Dear Friends,
“On the New Jersey Turnpike, looking for America…”
Yesterday, when the riotous, seditious mob overran our United States Capital while the United States Congress was conducting its most sacred task of certifying a new President to assert the peaceful transfer of power, I was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike, looking for America.
Yesterday, I could not find it.
Today, I hope that we see it again, soon, if not on the not-too-distant future of January 20, 2021.
And, hopefully the prism of today’s Torah portion, Shemot, the opening passage in the Book of Exodus, offers a perspective. In Torah this week we encounter the demagoguery of Pharaoh with his vicious and shrewd usurpation of power, and the beginning of his comeuppance at the hands of God and human courage.
Pharaoh said to himself, “Hava nitchakma lo,” – Let us deal shrewdly…” (Exodus 1:10) And he applied his power to subjugate people and seize unchecked power in Egypt.
Yet, God found Moses at the Burning Bush in the desert, and commanded him to go to Pharaoh and demand not only the release of our people, but the overthrow of evil government.
Torah is totally clear: way before the American experiment in self-government and the Founders of our beloved Constitution asserted, “We the People…,” Torah asserted that people have a God-given right to live in freedom and dignity, sacredness and righteousness. Yet, Torah demonstrated that such a privilege comes with the responsibility to stand with courage against attempts to undermine civil propriety. It requires human will and recognizing the Divine and sacred elements in God’s world and our American society.
Yesterday, when some sought to overrun America’s most sacred element, we became galvanized as an American people, just as our ancient Hebrews witnessed the leadership of Moses and Aaron speaking God’s words and facing-down Pharaoh, eventually casting his hoards into the sea.
Torah teaches that we must remember the Exodus every time we gather for prayer and memorialize it every spring at Passover. We can’t just consign it to history; we must live it and relive it.
And sometimes it is not enough to “Look for America.” We have to stand strong and be America.
Now is the time to be the nation established by our framers and assert our most sacred self-government, and not to succumb to those who scheme to “deal shrewdly.”
This is our America. We have encountered our Burning Bush. Let’s walk with courage and make this a Land of Promise!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
“On the New Jersey Turnpike, looking for America…”
Yesterday, when the riotous, seditious mob overran our United States Capital while the United States Congress was conducting its most sacred task of certifying a new President to assert the peaceful transfer of power, I was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike, looking for America.
Yesterday, I could not find it.
Today, I hope that we see it again, soon, if not on the not-too-distant future of January 20, 2021.
And, hopefully the prism of today’s Torah portion, Shemot, the opening passage in the Book of Exodus, offers a perspective. In Torah this week we encounter the demagoguery of Pharaoh with his vicious and shrewd usurpation of power, and the beginning of his comeuppance at the hands of God and human courage.
Pharaoh said to himself, “Hava nitchakma lo,” – Let us deal shrewdly…” (Exodus 1:10) And he applied his power to subjugate people and seize unchecked power in Egypt.
Yet, God found Moses at the Burning Bush in the desert, and commanded him to go to Pharaoh and demand not only the release of our people, but the overthrow of evil government.
Torah is totally clear: way before the American experiment in self-government and the Founders of our beloved Constitution asserted, “We the People…,” Torah asserted that people have a God-given right to live in freedom and dignity, sacredness and righteousness. Yet, Torah demonstrated that such a privilege comes with the responsibility to stand with courage against attempts to undermine civil propriety. It requires human will and recognizing the Divine and sacred elements in God’s world and our American society.
Yesterday, when some sought to overrun America’s most sacred element, we became galvanized as an American people, just as our ancient Hebrews witnessed the leadership of Moses and Aaron speaking God’s words and facing-down Pharaoh, eventually casting his hoards into the sea.
Torah teaches that we must remember the Exodus every time we gather for prayer and memorialize it every spring at Passover. We can’t just consign it to history; we must live it and relive it.
And sometimes it is not enough to “Look for America.” We have to stand strong and be America.
Now is the time to be the nation established by our framers and assert our most sacred self-government, and not to succumb to those who scheme to “deal shrewdly.”
This is our America. We have encountered our Burning Bush. Let’s walk with courage and make this a Land of Promise!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
