We are all in the same boat. We have different paddles and sometimes it seems like some of us are seated so far up that we forget that our sisters and brothers are in the rear of the boat, pulling at their oars along with us. Knowing this, we understand that our faith binds us both in spirit as well as destiny. What happens to one of us happens to us all. Our history bears this out as our detractors did not care whether we were bankers or water-carriers. Now, more than ever, as anti-Semitism is on the rise we need one another; we belong to one another. As God is One, so are we one.
There is an old story in the Talmud about a man who takes out a drill and begins making a hole under his seat. The other passengers complain that he will sink the ship. He retorts, “I paid for this seat and I can do as I please.”
The tale is a warning that echoes through eternity. We have a responsibility to safeguard one another. We have a mutual commitment to growth and an expanded consciousness. That we have different opinions and habits is a gift, not a liability. Our differences make us stronger, wiser and more capable. We are a family, united by a covenant that is millennia old, and a sacred purpose. We are a people, who, through the epochs have heard the voice of our God and have enriched the world with hope, a belief in the best of humanity and the will to bring about real healing. It is what we call Tikkun Olam, our soul's offering to a fractured world.
We are just finishing the book of Beresheit, Genesis. The stories told there are largely about families who must learn to get along despite their obvious differences. We do not read these passages because they are entertaining. We read them because they are the stories of our lives. Brothers who once refused to hear one another, parents who chose one child over another, and baseless hatred are all turned on their head as they learn to embrace one another in the greatest act humanity is capable of, teshuva. We learn from them how to listen more keenly, open our hearts to the pain of our fellow, are gentle with our rebukes, and accept those with whom we disagree.
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