The Peasants are revolting!

They certainly are! Okay, here is a trivia question for anyone reading this from the Milford Mill High School Graduation classes of 1970 and 1971 in Baltimore Maryland. Do you remember that line? It was from the class of 1971’s Farewell Assembly as our friends, one year older, were graduating and leaving us in charge of the school! It was a joke that garnered appropriate laughter. However, in our contemporary reality, the humor is lost. Everyone is revolting and everyone is finding each other revolting, unfortunately. Forget tolerance, we have lost a sense of common human decency in too many instances. Civil rebellion has been an important aspect of our history on many levels. We have seen instances of when such reaction held those in power who abused others in check and we have held onto this as a right as civilians and human beings and members of governed entities.

In my work with members of other faith communities, with learners of all ages and religious and ethnic identities, in my ongoing communications with many wonderful Orthodox Jewish Rabbis who are working to insure that their communities are inclusive, and just in conversations with close and beloved people in my life with whom I may differ significantly in terms of politics or be different in level of religious observance, there is mutual and shared respect and true love for each other. We learn from each other, share our ideas and maintain our individual identity and integrity while insuring we do not compromise that of the other. This is a skill set that many of us have been taught, to have civil conversations and caring interactions, and yet, too often people are unable to do so. How sad.

I recently received an email from somone with whom I have sporadic content, when I wished them health and safety and expressed my hopes for healing of our fractured world, which is generally my message as many of you know. This is the response I received:

The civil unrest is very troubling. We need to look into this very deeply To determine our destiny.

My first reaction was to say yes, I agree that we need to look at how people cannot talk to each other or listen to each other and this indeed does compromise the viability of our destiny. But then, I realized this was not the context of the statement. As monuments are being taken down, and so many symbols of who we are collectively are being questioned in terms of their intentions and agenda, people are clearly drawing their lines in the sand and screaming, yelling and kicking to maintain them. WE ARE IN THIS MESS TOGETHER BUT ARE FIGHTING EACH OTHER AS ENEMIES! How did this happen?

I have been reading Yuval Noah Hariri’s amazing book Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind, in which he speaks about how we have lost our ways as humans while screaming about our religious identities, political alliances, ethnic identities, racial affiliations – and maligning anyone not sharing them. The most recent concept of intersectionality where ALL VICTIMS identify with ALL OTHER VICTIMS they identify as such and then vilify the rest of us is a poignant and sad example of this dynamic. As Hariri discusses how we need each other more than ever given the many overwhelming threats to our continued existence globally, how are we to accept and cherish our differences and consider the notion that we may even learn something significant from each other, widening our own parameters of understanding of our vast human family?

There is a great deal of Gemara/Talmudic discussion about speech and blasphemy, posing the query as to whether or not such use of words is a “ma’aseh,” i.e. a concrete deed that is completed, or not? As words can and do definitely lead to death and horrible consequences, it is clear that speech is indeed a facilitative action, a concrete deed, with very real consequences. How many of us have heard of someone who died by suicide due to not being able to withstand verbal bullying any longer? I feel like this is clearly the situation we are in.

We ALL need to continue to speak and act on behalf of causes in which we believe. This freedom of speech is important and a most foundational element of who we are as thinking, intentional beings -- we may respectfully revolt but this is not revolting nor should it be seen as such. That being said, we also have to remember a basic rule of communications theory – when I speak I must be cognizant and aware of what you hear; otherwise my message will not get through. I DO CARE AND CRY for the injustices in our world at present against Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Women, LGBTQ persons, children without advocates, immigrants and all others who are not accorded the full panoply of human rights to which we are all entitled as being created in the image of G-d. Many who disagree say I am a bleeding heart liberal or being “lenient” in my approach to law; but I am going with several Orthodox Jewish Rabbis for whom I have deep respect who say this is not being “Meikel” or lenient but rather observing strictly the most important and fundamental principles upon which all Jewish law is based. As Hariri states in his study, this belief is shared in the history of our humanity by many thought systems and religious structures. It is individuals who have forgotten this and those of us who have not have the responsibility to remind others that we are to remember that each person is important and special, has an expectation of basic human rights, and when one person is not accorded such, we are ALL compromised.

At this time of global climatic compromise, too many instances of enmity, lack of acceptance of others, and so much else that has taken us many steps backwards in our shared journey, let us commit ourselves to accepting each other and listening, I mean truly listening when people are at risk…even if and especially when we do not agree... Because a system that does not protect one group of its citizens and population will ultimately abuse all of them, when that purpose is served. We in the Jewish community say: All of Israel is responsible for each other. In terms of all of us as the children of Adam and Eve, let us consider that All of Humanity is responsible for each other, peasants, or otherwise!