Tikkun Olam

We are the people who share stories.  The Bible is full of them.  That Talmud too has many tales as does the famed midrash.  I remember once hearing Elie Wiesel tell how even the Master of the Universe not only like to tell stories but He also delights in hearing them!  Stories entertain and enlighten.  The best stories have the richest, most meaningful morals.  Here is one:

Ashmodai was the king of demons.  He brought before the great Solomon a man with two heads.  Ashmodai told King Solomon that the man’s father had died and left a large inheritance.  It was up to the wise king to determine whether the man in front of him was one man with one share of the inheritance or if he should be counted as two men and receive a double portion.

King Solomon reflected and then said that servants should prepare a pot of boiling water.  That boiling water would be poured over one of the heads.  If the other head did not complain, it was a sign that they were different people.  On the other hand, if the other head did complain they were really one.

The story entertains, as do all good stories but it also teaches a truth.  We are one.

There are times when family members do not get along.  We argue, insist on having it our way, and say regrettable things.  When rifts happen in a family the depth of the pain is significant.  It hurts.  A lot.

Still, the bonds of a family do not go away when we fight.  We quickly regroup when some outside force assails us or illness strikes.  So it is with our extended family.  We are one.

Elsewhere the midrash asks, “Would a man cut off his arm?  Of course not!  Why then would we ever contemplate hurting one of our own?  They are part of our body too!”

What affects one of us affects us all.  That is why we must stand together.  If any part of our people is abused or destroyed it destroys a part of us.  That is why when one Jew is in peril the response must be immediate.  We learned this lesson during the Holocaust.   While our people vacillated, we were murdered.  Israel’s response to the plight of Ethiopian Jews was sweeping.  In 1984 Operation Moses airlifted more than 8,000 Jews to Israel.  A single trip brought 1,122 Ethiopian Jews on a single plane.  A world record!  Three decades earlier Operation Magic Carpet brought nearly 50,000 Yemeni Jews to the Holy Land.  Waves of Russian Jews – 800,000 of them! - arrived with no questions.

What all this means is that we are our brother’s keeper.  We have a responsibility for one another.

Here is our community no Jew is ever turned away from the Religious School or membership for lack of funds.  In addition, tzedaka is ongoing.  Money is quietly collected and distributed to the needy.   We help transport those who are not mobile to the synagogue (we are always looking for more volunteers) and we visit the ailing and homebound (you can offer to help here too).

The fact is: we are human by birth.  We are Jews by making conscious decision to do our best to improve this word.  We call this Tikkun Olam.