As the USA prepares for the Labor Day weekend, the global tension regarding the use of Chemical weapons by the Syrian regime continues to grow and escalate. The question many are asking is whether the world is going to let a Dictator who murdered 1500 men, women and children with weapons of mass destructions, just carry on acting with impunity, or will the world stand up once and for all and say no, enough is enough!
Despite it being a very complex situation that includes many dead ends, questionable options and choices, and a very difficult decision, it looks more and more likely that this administration will act to a degree, and try to enforce and uphold some very basic values of humanity.
While we all may have our likes and dislikes about the administration and its policies and there is no clear or easy way forward, I am proud to be in a country, where at least the leadership is not sitting back and relaxing after an atrocity like this occurs. I am proud of them, since no matter which way things go and which difficult option is the one that is chosen to go forward with, they are showing that life matters, mass murder matters, and the world cannot just continue as if nothing happened.
This weekend is the final weekend and Shabbat of the Jewish Year and it is a Shabbat when we reflect on the year that passed and prepare for the big day of Rosh Hashanah, which takes place next week. Rosh Hashanah is the day when we collectively and individually think about our individual, communal and global responsibilities. As we think about the many components that are part of our lives, community and the world around us, we are sometimes faced with a question of what to focus on and where we can make the difference.
We can look at a crisis like Syria and the threats faced by Israel as a result, US interests, and the mass murder of civilians, and explore what are the actions we can take that will make a difference. It is definitely easy to speak on the global scale and discuss world politics, we can talk about the failures of the UN, about the evil of Bashar Assad or some of his opponents, and we can talk from today till tomorrow about the multitude of threats that are being made. Yet at the end of the day, none of that talk will actually change anything on the ground or in the world around us.
This is not in any way meant to negate our moral obligation to cry and shout out and protest when we see innocents being mass murdered; it’s just that we need to realize that however painful the terrible events that have occurred are, our political armchair politics may not change anything on the ground. Instead we need to find an additional way to fight back such evil, so that it will compliment what the world leaders and world bodies may need to do or not do to stop these crimes.
Perhaps in addition to our protests and moral and political support for upholding basic human values, we should also seek to fight back evil with precision and targeted methods that will make a tangible difference in the world around us. Our sphere of influence may vary, for some of us it may be limited and for some of us it may be huge, but regardless of what it is, we are obligated to seek to make that positive difference through identifying specific areas where we can personally improve and help others improve, in addition to the big global issues where it is easy to get lost and not make such a tangible difference.
We may be 7000 miles away from the savagery that is taking place in the Middle East, but from a spiritual perspective our every good deed and act of self-improvement, communal improvement, and helping others are all truly valuable tools in responding to the madness that we see out there, and represent ways in which we too can fight back. A terrible event like this is a personal call to each one of us that we cannot just let life continue; rather we must resolve to respond one way or another with more goodness and kindness. Ultimately whether we see it or not, we are actually helping change the world around us for the good, and other people down the line will be beneficiaries of these positive changes.
The global change starts with the personal change, and the personal and communal changes which we adapt and take on, will cause a never ending ripple whose touch will extend to the far corners of the planet.
We all know areas that we can work on in our lives, and even if we are perfect, thank G-d, we are blessed with Judaism which continuously gives us new opportunities to grow, develop, take on more Mitzvot, improve and help more people around us.
While tens of thousands of people lined up and received their Gas Masks in Israel this week, I am praying and hopeful that G-d willing in the merit of all the fighting for good and change, we will merit to see the fulfillment of the verses in this Saturday’s Torah reading, which talk about Israel and the Jews not needing to fear any of those who seek to destroy them as they are destined to fail and fail miserably.
The verse states in Psalms, “the Guard (G-d) of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers”. As my wife lights the Shabbat Candles this evening to welcome in the Shabbat we will be praying for Israel and peace, and as we do so we will pray for the USA and its leadership that they continue to have the moral courage to make the right and best choices that will be successful in in upholding human life, values, and justice for mankind!
May we all be blessed with a truly Shana Tova and peaceful year!