If
there is indeed a God, that
pays astute attention, I
can only imagine him rebuking us for our ineptitude. Maybe
that’s why he hides his face in a rock before Moses in our Shabbat Chol Ha'moed Torah reading: he can’t even stand the
look of us at the moment.
Here
we stand poised ready to sing praises to this God – Hallel, ancient words of
poetry that we have made sure get passed down l’dor va-dor, from
generation to generation. Even as an
increasing number of Jews are disconnected from worship and disaffected from
traditional images of God, still our prayer book mandates the recitation of
these psalms. We make the effort to keep these words present even if they may
indeed be the only thing left to stand in the window of the synagogue to chant over the world's tears.
This Shabbat Chol ha-moed, however, I
cannot lead us in Hallel. I can’t participate
in the rejoicing that Hallel entails. Yes,
Sukkot is our z’man simchatenu --
you’ve heard me every year since 2008 remark from this bema that this is the one holiday where
we aren’t just supposed to rejoice, we are commanded to do so: u’samchtem, our Torah demands that we
rejoice even as we sit in our sukkot, dwellings that provide at best fragile
and tenuous shelter from the elements.
We are to rejoice despite the insecurity and uncertainty of life.
But,
how on earth can we rejoice on this Shabbat chol ha’moed that falls on the
heels of yet another mass shooting in our country? Gun violence is not some
uncontrollable phenomenon like the weather or the unpredictability of our
harvest. It is not like Joaquin whose
exact path keeps us guessing until it actually gets here.
How
can we stand and rejoice on this festival in light of our constant witnessing
of gun violence, of intentional mass and violent murder. This is, to reference the comedy flick that
became one such tragic scene this past summer, a trainwreck. Gun violence and mass shootings are becoming
so commonplace in the United States that we tune out all but the most
outrageous and horrific. We should be
ashamed at our silence, at our failure to pass better laws that restrict access
to violent weapons, and at our scapegoating the mentally ill when it is clear that
mental illness exists in every other country, even in those that don’t have gun
violence being perpetuated on a daily basis by its citizens.
Using the definition employed by an index called the Mass Shooting Tracker, there has been at least one episode of gun violence directed at 4 or more people every day so far in 2015. If
there is indeed a God that pays astute attention to our actions, he doesn’t
care about our Hallel. He doesn’t want
us rejoicing in the face of constant violence perpetrated by our own human
hands. Recall, we are, according to our
High Holiday Avodah liturgy, the species adorned with: “a mind alert, a heart
alive to love, a soul aspiring to know and to fulfill, a destiny governed by
wisdom” these are attributes that distinguish us as humans from the rest of the
animal kingdom. It’s time we activate
these divine gifts.
So
in place of Hallel, in place of
praise, I share this prayer – a prayer I’ve shared now more that I wish I had occasion
to. Let us consider its words. Let us then be reminded that prayer is just
lip service if it fails to motivate us to action. We must get angry. We must be willing to feel
discontent, and then be prepared to stand up, speak out, and cast our vote against the proliferation of
guns and gun violence in our country.
http://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/prayer-compassion
