Inspiring Jewish Pride through Relevant Judaism
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http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3646534,00.html
For those who don’t speak Hebrew well, my summary:
In most countries, in a time of war which forces a population to be displaced, you get a refugee problem.
In Israel, when rockets force the southern population to be displaced, you get an overflow of hospitality from the rest of the country.
Truly inspiring.
The current election in the United States of America, coupled by so many discussion I’ve had with friends where, after scratching the surface of my political opinions, expressed amazement at how much they agreed with parts of my outlook when they first thought I was on the polar opposite of their position, encouraged me to write a piece in which I want to express and detail my approach to most political questions.
I’m warning you, in the current political climate, there is a good chance you will hate this piece. The reason is simple: my approach does not fit in any box. As such, liberals will call me a fascist while conservatives will call me a socialist liberal. I do believe, however, that the great majority of people in the world will relate to my approach and see it as a breath of fresh air, EVEN those who disagree with most/all my conclusions. Feel free to disagree with me! This is only food for thought. As always, your comments would be appreciated.
Most economists agree. A bailout is necessary to save the US economy. While they disagree as to the cause of the current situation, they all agree as to the need for some government action. I want to take a look at what lead to the bailout and through this, gain a greater understand to our responsibilities as individuals living within a collective group of people – for our purpose, as Jews living within Klal Israel.
There were two types of people engaged in the economy in the past 20 years. There were the responsible people who would only take out money when they knew they would be able to pay it back. Among those responsible people, there were individuals, families, CEOs, people on “Wallstreet” and on “Main Street”. On the other hand, there were some very irresponsible, greedy people who would take loans without being able to repay them. Once again, among those people, there were individuals, families, CEOs, people on “Wallstreet” and on “Main Street”. It is because of those irresponsible people that we are now in a mess.
The argument right now in Congress , from those who oppose the plan, is very straight-forward: If those irresponsible people caused the current crisis, why should responsible people pay to “bail them out”? This is unjust and unfair!
On the other hand, the other side of Congress argues something practical: Yes, you are right, it is unjust. Their mistakes should not make have to make you lose money. However, the fact is that we live in an interdependent society. Your mistakes affect others and their mistakes affect you. If you do not “bail them out”, you will end up paying for it as well. Mainstreet is affected by Wallstreet. Responsible people are affected by Irresponsible people. We are all in this together.
This, pretty obviously, brings back a powerful concept in Judaism – “Kol Israel Areivim Ze La Ze” – All of Klal Israel is responsible for each other. The reason for this concept goes to the basic foundation of Jewish Thought. Judaism is not, like many people think, a religion. Judaism is a Nationalist thought. The Jewish Nation is a Nation, not a religion. As a nation, we have a common goal, a common purpose and a common destiny. And so, we are all interconnected, responsible for each other. If one of us fails at something, it affects the whole nation. We are all in this together.
It started with a youth minyan: the adults claim the youth make too much noise, the youth claim the tefilliah of the adults is boring. What is the solution? Separate the minyans!
There was also the different types of minyanim: There’s the “shtark” minyan, the yeshivish minyan, the tzioni minyan, the half tzioni minyan, the Sefardi minyan, the my mom is sfardi but my dad is Ashkenazi minyan, the beginners minyan, the quick minyan, the even quicker minyan, the quickest minyan – every 10 people can now have their own minyan.
This, I think, is one of the greater causes for the divisions in our communities. This, I also think, is the cause for the disconnect between our generation and our parent’s generation – be it through the secularization of many young people, or through the right wing turn of those who do stay religious – (what I’m criticizing is not what they became, but the way they become it which creates a disconnect with their parents).
There is a famous vort which says that the word “TziBbuR” (which can be translated loosely as community) is an acronym for Tzaddik, Benoni and Rasha (Righteous, “Average” and Evil). The reason given is simple, in order to truly have a community, you need all of those sectors to interact. A community is not a community with only Tzaddikim.
This is most clearly seen in the laws of the minyan. Even 9 Tzaddikim like Moshe Rabbenu are not considered better than 10 people, which include Reshaim, which come together in prayer to God. God tells us it is better to join a minyan of those 10 ordinary people than go pray with 8 other Tzaddikim.
There is no greater tragedy in Judaism than separation.
I found one of my favourite places in Israel today: a beautiful, massive, well-tended park. The park is liberally gifted with fruit trees, including some of the Shiv’at HaMinim, the Seven Species of produce with which the Land of Israel is notably blessed.* But besides the trees, the grass, the tranquility and the rolling masses of space dedicated to peaceful recreation and relaxation, I was most enthralled with the children.
Children are special. Or at least, children are people whose specialness easily shines outwards, whose specialness is not yet clouded by the deadening habits and ways of a society of norms, convenient character-boxing, and dismally low self-image. Children don’t care what the world thinks of them. Children see the world without self-deception; they believe what they see, and they engage in it with totality. If a child is sad, he cries. If a child is happy, he dances and sings and smiles. Contrast with the world of ‘grown-ups’: if an adult cries, we assume there is some mortifying tragedy whose grief has caused this person to lose control. If an adult would start singing and dancing and smiling and laughing, most people would assume that he had lost his mind. (more…)
