What does HaShem asks of us but to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him. In these difficult times, what does that mean. What is justice in the face of slain babies, women, and families? How does one love kindness in this time when thousands are wounded both in body and soul? What does it mean to walk humbly with HaShem when there is such anger in our hearts?
These are days when many see life in terms of “complicated situations” and “competing narratives,” of “yes, but.” Know that this obfuscates the cherished idea of “right and wrong.” Cherished because without an absolute concept of right and wrong, any behavior can be justified. If everything is relative depending on whose side you are looking at it from, then we’ve lost the ability to make moral judgements. The morality of Western Culture which gives us free speech and freedom of action was hard won. It took a slave people, recently freed, standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai to receive an absolute law, a law handed down to us, literally from On High. A law that sets forth a morality of right and wrong. That morality changed and civilized the world. It is the only thing that separates the civilized man from the barbarian.
So, where is right when babies are purposely slain, women violated, paraded through the streets and then killed? There is no apology for evil when those who slay for whatever perverted reason take joy in it. If you stand amongst your brothers, if you hold to the idea that man can be a noble being and do good upon this earth, then you are a Jew, whether in fact or in spirit and you stand for the morality of the Torah.
How does one love kindness in this upside-down world? The greatest kindness is not to lose our humanity, to fight for love to triumph over hate, to reach out to brothers and sisters, especially those whom we have been separated from by religion and politics; as it is they who will offer us the greatest strength since with them we complete the many perspectives necessary to arrive at the truth, as the Torah states, “70 faces has the Torah.” We are a Jewish People, whole, only when all our disparate parts are included.
What does it mean to walk humbly with HaShem? It requires us to put away our certainties of judgement of the other. To look past surface differences. To see with the heart and not the eyes and find the value in each precious member of the family. Then, we must join hands and walk humbly before HaShem and recognize that together we must fight this war.
And in the war against Jew-hatred and Anti-Semitism, which is a fire raging around the world, know that only water quenches fire, for as we say, the Torah is Mayim Chayim, the water of life. Its morality upholds civilization in our world. It’s the only antidote to hatred. The more we proclaim its principles, the more we fight the evil in men’s hearts and join with others who uphold this morality.
Our soldiers on the battlefield rely on every one of us to support them in the international battle of wills. The contest of right against wrong, which is being waged in the media, in chat rooms, in the news, in the halls of power and academia, and in every place where opinion can be swayed to make a difference in this battle.
You may not be on the front lines in Israel, but surely you have a choice to be a soldier of the Jewish People, to stand shoulder to shoulder, to clasp arms and shout “Am Yisroel Chai!”