Anyone watching the House Hearings yesterday had to be moved by the testimonies of the four officers.
Anyone watching the House Hearings yesterday had to be moved by the testimonies of the four officers. These hearings took too long in coming. Let’s hope these slow turning wheels of justice will result in an outcome that can restore and, hopefully, help heal this nation.
Right now I’m in the Smokies in very red Macon County, North Carolina. National news is just not to be found in the local paper. What you hear on most local radio stations reflects another reality. While there is still a concern about COVID and evidence of guidelines from County officials you would hardly know it in public places. We have noticed numerous shops closed in several malls in the area.
So here we are, about 60 miles from Mt. Pisgah, named for the biblical mountain range from where Moses spoke to the Israelites before they went into the Land. Many of the teachings that Prophet Moses delivered then are just as relevant today. His farewell address to the people is a strong call for a covenantal relationship based on love, caring for those in need, and the eradication of injustice and false gods. Moses spells out the mission of the new nation.
11:18 (God) demanding justice for the orphan and widow, and love for the stranger, providing them with bread and clothing.
11:19 You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt
We also find here the second paragraph of the Shma, the paragraph that warns us about what happens to the earth when we do not live a life of Mitzvot and serve other “gods.”
Moses educates the people to their history and these moral teachings, recounting the highs and lows of their ancestors' journey, their liberation, their hopefulness at Sinai, their frustrations and their dance with the golden calf and a vision for the future.
Rereading this Parsha reminded me how important it is for us to know our history, the struggles and the vision of our ancestors, as Jews and, also, as Americans.
May the House Hearings be heard far and wide.
Reb David