When Will We Ever Learn?

As much as we all want Corona to end that’s how much many of us long for the Holy Temple to be rebuilt. In the beginning of the pandemic I had high hopes that we would become a better people and make a better world and soon achieve both of these goals. Sadly, I’ve become disheartened with all the toxic and hateful acts and rhetoric coming from almost every population group, no matter religion, nationality, or political persuasion. It’s my belief that if we don’t clean up our act we won’t merit neither an end to Covix-19 nor the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. With these emotions I’m reposting something I wrote last year. Except for the calendar discrepancies it’s as true today as it was then.

THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2019

When Will We Ever Learn?

All we are saying is give peace a chance. Typical of many songs of the Sixties this one seems to place the responsibility of peace firmly on the shoulders of the Establishment. According to many lessons from the Torah the opposite is true.

As the summer progresses the Torah portions outside of Israel are still out of sync with the ones read in the Holy Land. This past Shabbat we read Chukat. The rest of the world will be reading how Moses hit the rock and was denied entry into the Promised Land only this week.

There is no lack of commentaries as to why Moshe deserved such a harsh punishment. Recently I learned a new one that spoke to me. According to my understanding of a lecture I heard from Rebbetzin Rickie Rabinowitz, Moshe’s main mistake was saying to the Jewish people: hear now you Rebels, chapter 20, verse 10. He was punished for speaking badly about the Jewish people and branding all of them as rebels.

Already in nursery school children learn about lashon hara, the commandment not to speak badly about individuals. Included in the prohibition, however, is also the need to refrain from negative speech about groups of people. All we need to do is spend five minutes in front of a news screen to know we need to internalize this part of the commandment much better.

How many times have I talked about “those people’, focusing on a group’s race, religion, political orientation, or birthplace? How many times have I read an article in which the journalist has done the same? How many times have I believed the gross generalizations?

Last week, just two days before we read Chukat in Israel, we entered the month of Tammuz.  A summer month, it should be full of picnics, outings, and swimming. Sadly, though, a little more than halfway through the month we have a fast day. This fast begins the three weeks of mourning in which we remember the destruction of both the first and second Holy Temples.

Our sages teach us that the first Temple was destroyed due to idol worship, immorality, and murder. Somehow, the Jewish people were able to repent of those major sins rather quickly and seventy years later the second Temple was built. We are taught it was destroyed due to senseless hatred caused by lashon hara. Two thousand years later we’re still speaking badly of each other and waiting for the third Holy Temple to be built.

In the Sixties the folk tune, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, another anthem for peace became very popular. Its last line mournfully asked: When will they ever learn? There’s a big problem with this question. The onus for peace is not on they but rather on we, or even more accurate on me.  

I need to learn from Moshe, our greatest teacher, to watch my words carefully. Before I can fix the world I need to fix myself. When I stop thinking badly of individuals or groups I can create a ripple effect.  When I stop speaking lashon hara I can influence others to do the same. We all must learn. We all can give peace a chance.

 

My novel, Growing With My Cousin, a good summer read, is available at Jewish bookstores and on line at  http://www.feldheim.com/growing-with-my-cousin.html or

https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Cousin-Ester-Katz-Silvers/dp/194635113X/