This summer has seen the rise of dangerous fundamentalist groups seizing power and large swaths of land. It didn’t make the headlines as much as it should have, but all of us have heard of the systematic and rampant ethnic and religious persecution, with many cities and towns terrorized or destroyed, whole communities uprooted, women and girls sold into slavery, kidnappings and brutal beheadings, mass shootings of prisoners, and destruction of age-old religious institutions and landmarks that have stood for centuries. Yes, all this is actually happening in the year 2014.
As Jews, many of us grew up with increased sensitivity to persecution and prejuidice, the “Never Again!” slogan is an old rallying cry and part of the communal Jewish language. One of the most hurtful things about the Holocaust was how many (otherwise) decent and progessive nations turned their heads, closed their eyes and ignored our plight. The world’s silence was deafening. Turning back the “St. Louis” ship from New York Harbor back to Nazi Germany is symbolic of that callous indifference.
Given our own history we ought to be especially concerned and vocal about violent religious and ethnic persecution wherever it rears its ugly head. There aren’t a lot of good options out there, and its a very complicated world, so not sure about the best and more effective practical approach, but as Jews and as decent human beings we certainly can not ignore it and we can’t be silent.
The end of the Torah portion of Shoftim speaks of the “Eglah Arufah” a ceremony of communal responsibility for the unresolved murder of an innocent person that took place close to that municipality. Even if we played no part in killing that person, the Torah tells us to ask ourselves what more could we have done to prevent the loss of innocent life? We can’t sit home, we have to go out to the field where it happened, we have to do soul-searching: perhaps as a society we could have kept this from happening.
So what can we do? First of all, we can’t ignore it, we can’t be silent. Whether it means a better understanding of what is happening in our world today, reaching out to our political representatives, supporting charities that (truly) help people in crisis, or speak up for them on social media… whatever it is, but we can’t be silent and indifferent.
I also think we should take a page from the playbook of these groups who threaten our values and way of life. We should become more fundamentalist! These people have deep convictions, are passionate and determined, unwavering in their focus as they forge onward, never resting on their laurels. They put their lives in danger for their cause, they put aside personal comfort for the greater cause. Of course, we deeply disagree with almost everything they stand for. But we, too, ought to become more committed and determined for those values we hold dear. We have to stand up for what we believe in, for that which defines us, with deep unwavering conviction, and passion and action to match. A half-hearted, casual and uncertain, ambivelant & conditional commitment doesn’t have what it takes to win this type of battle.
At university we’re taught to question everything, and today’s western society emphasizes tolerance at its core. But there are certain extreme, dangerous and hateful behaviors and ideologies that we should have zero tolerance for, that we should abhor and fight against with every fiber of our being. If we do not fight valiantly for these basic human rights and core values, then what do we stand for? True, much of our world is gray, or 50 shades of it, with many angles and factors to each issue and problem. Kabbalistically, we learn that too. But hopefully, there remain certain (pun intended) moral baseline absolutes that are black and white, that we ought to stand for with clarity and confidence, boldly with courage.
Now, of course, don’t go and become fundamentalist about everything, because that’s a big part of what makes us different. But let’s invest, immerse and dedicate ourselves to positive core values or beliefs that we cherish and deepen our conviction and commitment and give it all our all!