*Note: I usually number paragraphs in my Divrei Torah as a way of organizing my thoughts.
One People
Tazria/Hachodesh 5771/2011
Rabbi Neil Tow©2011
1. Back in the 1980s a group of Israeli singers got together in we are the world style to sing on behalf of needy children in Israel, they sang this song…
2. Am echad im shir chad, hamanginah le’olam tisha’er, am echad im shir echad, nashir lachem ki atem lo levad, kulanu beyachad lema’an kulam, betikvah shenagia ve’yishma ha’olam, am echad, im shire chad.
3. One people with one song, the tune will last forever, one people with one song, we will sing to you for you are not alone, we’re all together for everyone, with the hope that we can do the right thing and the world will hear, one people, with one song.
4. A great song, with a great campy sing along melody, a great message…
5. And we observe Shabbat HaChodesh and reread the message of leaving Egypt, beginning of time for Jewish people – people, nation, “one nation under God…”
6. And we read parshat Tazria, about rituals at time of birth of children, celebration of new life, new hope.
7. Spring, new life, new birth and rebirth for the people “one nation, under God”, but are we also “indivisible” as in the language of the pledge?
8. It is time for us to recognize and celebrate the unity that binds us as a people even with the various divisions that appear to divide us
9. Divisions: Religious movements, believers and atheists/humanists, Zionists and anti-Zionists, all political backgrounds.
10. These divisions are real, and they are not arbitrary. Represent different ways of expressing our Judaism, of expressing our relationship to the State of Israel, of expressing our beliefs in the realm of politics and decision making for citizens of our country.
11. The spirit of Passover comes to remind us that we’ve let the divisions define us more than what we share. And in Israel specifically, there has been a trend toward centralizing religious authority in the chief rabbinate and recently MK Margi expressed the view that religious streams other than mainstream traditional in Israel should not receive any government funding or support.
12. There is a middle ground – middle ground is usually controversial and requires supreme effort to maintain equilibrium, but it’s well worth the hard work. Middle ground is stepping back to recognize our shared history, shared fundamental values, shared people-hood without giving up our particular approaches to our Judaism.
13. This is the middle ground that could transform the Arab world as well. The answer is neither dictatorship nor pure democracy, but elected representatives, checks and balances, dialogue, disagreement, reconciliation, peaceful transfers of authority.
14. May our prayers for this Passover season be prayers for unity. Unity of self, unity of family and community, and most of all, unity among the Jewish people. Let’s talk about unity at our Seders. Let’s work toward unity by extending invitations to our Seders and to Passover meals to new friends in our community. Let’s make unity our kavannah, our lens when we read the Haggadah and sing the songs of the holiday.
15. And then we can all, hand in hand, have a new Exodus together, feeling closer, supported and affirmed by all those around us. Shabbat Shalom.
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