Posted on November 17, 2024
(This sermon was delivered at the Vilna Shul, Boston, on November 15th, 2024)
In the third period of Colin Ryan’s first day in Middle School the teacher wanted to do a “getting to know you exercise”, and so she had the students fill out a questionnaire. Assuming that the answers would be private Colin felt comfortable being completely honest. He was dismayed a few moments later when the teacher collected the papers, shuffled them and then redistributed them. Each child was told to read out the student’s name on their sheet and then to share their favorite 3 answers. Unfortunately for Colin his paper ended up in the hands of one of the coolest and meanest kids in the class.
Unsurprisingly his “favorite answers” of Colin’s were the three worst ones to be read out loud. The first question “What’s your favorite movie?” Colin had answered Beauty and the Beast, which while clearly a Disney classic was not necessarily the type of movie an 11 year old boy would want to be known for loving. Immediately the class erupted into laughter and Colin’s cheeks burned.
Next he read “Where would you like to travel?” The other students had suggested exotic far away locations; Colin had written “Wherever a book takes me.” The laughter reached an even higher decibel level as some kids started high-fiving. Finally he chose: “What do you like to do on the weekends?” to which Colin had written “perform with Clowns for Christ.”
Some people laughed, some people stared at him with a look of disgust and Colin felt about an inch tall, wishing he could disappear.
But then, something amazing happened.
A voice from the back of the room said, “Guys, cut it out.” And the room went silent. The voice belonged to Michelle Siever, and Michelle Siever was popular and cool. Michelle Siever had sway. The room went silent.
But Michelle wasn’t done. She turned to the teacher and said, “Why are you letting this happen? What is the point if we’re just gonna make fun of each other?”
As Colin shared at a Moth Story Telling event: I don’t remember the teacher or the kids’ names, but I remember Michelle Siever’s name. I remember how it felt when she spoke up for me because she showed me that day that we actually have three options. You can be cool, and you might be remembered for a little while. You can be invisible, and you won’t be remembered at all. But if you stand up for somebody when they need you most, then you will be remembered as their hero for the rest of their life.[1]
This is what being Jewish is all about.
Last week in our Torah when we met Abraham and Sarah for the first time we could have been forgiven for asking the question: why were they chosen by God? In the initial stories nothing particularly stands out to help us understand what was so special about these two people that God declared: You shall be a blessing, and through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
I would argue that God’s choice remains a mystery until this week and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Torah is clear; these two places were quite literally the worst places in the world, filled with corruption, violence, abuse and injustice. And so God decrees that they should be destroyed, but before their destruction God asks the question: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” God is waiting to see what Abraham’s response will be, and our Patriarch does not disappoint.
Standing before God, he tentatively steps forward and essentially says: “God are you really sure about this? What if there are 50 innocent people in the city, surely you God will not kill the innocent along with the guilty? I mean this isn’t the kind of thing that you would want to do, is it? Surely the judge of all earth should deal with people justly?” Abraham speaks up and he convinces God to agree that if there are 50 innocent people the cities will be spared, but then he continues and he negotiates with God; bargaining his way down from 50 to 45 to 40 to 30 to 20 to 10. So that eventually it is agreed that if 10 innocent people can be found the cities will be spared.
I doubt that Abraham approved of the behavior going on in Sodom and Gomorrah. I would guess that he was appalled by the reports of those two cities. But in the face of destruction, even for people he probably didn’t like, Abraham knew that he had a responsibility, a duty, an obligation to stand up and to speak up. In this moment he fulfilled God’s covenantal promise by bringing blessing into the world.
We are Abraham and Sarah’s descendants, the heirs to their covenant and we are therefore called upon to follow their example and to speak up against persecution, the abuse of power, and injustice.
Unfortunately, we know from our own history how easy it is for people to be silent in the face of prejudice, racism, antisemitism, and violence. We know that it is easier to be a bystander than it is to speak up and ensure that our voices are heard. Too many times we have experienced the truth in Edmund Burke’s words that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”
Our Jewish obligation has always been to speak out and to act. We don’t just do this when the Jewish community is targeted, although that is of course important; we do it on behalf of all communities because we remember that the original call to Abraham and Sarah involved all the families of the earth. In different language the commandment is restated towards the very end of Torah when Moses shares those things that God demands of us,[2] and includes the obligation: v’ahvtem et hager, ki gerim heyetem b’eretz Mitzrayim – you must love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.[3]
In Mussar, when we think about how we need to be active in this world we have the middah of achrayut – translated as responsibility. The Hebrew word itself offers us insights into what it means Jewishly to take responsibility. As Rabbi David Jaffe teaches, one of the interesting things about the word achrayut is the potential for it to be understand in two very different ways depending on how you place the vowels. The Hebrew root aleph-chet-reysh has two potential meanings.
It could be achar – meaning after. When viewing achrayut through this lens, we have to be aware and take responsibility for the impact of our actions and at times of our inaction. We of course recognize that there are limits in terms of what we might be able to achieve, but we have to accept the burden of responsibility for the outcomes, whatever happens as a result of us acting or not acting.
But it could also be acher – meaning other. Viewed through this prism, achrayut is about recognizing that we have a responsibility that extends beyond our own person and our own well-being. We are responsible for our families, we are responsible for our community, for our cities, and ultimately, we are responsible for the world. The burden of responsibility extends outwards from ourselves to ultimately encompass everyone and everything.
In this week’s Torah portion we see the way in which Abraham accepted achrayut in both senses of the word. By challenging God, he had to recognize that there could be consequences for his actions; but the moral imperative to speak out was primary. And in choosing to speak out for Sodom and Gomorrah he was recognizing that he had a responsibility for the people of these other cities, despite their negative behavior and rejection of God.
How do we each understand our own achrayut? And how we will we act in the world to take responsibility for what happens around us?
Abraham’s example is so important for us, because in his drive to protect people he was willing to stand up to the ultimate power in the Universe and challenge God. He did not flinch, he did not hesitate; he stepped up when the time required people of good conscience to speak out. And more than this he did not just defend his own group, he spoke up for the stranger, the person who was different. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah would have had little impact on Abraham’s life, it wasn’t his community, but he knew that his covenantal charge required him to speak out, to defend all people, even when it meant challenging God.
History books are filled with incidents and moments where people failed to speak out, primarily because they were not the ones directly affected. We all know how we judge those people and those periods of history.
Taking achrayut – responsibility can feel daunting. How can we possibly fix all of the things that require our attention? How can we defend all of the groups who need protecting? How can we make a difference?
But we know the power of a single voice; be it Abraham’s challenging God, or Michelle Siever’s challenging the teacher in her classroom. As Jews we have never been a quiet people, we are always called upon to raise our voices – in praise of God, to support our community, and to protect those in need. We have always been ready to stand up and to speak out. And then through our voices and our actions we will be a blessing like Abraham and Sarah, and we will bring blessing through us all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Shabbat Shalom.
[1] http://www.rd.com/true-stories/inspiring/classmate-stood-up-to-bullies/
[2] Deuteronomy 10:12
[3] Deuteronomy 10:19