It
only takes a little bit
Yom
Kippur morning 2016
Rabbi
Larry Freedman
Temple
Beth Jacob of Newburgh
We have a problem with water in the city of
Newburgh. Like most things of this
nature, it’s complicated but not impossible to understand. As best we understand, there was a chemical
used for firefighting at Stewart ANGB, perflourooctanic acid or PFOA. To the best of everyone’s understanding, it
was a very effective chemical and safe enough.
Upon further review, the chemical was found not to be safe enough and
its use was stopped. Production of PFOA
ended in 2002. However before that
happened some of the chemical was used at the air national guard base. Most of it was caught in industrial waste
retention basins but the belief is that a very small amount of concentrate
spilled into the ground water. My source
is from Public Affairs at the base and they gathered the info from their own
records and various environmental agencies.
I hasten to add that this is the state of current study and is subject
to change.
There is a question as to why the ANGB was using
this chemical. The answer is: it was
legal and the base complied with all rules and regulations that were in place
at that time for its use. When the rules
changed, the base’s actions changed.
Why didn’t Newburgh test for this chemical in the
water? Turns out they did as required by
various rules and regulations and they did report finding it. It was when the EPA changed the regulations
and determined that water quality inspectors should be checking not for 400
parts per trillion but 70 parts per trillion, that the new standard set off
alarm bells. Since then they have been
working to fix the problem including switching the water source for the City of
Newburgh. The city no longer is drinking
from Washington Lake.
Why am I telling you this? The water in Washington Lake is very much a
metaphor for what’s going on in our country.
There are scary things going on that we don’t even know about. There are scary things that we know about but
don’t feel we should be worried about.
And there are scary things that are happening right in front of us that
we just don’t want to pay attention to because, perhaps, we just don’t. Or maybe we don’t want to think about scary things
because we don’t believe them. We
convince ourselves not to believe them.
And we don’t pay attention because we reject the knowledge of others and
just make up our own mind. 70 parts per
trillion. How can such a small amount
have such massive consequences? Is it
even possible that 70 parts per trillion can affect us? How can that possibly be? Won’t it be diluted? Doesn’t that just make sense? And yet, the answer seems to be no. Just a teeny, tiny bit can have a massive
effect. It doesn’t take much and we are
the fools who refuse to believe that. We
are the fools who won’t open our hearts and our minds to the idea that just a
small bit of something can have massive implications.
I feel like one of themes I talk about all the
time is trying to maintain civil discourse.
I try to tamp down gossip. I try
to hold judgment until I hear the other side of the story. My boys are very used to me saying, when
hearing some outrageous claim, “Just wait; there’s more to that story.” And there always is. And I try to listen and consider the
other. Before I get on my high horse, I
try to consider the other. I try to put
myself in that person’s shoes, to see the world from that person’s perspective
and I ask: what is going on that they would say that? What is happening that they would arrive at a
conclusion I would not? And while I
initially might think they are wrong, I’m willing to remain open enough to
accept that they might be right. They
still could be wrong but then again, they might be right. This is a pastoral approach. Listen carefully. Keep an open mind. As we make our way through Yom Kippur, we
ought to work hard, to struggle even, at getting out of our own way and opening
ourselves up to hear the other. We need
to open ourselves up to considering the other because understanding the other leads
to civil discourse. When we understand
the other judgment fades away. That is
not the same as having our opinions change.
Sometimes they will. Sometimes
they won’t. But anger, resentment,
hatred will fade. And that is a noble
goal.
A long time ago, 1990, Public Enemy had a hip hop
song called, “911’s a Joke in this Town.”
You probably can figure out Public Enemy’s complaint that 911 sent emergency
crews to white neighborhoods faster than to black neighborhoods. Now, you can fact check every line of the
song if you want but I had to wonder, what are they talking about? 911’s a joke?
Like everyone else in the country I saw 911 as one of the great public
services this country ever created. Hard
working dispatchers responding to everyone sending help to everyone. I’ve always seen them as heroic. How dare Public Enemy spin such a libel. And that song has stayed with me all these years
because back then I asked, what is going on in their neighborhood that would
prompt such anger? What is going on that
could inspire such frustration? Turns
out Public Enemy was right. There were
issues of delayed response and the black community had cause to be
frustrated. But most people at the time
had the “how dare they” response and very few had the “tell me more” response
that could have determined the accuracy of the complaint.
Today we have the Black Lives Matter
movement. Now, before you shut down
because a lot of you are inclined to do so when you hear that phrase, try to
remember it’s Yom Kippur and join me in a pastoral approach and keep an open
mind. Black Lives Matter started out as
a hashtag, a catchy and quick expression of grief and frustration. It is becoming a movement of some sort and
one of those groups recently decided they would attach a blistering,
non-factual attack on Israel as part and parcel of the Black Lives Matter
movement. This makes it difficult for an
awful lot of Jews and Jewish organizations to be supportive of their plea. Not because this section of BLM cares about
Palestinians. That’s not the problem. The problem is that they label Israel as
genocidal, alone among all the other countries of the world. That’s a real problem and a coalition
breaker. But, for a moment, just for a
moment, let’s set that aside and listen to what Black Lives Matter supporters
are saying. I mean, why do they even
need to say that Black Lives Matter?
Shouldn’t that be obvious? Who
says they don’t? But can you begin to
imagine that someone feels so put upon, so downtrodden that they have to affirm
that their very life matters? Who needs
to even say that? Who needs to claim
that? Someone who feels that others
don’t believe their lives matter.
If this were just a bunch of grumpy folks, the
hashtag would have come and gone. But
when thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of black people start
using #Black Lives Matter, one ought to pause for a moment and ask some serious
questions to understand where this is coming from.
Of course, white people become very pious and try
to outdo the Black Lives Matter by saying that All Lives Matter. Let’s talk about that. If you say, “Save the Whales,” it does not
mean you couldn’t give a fig about baby seals.
It means, we can talk about those poor, sad baby seals being clubbed to
death, sure, but right now, for just this moment, could we talk about the
whales? Yes, the lives of all marine
mammals matter but just for a moment, could we focus on the whales? Yes, white
lives matter, too, but for just this moment could we focus on black lives? Just for a minute? That is all that means.
So when black people say Black Lives Matter they
are saying that they feel that somebody out there, they point to police
officers in particular, don’t feel they matter. Here’s the pastoral approach I
offer you. You don’t have to agree with
Black Lives Matter protestors but you should try to understand their pain. Agreement is more complicated and requires
real data and policy discussions.
Hearing their pain costs nothing.
What is going on that people can even make the assumption that their
lives don’t matter? How have things
devolved that a significant chunk of our fellow citizens feel their very lives,
and hear this, their very lives, their existence as citizens and human beings
just don’t matter?
Do all police officers feel that way? I highly doubt it. But let’s remember 70 parts per trillion. How many unnecessary deaths of black men is a
permissible number before it gets toxic and we should question what is going on
with the police? The National Law
Enforcement Memorial Fund[1]
estimates that there are 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers. Of those 900,000 officers, how many are
allowed to engage in a bad shooting before we get upset? There will always be a bad egg among any
large group. But we are well beyond one
bad egg. How many bad shootings are too
many? How many bad shootings does it
take to ruin the reputation of all cops? We have reached our 70 parts per trillion. It is tragic that we have reached that
number. Compounding the sadness, we know
that of those 900,000 officers, there are, I don’t even know, hundreds of
thousands of police-citizen interactions every day and they all go fine. The police act in a professional manner and
folks are let go or arrested and nothing goes wrong. In the last few months in New York there are
have been police shootings that were legitimate and necessary and no one gets
upset by that because that is just another example of police officers doing
their very difficult jobs as professionals according to their training. Most of the water is just fine. But those 70 parts per trillion, that very
small part must be attended to. It
cannot be ignored. The 70 parts per
trillion that doesn’t act professionally does tremendous damage to black lives,
to their departments, to trust in a city and to their own careers and
future. The number of police shootings
cannot be diluted into something we need not worry about. We should worry. And we should listen to the frustration of those
who feel compelled to say black lives matter.
And let’s remember, the complaints about the
police from black communities have indeed been proven to be true multiple
times. Just this past year Chicago and
Baltimore received scathing critiques and they are not the only ones. There is something going on but if you are
offended by the hashtag, how will you ever learn what is behind it? And we must learn what is behind it for the
sake of civil discourse and care for our fellow citizens. We very much need to pay attention to 70
parts per trillion.
What else is in the news that has a moral component?
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t use Yom Kippur
sermon time to talk about candidates but when I wrote my first draft quite some
time ago, we were living with the fantasy that Donald Trump didn’t mean anything
he said and besides, the argument went, he should get a pass since he’s not a
politician. As the weeks went by, I’ve
had to cut and cut. What is there for me
to say that so many others haven’t already said? All I’m left with is the reminder of the
early days of his campaign when he was playing coy with white supremacists. Now, obviously, plenty of people who support
Donald Trump aren’t members of hate groups.
Obviously. However, those who
are, your white supremacists and the American Nazi Party members, love
him. They feel he is speaking to them
and their concerns and they are becoming emboldened. Now, as always, I stand
ready to try to understand what is behind the hatred of these folks. It’s hard to read their websites or listen to
their interviews but I’m trying. Some fear the loss of Euro-centric culture in
America. Others just believe white
people are superior. I can’t say I’m very sympathetic but I’m trying to understand. On the heels of the vandalism of the Temple
Beth Shalom cemetery in Florida, NY with Heil Hitler and SS and swastikas, it’s
worthy to remember that these people are still out there.
I’m worried about the tone his campaign has set. I’m worried the racists and bigots feel free
to take their hatred above ground. That
will not be good for the Jews, I can tell you.
You’re not worried because there are so few of them? It doesn’t take much to spread havoc. 70 parts per trillion.
This Jews have seen before and we know how it
goes. When the mob feels emboldened to
hate others, it takes a very long time to make it unacceptable once again.
Of course, some of you are awaiting the criticism
of Hillary Clinton. If there is one
thing we all agree on, it is that these two candidates are barely
comparable. It is less like comparing
apples and oranges then comparing apples and pandas. They just aren’t the same sort of thing. Hillary Clinton has not courted white
supremacists. She is not beloved by the
American Nazi party so whatever fears we have over the tone of her presidency,
this just isn’t one of them. Criticism
of her is a policy criticism and that’s not what I’m talking about.
A few years ago, a rabbi in Atlanta made a big
splash announcing that radical Islam was coming and that it was here. Do you remember that? Even reading it at the time, I found that his
passion was notable but his message was routine for those of us reading the
headlines. I’m offering something a
little different. Instead of screaming
about what’s already here like the Atlanta rabbi did, I’m saying, we need to
prepare for what may come. We will need
to be organized to protest and to lobby and to write letters and to insist that
our country regardless of who is president will not be turned over to the 70
parts per trillion who can do so much damage.
The military has taught me that it’s better to be ready and not have to
fight then need to fight and not be ready.
Jews know that you don’t want to fight bigots from a position of
weakness. You want to be out ahead in
that fight right away.
It’s good to know that liberals and conservatives
will find common ground in opposing that
after the election. We will have to join
together to fight this 70 parts per trillion of hate regardless of who wins the
election.
Today is a day of introspection, a day to look
closely at our selves. Few of us are
true sinners. We don’t murder, we don’t
rob banks. Most of us in this room have
committed the sins that are small and ordinary.
We have our own version of 70 parts per trillion; just enough to ruin a
perfect record, just enough to make us feel bad, that we could do better. Today is a day of reflection. It is not a day
to justify. It is a day of honesty. Why are black people feeling their lives
don’t matter? How shall we respond to a
rise in brazen hate? To these questions
we must seek answers without, “yeah but…” without switching the conversation,
without hiding behind something else.
Today is a day of honesty even when we don’t want to hear the honesty,
even when it conflicts with what we want to hear. Today is a day of honesty with ourselves and
with the nation. 70 parts per trillion
is all it takes to destroy something. Let’s
remain vigilant against even that small part.
Let’s be open to hearing what is going on. Let us on this day be willing to hear
something we don’t want to hear and grow from it.
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