KOL YISRAEL ARAVEN ZEH BAZEH

SERMON    Behar-B’chukotai    May 12, 2023    21 Iyyar 5783

KOL YISRAEL ARAVEN ZEH BAZEH        כל ישראל ערבין זה בזה

(on the occasion of Lior Todd’s bar mitzvah)

Lior, as we gather here for Shabbat on this absolutely beautiful Vermont day, and as we begin to celebrate your becoming bar mitzvah, we also know that in Israel, over 1000 missiles have been fired from Gaza, and Israel has responded with air raids and the assassination of key terrorist leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.  We gather on Shabbat to enjoy a bit of peace and wholeness, but we know that tonight, many people in Israel welcomed the Sabbath in bomb shelters and that the people of Gaza who have little power to control the terrorist groups that have hijacked their homes are also waiting anxiously to see where the next explosion is. 

This far away, in the peace of Vermont, that seems so very far away, and many of us – most – are uneasy with some of Israel’s policies lately and the growing bigotry of Israeli Jews toward Palestinians and Palestinians toward Jews.  Plus, it’s Shabbat, and your bar mitzvah, so why am I bringing this up?

First, because as Jews, we believe this world and our actions in it are what matters, right here and right now, so what is happening there matters to us.  Justice and Peace there matter to us. 

Second, half of the world’s Jews live in Israel, and while we might not agree with the government’s policies there – or here – we know that half of our people are living in bomb shelters, or just waiting for the air raid sirens to go off and tell them missiles are coming.  While Justice and Peace matter to us, so does the safety of the Jewish people.   

The Torah tells us that God fell in love with the Jewish people, not because they were the most well-behaved and easy to manage – we weren’t – nor because we were large and powerful – we weren’t.  No, the Torah tells us: 

It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that יהוה grew attached to you and chose you—indeed, you are the smallest of peoples-

And for us living today, we are not only a small people, but we are a people who have been through the worst things that people have ever done to other people.  As you are becoming bar mitzvah, we are still living in the aftermath of the Holocaust when 6,000,000 of us were murdered - that was 2/3 of Europe’s Jews and 40% of the world’s entire Jewish population. 

Between Crusades, pogroms, expulsions, and genocide, we Jews living today are the proud remnant of a people that is so resilient that not only have we survived, but we are also thriving and that is something to be very very proud of.

But this also carries with it a certain burden on us to keep going, and to not let those people who hate us for no reason win.  It is not fair that we carry this burden, but neither the privileges nor the burdens we carry are fair.  They are the results of things we had no part in, and yet we can’t just pretend we have no responsibility to other Jews and to the Jewish people. 

The Talmud teaches us that KOL YISRAEL AREVIM ZE BAZEH, all Jews are responsible for one another, that we are guarantors for one another.   That is, we have a special duty to other Jews and the Jewish community, “not because we are the greatest, but because we are the smallest.” 

Now of course, we believe that all people are created in the image of God, b’tzelem Elohim, and that to kill any human being is to destroy an entire world, as the Talmud also teaches us.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a special duty to our people, especially when we are under attack.

Just like we have a different level of responsibility to our families than we do to others, and we have more responsibility to our friends than to strangers, so we, as Jews, have a particular responsibility to our small tribe, especially after what we’ve been through.

You can think of it as a sort of loyalty, but it is more than that – I believe it is our sacred duty to defend our people, stand up for our people, and to contribute to building the Jewish community in ways large and small.  You can choose to ignore this duty, as many do, but as you celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah, I want to suggest to you that while you can ignore it, it doesn’t mean you aren’t still responsible for doing your part to make sure we not only survive but grow and flourish. 

All people are connected.  As Martin Luther King famously said, “All men” – all people – “are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”   That is inescapably true, as social media has made the world much smaller in terms of how we affect each other across great distances.

But Martin Luther King’s focus in life was on helping his people, the African American community because he knew that while he was connected to all people, he had a special responsibility to his own.

We should follow his example, especially in these times of returning antisemitism and violence against us.

Kol Yisrael Arevim Zebah Zeh – all Jews carry a responsibility one for the other.  

Lior as you become bar mitzvah, you take on this covenant, and as you grow to adulthood in the coming years, I hope you will remember that.  I want you to become your own person and do life in your way, but as you are sorting out who you are and where you will devote yourself, I hope you will remember what we’ve studied in class and what you’ve learned here and carry it with you into the world -  that you are always deeply proud of being Jewish, that you contribute in your own ways to the betterment of the Jewish community and the world, and that you stand up for your people when we are under attack. 

Kol Yisrael Arevim Zebah Zeh.  (song:  We are All Connected)

KOL YISRAEL AREVIM  (We are all Connected)

   Ken Chasen and Yossi Zweibeck

When you stumble  - I fall

We're not that separate at all

In your danger  -  I fear

So far apart and yet so near

When I'm searching --For what's right

You're there to point me toward the light

And you show me    The way

By what you do and what you say

Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh

Kol Yisrael areivim-we are all connected

I look in your eyes  - And I see

You're my responsibility

And let our hope  - Never cease

We'll live to see the day of peace  CHORUS

One spirit  -  One heart

We'll never be apart