Parshat Emor: Finding Compassion and Connection in Today's World

Dear Hevre/community:

As you know, I usually try to avoid direct political or partisan commentaries. However, when the political and the spiritual/religious values that I believe are at the heart of Jewish teaching collide (or intersect) I feel it is my duty to discuss the issues. And that is the case in so many ways this week.

As someone once said (it's been attributed to many) our job is to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." I believe with this commentary (at least for some) I may be doing the latter, but it's in service of achieving the former.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Steve

This week's parashah/portion is Emor (Vayikra/Leviticus 21:1-24:23). In this parashah we find the commandments to observe the three pilgrimage festivals: Pesach/Passover, Sukkot (the Feast of Booths) and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks), which later became associated with the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, 

Immediately following the instructions we find a reiteration of a commandment found earlier in the Torah.  "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the Eternal am your God" (Lev. 23:22).  This, prompted the following commentary in Meshekh Hokhmah (Latvia, 1845-1926):

"You are to observe Shavuot, the festival commemorating the Giving of the Law, not only for the sake of the statutes for which we would never have felt a need if they had not been set down in the Torah, but also in thanksgiving for the laws which readily make sense even to the human mind, such as the laws pertaining to compassion on the unfortunate and charity to the poor. For experience has shown that, without faith in God, man [sic] is liable to become like a wild beast which has not a spark of compassion and is therefore capable of committing the basest crimes in order to satisfy his selfish desires.  Only if you will observe the commandments concerning the leaving of parts of your harvest for the poor and the stranger are you permitted to proclaim the festival of Shavuot as a `holy convocation' to give thanks even for such readily understandable commandments of charity and compassion as these.  For had the Torah not been given, you might never have come to observe them" (Wellsprings of Torah, pp. 255-56).

One might think that the author would have written that the Torah was given primarily to instruct us on the commandments that do not readily make sense to us, so that we might perform them.  But, he is reversing this logic, by teaching that it is actually more important for the law to focus on those acts that may appear to be instinctive, but which we may well ignore precisely because of their instinctive nature.

The interesting thing about this is his belief that the commandments about having compassion on those in need should actually be considered the instinctive laws. It is the laws of ritual and religious practice which are actually the laws that did not come instinctively. This commentary presupposes that compassion and caring are actually at the heart of what it means to be human, but sometimes it’s so obvious that we actually forget it.

I agree with this basic premise, with a slight adjustment. I believe that in our world today, and especially in our country, so many people have forgotten that care and compassion are indeed our core values and attributes. Instead so many focus on money, possessions, controlling others, and helping themselves. This has been true of so much of consumer culture for years. It is also true of those who will do whatever they need to in order to get more of everything. Being the top 1% (or even 10,20 or 30%) is the goal. How other people are treated in order for them to get there is of no consequence for many, though not all, of them.

Even our government, which is meant to ensure “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” has forgotten that this is at the core of what America is meant to be, just as care and compassion for others is one of the ways in which this is actualized. 

We know that these values are certainly not self-evident when we see what is happening around us. We only need to look at this week!

We saw in the shooting of yet another unarmed black man, Aumaud Arbery (who would have been 26 today) by white men acting as vigilantes (or lynchers) that supremacy, control, and hatred masquerading as fear or self defense is in the hearts of so many in our society.

We saw this in the pictures of protestors carrying guns, which to me makes them terrorists, insisting that the government was infringing upon their rights by closing things down in order to keep people safe and fight this pandemic. For them, the only life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness which mattered was their own. There was no care nor compassion for others. They knew what was best. And what was best was what allowed them to do what they wanted to do.

Finally, we have seen this in the reversal of rules to protect our environment, to protect those who have been sexually assaulted or harassed, to provide child care and education, or to provide food for those most in need. This includes not caring about the water we all drink and the air we all breathe, what happens to our sons and daughters in higher education, and what becomes  all those living beneath the poverty line, even if they are working full time and even if they served our country in the Armed Services.

And we have seen the flip side of the coin when we see the privileged guilty go free, especially when they have the right connections, the right color skin, the right amount of money in the bank.  We also saw this in the fact that it took 10 weeks for Mr. Arbery’s killers to be arrested and charged. And this ocçurred only after there was national pressure following the release of a horrendous video that NO ONE outside the prosecutor should have needed to see in order for them to be arrested!

Care and compassion for the earth, protection for the abused and vulnerable, and basic sustenance for all living creatures are essential for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So many in our government care only about the issues which are important to them, rather than the people who are actually affected by their decisions. Care and compassion, if not dead, are certainly in the terminal phase in so much of our society.

Today we hear so many say that “we are all in this together.” However that is not, nor has it ever really been, true. Those who are privileged are in this together. Those who have food, housing, a job, and are seen essential may be in this together. Those who don't have these things are left to fend for themselves or to sek help.

It is true that many within the first group are raising money and trying to help those in the other group. But there should be no “other” group. We should indeed all be in this together. We should all receive the care, compassion, and support to which we are all entitled.  Today’s portion also states that there should be one law for all. Clearly, that is not the case in our country today, as well as other places.

Communities of color and poor communities (of which there is a great overlap) should not be sick and dying at significantly higher rates than white, middle and upper class people. I’m not going to quote statistics on this. You can go to the NY TImes (especially Charles M Blow) or other trusted new sites to find out the truth, in case you don’t believe me.

This virus, which has brought some people together and created community for them through the internet, etc. has also laid bare for all to see the tremendous inequities and injustices in our country which simply do not have to exist! Just ask anyone who doesn’t have the luxury of having the internet at their home, who have too many people living with them in order to maintain social distancing, or who don’t even have a home.

If you read the article in today’s NY Times about how Denmark has succeeded in fighting the virus effectively without a huge job loss and increase in hunger and poverty, while caring for all those who are ill with adequate testing and hospital care, then you’ll see how poorly we are doing by comparison. And before you say it, it’s not about “socialism” it’s about being a country that truly cares for and is compassionate towards all. Of course, Denmark has its own problems that are real and which are addressed in the article, but the general principle of caring for all is built into their system.  

The Meshekh Hokhmah ends his commentary by stating that "without faith in God, [a human being] is liable to become like a wild beast which has not a spark of compassion …[so that they will do anything] in order to satisfy their desires.” 

I view God as the One of the universe which connects every living entity and which is the source of love and compassion. Therefore, I would interpret the quote as saying that “without acting in a manner which acknowledges that everyone and everything is connected, we will become like creatures without any compassion for other human beings, animals and the environment around us so that we will do anything in order to satisfy our selfish desires no matter how much it may harm others and our world.

As we enter this Shabbat, let us hope and pray that all will soon come to realize that it is indeed compassion that must guide us as a society and as a world in everything we do. One would think that this is so deeply ingrained in us that no one would need to be reminded of, or taught, this truth. Unfortunately, at this moment, that’s not our reality.

Shabbat Shalom.