.  She asked the most powerful person in the world to simply have compassion for those who are the most vulnerable to hatred and oppression in our society, including gay, lesbian and transgender people.  She went on to speak of immigrants and, drawing on the Torah verse in Exodus 22:21 said: “I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President … Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.”

Speaking up for compassion and against injustice is central to Judaism. As the prophet Micah asked: “What does God require of us? Only to do justice, to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).  When that is not the case, our prophetic tradition teaches we must raise our voices in dissent.  Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote: “Acts of dissent prove to be acts of renewal. It is therefore of vital importance for religious people to voice and to appreciate dissent. And dissent implies self-examination, critique, discontent.”  These are the measures of our faithfulness to Torah’s highest values, which is indeed tested in times like these.

Hope

We turn to our tradition and to each other for truth and courage.  But we need something more. We need not to despair. In order to have the strength to face the truth and the courage to stand up for compassion and justice, we need comfort for ourselves and each other.   Not the comfort that comes from convenience, but the comfort that comes from hope.

How do we maintain hope and avoid despair?  Caring communities of faith like ours, who celebrate each other’s joys and support each other through sorrows, who reach across differences and speak to each other with respect, is a way to maintain hope. Through community, we at the Hebrew Center can strengthen each other to have compassion for all beings, for each other, for our loved ones, for strangers, and for ourselves.

Through our community, we can encourage each other to find joy in the miracle of the everyday—in nature, in kindness, in connection, in music, art and beauty.

And through our Jewish community, we can help each other have faith in something larger than ourselves in this time and place in history.  As Psalm 118:5-6 says, min hametzar karati Yah, va’anani vamerchav Yah…  From the narrow place of distress I call to God, and from the wide expanse God answers.  I have no fear, for God is with me.  What can a human being do to me?”

Of course, human beings can do a lot of evil to each other.  And yet, our tradition believes that the human spirit and soul that comes from God will triumph.  That is the Jewish idea of redemption.  Redemption is not a fairy tale hope.  It is a faith that lifts us out of the narrow belief that what is in front of us is all there is.

Rabbi Heschel reminds us that looking toward redemption is not just biding our time.  It gives us the hope and courage to act. “The task is never to forget that by each sacred deed we commit, by each word we hallow, by each thought we chant, we render our modest part in reducing distress and advancing redemption.”  (Heschel, Passion for Truth)

May we strengthen each other to live faithfully according to the highest values of our Jewish tradition.  May we live with Truth, Courage and Hope.  And may we walk in the light of God with gratitude and discernment, giving thanks for the miracle of life and the promise of the future.

Amen.