Link to recording of the sermon
2021 Rosh Hashanah day 1
The Firing Squad of the Universal Yentas
I want to tell
you of an open and shut case that once came before a Rabbi.
Chaim and
Yankel came to court to plead their case before the Rabbi. .Court, in those
days, was nothing other than the Rabbis study, and, in the room adjoining, that
is the kitchen, is the Rabbi's wife, who, while plucking chickens, was always
listening in as the Rabbi's unofficial chief advisor.
Chaim opens his
case." On the fifth of this month, I bought from Yankel a tool, etc, etc,
etc".
The Rabbi listens
seriously, looks down into his beard, ponders, and declares, "It seems to
me that the facts indicate that Chaim is right."
"But
Rabbi, "Yankel replies in defense, "On the fifth of this month when I
sold Haim this tool, etc, etc, etc."
Again the Rabbi
listens intently, ponders, and announces, "It seems to me that Yankel is
right.'
At which point,
the Rebbetzin sticks her head into the study and protests. "Wait a minute.
How can both of them be right."
Again the Rabbi
ponders and announces. "It seems to me that the Rebbetzin is also
right."
Very often,
when we have a quarrel with someone, or have to decide between two people
arguing, we tend to think of the situation as an open and shut case. We forget
to look at both sides of the issue, and like the Rabbi of the story, we often
pronounce judgement at the first crack, without looking at the other side . It
can also truly happen, despite the Rebbetzin’s protest, that both sides can be
right.
In truth we all
know that judging people's actions or character is not restricted to Rabbis in
the synagogue or judges in court.
We can
certainly say that we have gone through a pandemic over the past few years, not
the viral COVID-19, but the “ verbal” kind, sent viral by text, tweat, email,
tik tok, whatever platform you like.
We get caught
in a rush to judgement. I have no need to belabor what has been so much written
about- that we live in an echo chamber, in which even a small whisper bounces
off the walls of one end of the earth to the other, without end.
Let me give you
just a simple example, this one, no so bitter or nasty, but still appropriate.
At the Olympics this summer, Simone Bail, the famous gymnast, backed out of the
competition in the last minute, for a variety of reasons that involved a very
risky maneuver. Within seconds, the “chatter boxes” were on, either that she
was some great saint for declining or a traitor to her team for declining.
Suddenly, everyone in the world became an expert on athletes, the dangers of
the Games, the traumas of women, traumas of race. Everyone knew exactly what
and why, when, in truth, no one knew, except for Simone Bail ! I can only say
that I am happy for her that she decided to go back to the competition and
performed very well and I hope that she goes on to fulfill her dreams.
Fortunately,
she escaped major damage, not just from somersaults, but even more, from what I
would call, the firing squad of the “universal yentas.”
You know the
Yenta- as in Fiddler’s Yenta-the matchmaker- of course, in her business, she
must know everyone, have the inside scoop on everyone, and she must render
judgement on everyone. In the past year, the American equivalent has been the
Karen- I really apologize to all the women named Karen, and I want to be fair-
I use Yenta equally for men and for women in our modern era.
But it’s not a
funny song in Fiddler. In our day ,it has become far more malevolent than this-
people are fired, books are banned, professors are boycotted, careers are
ruined. This is happening, not to the Yahoos and Rednecks and Hicks , but to stalwarts
of the well-educated, liberals, who are lined up in front of the firing squad
of the Universal Yentas who present themselves as even more Catholic than
the Pope( pardon my mixed metaphors).
I go back to
the Olympics this summer. Here’s from one source:
Bill Maher, who is
hardly your typical MAGA-hatter, slammed cancel culture at the
Tokyo Olympics, going after a “woke” attitude at the Games.
Maher pointed to several ousters that
occurred leading up to the Games, which he called a “purge.” He gave several
examples,
“This is called a purge. It’s a mentality
that belongs in Stalin’s Russia,” Maher said. “How bad does this
atmosphere we are living in have to get before the people who say cancel
culture is overblown admit that it is in fact an insanity that is swallowing up
the world?”
Maher continued by saying his politics have not changed
but that “I am reacting to politics that have.”
This is another example of how the woke invert the very thing
that used to make the liberals liberal. Snitches and b******? That's not being
liberal."
(
Maher specifically took issued with the idea of cultural appropriation."Of
all the violations of the woke penal code, cultural appropriation just might be
the dumbest of all," he said."Most
of human history is a horror story, but the good parts are about different
groups coming together and sharing. It's sort of the whole point of the
Olympics.""Newer doesn't automatically mean better, this new idea
that each culture must remain in its own separate silo is not better and it's
not progress," he said."In fact, it's
messing with one of the few ideas that still makes this melting point called
America great.") https://www.newsweek.com/bill-maher-bemoans-cancel-culture-surrounding-woke-olympics-1614936
The ancient
Biblical sceptic, the Bill Maher of his day, Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, said, “Mah
Shehaya, hu sheyiheh”, What was, will be in the future too. He even knew of
twitter before there was a tweet:” For a bird of the air may
carry the utterance, And a winged creature may report the word.” ( 10:20)
Two
thousand years ago, our sages knew that a rumor whispered in Jerusalem was
heard very quickly in Rome- and that was at a time that the word could spread,
by ship, at best, 6 miles per hour.
Today, the
rumor spreads before you even hit the send button! The Universal Yentas never
disappeared. They just picked up speed.
We know
very well that people have engaged in “ snap judgements” and a rush to slander.
The Rabbis called in “the triple”, because, of slander, they said, It kills
three times- It kills the target of slander, it comes back to kill the one who
started the slander, and eventually, it comes back to kill the by-stander who
was only too eager to spread the virus.
We don’t
have to be among the “ woke” crowd to do this. We don’t need to be on a social
media device. We do this on our own, in our heads. We rush to judgement very
easily. We all fall for our own off-the-cuff
decisions and we quickly pre-judge others--" too noisy",
"shifty," "untrustworthy"; or, just the opposite , we may
naively entrust our fortunes to a stranger on first impressions alone.
To hire or fire
a worker--To pass or fail a student--Even to trust or distrust the faithfulness
of a spouse.
Entire futures
can be made or crushed based on our judgements.
So , what should
we do before we rush to send out our invectives, or hit the “ unfriend” or “
Thumbs down button”, before we become another nagging Yenta.
The Torah gives
us three principles on which to base our judgements: Love Your neighbor as
yourself; You shall not pervert your judgement by favoritism; and you shall not
hate your brother in your heart nor hold a grudge.
V’ ahavta Le Reacha
Kamocha--Love your neighbor as yourself. As Rabbi Akiba declared--zeh klal
gadol batorah--That is the general principal of the Torah.
Our traditional
commentaries provide the deeper meaning. How is it possible to love another
person as we love ourselves? That is, after all , a command to have a feeling,
and feelings cannot be commanded, only an action, a deed, can be insisted upon.
The Hebrew word used for "as yourself" is " kamocha". Our
Rabbis point out that “as yourself” does not tell you how you feel, but who
your neighbor is. Your neighbor is- kamocha- as yourself, he or she is just
like you, with all your qualities, and with all your faults. The language of
that chapter in the Torah very clearly indicates, without any doubt, that it
applies not just to our physical neighbor, or fellow Jew, but to the stranger
as well.
What does
"like you" mean?
If I have my
struggles in life to deal with, then you do too. If you have struggles in life
to deal with, the I do also. I must then act in a loving manner towards you, my
neighbor, as we are both dealing with the same issues in life.
When we recognize
that our neighbor is just as capable of good as we are, then it changes how we
go through our day as we look at those around us.
The second
principle is Lo Takiru panim bamishpat- You shall not show favoritism in
judgement.
Judgement is not
restricted to the courtroom. It is every day.
That's why our Rabbis
in the Ethics of the Fathers advised- ' Dan et Kol Adam b Kaf Zechut-Judge
everyone with the presumption of innocence. Our sages predated ,by two thousand
years ,the great American principal that
you are innocent unless proven guilty.
Hillel went one
step further. Al Tadin et Havercha ad Sh’Tagia lim’komo-Don't judge your fellow
till you have stood in his place. It is the Jewish equivalent of the Native American
saying, “Don't judge your fellow till you have walked a mile in his moccasins.”
We all have our
share of the rude clerk or the obstinate bureaucrat, who frustrates by not
listening or attending to our needs. Again, we need to give the benefit of the
doubt. Put yourself in that the other's
shoes. Who knows what he may be going through-- after all, other people have
trouble also- illness, disaster, financial debacles, family troubles. Al Tadin
et Havercha--Don't judge your fellow until you have stood in his place.
The third
principle of judgement is the follow up: Lo Tisna Ahicha be levavecha .
"Don't hate your brother in your heart."
Revenge is
sweet, we are told, but like sugar, it also causes decay and disease.
Many years back,
I met the minister of the Methodist Church in uptown Whittier, He told me of
his experience having lived for a few months in Jordan, not long after the
Six-Day War. He had spent some time visiting a Jordanian army unit, and got to
know one of the officers. Would there ever be a reconciliation with Israel, he
asked the officer. The officer replied," Revenge that is twenty years old
is but a suckling infant "
That’s what
revenge is like. It lingers on--and it kills the one who bears it; just look at
much of the Middle East today. God pity the poor people of Lebanon, or Syria,
or Afghanistan.
To put a stop
to our disastrous putting down of each other for the least faults, let us keep
in mind these words, expressed on pieces of parchment 2000 years ago, and
hidden in the Caves at the Dead Sea, in the writing of Ben Sira:
"Forgive
your neighbor his wrongdoing; then for your sin will you be forgiven when you
pray. Shall one man cherish anger against another, and yet ask healing from the
Lord? Does he have no mercy on one like himself, and yet pray for his own
sins?"
Think of it
before you send the next tweet.
I will finish
with this little ditty by an anonymous author a century ago, much in keeping
with ben Sira of two millennia earlier that fits the message for this day:
There's so much
good in the worst of us
and so much bad in the best of us
That it hardly
becomes any of us
to talk about
the rest of us."
The quote speaks
for itself. No more universal Yentas, please. Slow down before you tweet and
retweet. May we look and deal graciously with others, so that Heaven may look
graciously upon us this year and every year. Amen.
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