By Rabbi Rick Sherwin
Through the decades of my congregational experience, I was encouraged to present any topic of choice – other than politics – through the prism of religious text and ideology: respecting natural resources, appreciating life’s blessings, extending welcome to immigrants fleeing from persecution, advocating inclusivity, and finding joy in life.
Today, and for the past several years, these traditionally faith community topics have been hijacked into the political sphere. It has become virtually impossible for pastors and rabbis to publicly apply social values to the world in which we live without political repercussions. Rabbi Aaron Bergman, posted his frustration: “I gave a sermon highlighting the importance of maintaining joy even in difficult times. A congregant called me…and yelled at me about endorsing Harris from the pulpit.”
Really!!!?? Finding joy, is a political issue??!!!
The path through the Nelson Mandela exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis begins with his anti-racist activism, descends into decades of political imprisonment, climbs to the pinnacle of his South Africa presidency, and concludes with his post-retirement inclusivist activism.
As I walked through the exhibit, it struck me that – unless one is fully aware of Mandela’s history and experience in South Africa – his visionary quotes might be perceived today as political endorsement:
- Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
- To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
- It is in your hands, to make a better world for all who live in it.
- Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.
- What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others.
A permanent exhibit at the Children’s Museum features children who made a difference:
- Anne Frank, whose diary has been translated into 70 languages, exemplified overcoming fear with the power of hope.
- Ruby Bridges used – and continues to use – the power of action to fight racism.
- Ryan White, AIDS advocate extraordinaire, used the power of his voice to fight against fear and misinformation.
- Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Prize winner at age 17, advocated – and continues to advocate – for human rights, especially the education of women and children in forbidding countries.
I find it beyond frustrating that too many people would claim that any pastor or rabbi – quoting Mandela or learning from heroes in their youth – is either endorsing or castigating a political perspective. In Jewish Tradition, each of Mandela’s statements has a Hebrew (or Aramaic) counterpart in classical literature: the Torah, Talmudic discussions, Midrash collections, commentaries and codes. His quotes reflect values that are “Jewish”, values that should be universal.
To me, the most significant verse in Jewish liturgy, based on Exodus 34, is the expression of the 13 Godly Attributes that we recite through the High Holy Day season: “God is compassionate, gracious, patient, endless in kindness, honest, extending benefit of doubt, forgiving those who err or fail…” To be created in the Divine Image is the call for any of us and all of us to actively reflect these qualities in our relationships with each other regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation and identification, physical abilities, even political affiliation.
The Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism, offers insight that should permeate the world: “Good human qualities – honesty, sincerity, a good heart – cannot be bought with money, nor can they be produced by machines, but only by the [heart] itself. We can call this the inner light, or God's blessing, or human quality. This is the essence of mankind.”
Ideals and universal values are not political statements; they are the foundations of being human and being humane. My hope is that we would all vote “yes” to the dream of a better world tomorrow no matter on which side of aisle you sit, or even in the aisle itself.
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