Acharei Mot 5784 ~ May 3, 2024

Acharei Mot 2024

I often wondered why one of the folk songs that we used to sing around the campfire at overnight camp in the 1960’s and 1970’s echoes as a constant in my mind. What was the rationale behind those who were leading the songs to almost always include it together with “Blowing in the Wind” and “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Remember the lyrics:

On a wagon bound for market
There's a calf with a mournful eye
High above him there's a swallow
Winging swiftly through the sky

How the winds are laughing
They laugh with all their might
Laugh and laugh the whole day through
And half the summer's night.

On this Shabbat our Torah reading reflects those lyrics. The reading, Acharei Mot, begins: “And God spoke to Moses and Aaron following the deaths of Aaron’s two sons.” Almost always, this reading coincides with Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. Aaron’s two sons’ deaths have become the symbol of the Six Million who perished during the Shoah; not to mention all those who survived and lived with the memories of the atrocities throughout their lifetime.

Throughout history, the rabbis have made every attempt to make sense of the deaths of Nadav and Avhihu as they offered a sacrifice to Hashem, in the Holy of Holies. With the rabbis play on the words “bikrovai ekadesh,” from the closest to God, their deaths become most sanctified. While we have used this metaphor over and over again to try and bring a modicum of healing to our Jewish world, as we witness the continuing response of college students, the presidents who head these prestigious places of higher learning, and the ICC in Hague, is this a model that we should continue to use? Are we the calf with the mournful eye that is being laughed at by the winds with all their might? Or are we sanctified by the hatred and in some cases violent actions against Jewish students during these protests?

I certainly hope that the winds are not laughing, as college students around the United States stage protests demanding a cease fire in Gaza. At the same time, none of them demand a return of the hostages, or the surrender of the terrorist group Hamas. Many hide their faces for fear of doxing, or their future employment and relationships, in a most cowardly way! We are horrified as we continue to witness the series of events unfold on college campuses. And we wonder whether these same demonstrations of hatred against Jews and Israelis will intensify to off campus, with more Americans joining in the protests and demands.

In a blog that we have read from, both in Shabbat services and at our most recent Lunch and Learn, the author Elissa Wald shared the following poignant thoughts following the NYPD’s arrival at Columbia University:

“Erica Le Bon, an Iranian-American attorney and activist, has a more serious take and it’s this I want to look at it in more depth because I think it’s very illuminating:

I can’t believe I have to explain what’s happening here, but here goes. Elite students of Ivy League schools have glamorized oppression so much that they have now reached role play status to satisfy their fantasies. Here, the students have appropriated the suffering of Gazans and are cosplaying as living through humanitarian crisis. In their American make-believe story where Ivy League infrastructure sets the scene, the students play Gazans and the school administration plays Israel.

Israel (the school) is blocking their “basic humanitarian aid” in this play, and if they don’t receive it soon, they will “die of thirst and starvation” (appropriating exact experiences of Gazans). They also destroy upper class buildings and claim them as “liberated” while the students repeat chants in zombie-like chorus, playing the role of “freedom fighters” destroying Israeli infrastructure and claiming them freed. If I’m alive in a world where people don’t see the levels of perversion in this, I give up.”

Once you look at this situation through this lens, it’s impossible to ignore the parallels. The mini tent cities set up on campus; the complaints that the college has forced them to be homeless, once the suspensions they’ve been warned about over and over are finally meted out. The entitlement they feel to disrupt everyone else’s freedom of movement, ability to study, and access parts of their own campus - not to mention the entitlement to break into locked buildings by force and take a hostage for any length of time - is matched only by the outrage they spout when they’re finally arrested.

What chills me most is the faculty members who are egging them on, donning fluorescent vests and linking arms to protect them from the consequences of their actions. And the senators upping the optics of victimhood as AOC did, tweeting in the midst of the arrests that:

“If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall on the mayor and univ presidents. Other leaders and schools have found a safe, de-escalatory path. This is the opposite of leadership and endangers public safety. A nightmare in the making. I urge the Mayor to reverse course.”

So first, these aren’t kids. They’re adults, the same age as the ones we routinely send off to die in wars exponentially more “genocidal” than the one Israel is waging on Hamas.

Second, much like the progressive narrative around the I/P conflict, these Palestinian proxies bear no responsibility for anything that happens to them. Even though they are full-blown adults who chose to ignore warning after warning to do whatever they wanted, including take part in criminal actions, it’s unforgivable to arrest them and the college is a the most dastardly of oppressors.

On this Shabbat, as we read the words of the Torah, let us recognize that the words and teachings are not ones that mock. Rather they are words to help us cope with the sad events that have made America and America’s future ones that we should not simply shrug our shoulders, saying this too will pass. I know that we haven’t. Nor should we simply be like Aaron, who the Torah states remained silent, out of fear and out of shock. Thankfully, there are individuals and leaders who do understand. Our friends and neighbors as well. In just the past few days strangers have stopped me in parking lots and on the street to express how horrified they are by the actions of the protesters on campuses.

This Sunday as a community we will join together to commemorate Yom HaShoah. We pray that the words of Torah reading for this Shabbat will bring us to respond appropriately to honor the memories of those who perished during the Holocaust. And we pray that it will be a reminder to the world of why not only the Jewish people, but also the world, needs the State of Israel as a Jewish homeland and haven, and also as one center of democracy and decency in a region that in many ways is lacking of the same.

Am Yisrael Chai

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi K