When then, 15- year-old Greta Thunberg started protesting in August of 2018 in front of the Swedish parliament building every single Friday in the name of climate justice, it was clear that something in the world had changed.
When she sailed across the Atlantic in a zero-emissions yacht a year later, spending fifteen days on the high seas, that feeling only got stronger.
When sat across from some of the most powerful people in the world at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York City on September 23rd, and stared them down, I felt it with every fiber of my being.
When she berated them in a strong, clear voice saying, “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!”
I knew it for sure.
It was the same feeling I had a few weeks before when 86-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg had visited our city and stood for selfies among many young adoring fans, pronouncing justice “not to be only in the heavens,” but to be with the people.
The felt like finally after thousands of years, the age of prophecy had returned only this time it was not being sent by us middle of the packers, but by the young and the old alike, leading, finally to a time when everyone can be included in its call.
(As if to prove my point, I opened yesterday’s Buffalo news and following two headlines:
“’Junior Detectives’ on bicycles find missing woman, 97” – about four ten and eleven year olds who went on an exhaustive two-hour-ride around their neighborhood in Sacramento to locate a dementia patient who had wandered loose.
And, then in the City and Region section, a story about the impending closing of the Blocher Home and the dozens of seniors there holding a protest, including a 104-year-old whose sign read “I’m Leaving here feet-first!)
On Yom Kippur we hear Isaiah’s cry asking us, “if this is the fast I desire? For people to starve their bodies? No this is the fast I want – to unlock the fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, to untie every yoke.”
We read about Jonah’s voyage in the belly of the whale and his cry for the people of Nineveh to repent.
Compelling texts, but both missing key ingredients: more than fifty percent of society at the time was entirely absent from view.
In the Torah, outside of a few lines of Miriam dancing with her timbrels, women and children are barely mentioned. Yet, we know exactly where they were in the Israelite camp. They were way in the back, so far removed from the leadership that there were scant troops to even protect them from attack.
We know from this primarily from the story of Amalek, the Israelite’s first nemesis and greatest rival, our Joker to the ancient our Batman.
Amalek, whose descendants are said to include both Haman and Hitler, had a particularly insidious way of attacking, not from the front like every other well- mannered foes, but from behind.
And why was that so intolerable to the Ancient Israelites, so much so that we were commanded not only to defeat Amalek, but to blot out the very memory of their existence?
By attacking from the back, they hit our most vulnerable – namely, the rabbis tell us, the women, children, elderly, infirmed, and afflicted. This rabbinic gloss on the ancient scripture tells us all we need to know about how the Israelites viewed these classes of people: they were an afterthought in the Exodus from Egypt, slow, weak, meanders, who were no match for any foe.
But, now the tide has finally begun to change. I pity the modern day Amalek who chooses to attack our rear flank. The Greta Thunberg and Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s of the world will be ready for them.
I have seen this transformation not only on the global stage, but right here amongst us. And, I, for one, am inspired.
Let me tell you just a few of the individuals not only by what they have done, but who they are as human beings.
First, with our younger members:
Kids like middle school and elementary school students Arielle and Tamar Braverman who, on their own, started a youth environmental club, helped organize the local Friday strikes, and even evicted plastic straws from the Lexington Co-op.
Or, Bnei Mitzvah students like Marlowe Bloomberg who brought her entire theater troupe into Oshai’s Children’s Hospital to cheer up patients there.
Or, Lea Hendler and Lillie Klaiman who prepared welcome kits for newly minted Americans this past spring.
Or, Sam Lukin Johnson who has volunteered as a teacher at Buffalo String Works, a local non profit that helps introduce refugees to music.
Or, how about, Jacob Place who created a Parkinson’s Awareness Day at his school to help his father suffering from the disease.
And, let us not forget the work of Alexa Zappia and her Rocks of Unity project promoting kindness and diversity started right here at Shir Shalom in honor of Cantor Susan Wehle of blessed memory.
These youngsters have sisters and brothers in arms on the other end of the age spectrum. Every year it seems like many of our most senior members get younger, not older. It is as if the fountain of youth is flowing right here in Buffalo.
How about centenarian Ruth Lansing, who just last year was featured on BBC radio recounting the intense sound of breaking glass she personally witnessed eighty years ago during Kristalnacht, and whose story made it all the way to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Or, Grace Bluestone and Gloria Tetewski who in their mid-nineties continue to write poetry and serve as leaders in our community.
Or, Rella Corris who, despite aches and pains, almost never misses a synagogue board meeting, and continues to be a vital volunteer in our office.
Or, for that matter, Jennie Pohl who continues to be a key volunteer for CSS at just shy of a hundred.
Or, our local version of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Maryann Saccomando Freedman who became the first female president of the New York State Bar in 1987 and continues to fight for gender equality in Western New York today.
The list goes on and on, as both young and old have fought their way to the front of the line, eager to demonstrate to all of us of the many ways they can contribute to the greater good of society.
And, this is a very good thing. Because It seems that as time progresses, the problems we face as human beings only get bigger. We need an all hands on deck approach to help create the positive change needed to stem the tide of indifference and despair.
At the Red Sea, the rabbis tell us time stood still as the Israelites stood trapped between a rock and a hard place, between Pharaoh’s army and the raging sea. In their version of the story it is Nachshon, who helps unstick us, stepping willingly into the waters of the Red Sea.
In my version, it is Miriam and her army of women, children, young and old, infirmed and healthy who dance their way to freedom.
We need not travel in a yacht for fifteen days across the sea, or single handedly break the gender barrier on the Supreme Court to make a difference. We each, in our way, can do the small things necessary to make big changes possible.
Our tradition teaches that simple actions of Chesed, loving kindness, like visiting the sick, welcoming the stranger, and comforting the bereaved, can go a long way. To those I would add lessons we often teach to children, but forget when we are adults: saying “thank you,” saying “I’m sorry,” saying “I forgive you,” and saying “I love you.”
You may have noticed a sticky note on your leaflets today with the words “Here I am; Send me.” and have been wondering what that meant.
The line is from Isaiah, the central prophets of Yom Kippur, chapter six verse eight, where God sees the wickedness on earth and asks who he should send.
“Hineni, Shelachani,” “Here I am; Send me.” is Isaiah’s reply.
On the Netflix miniseries “Unbelievable” (yes rabbis do watch TV), which tells the story of the police investigation that led to the arrest of a serial rapist in Colorado in 2011 A pair of female cops lead the way. One of them played by Merret Wever is a devout Christian who has this verse written on a sticky note posted on her car. Her work is hard and often goes underappreciated. As one of the only women in a department of men, it would be easy for her just to defer. The verse is a reminder to her that someone has to do the job, why shouldn’t it be her.
As we look out at the immense challenges that face us as individuals in the year ahead, it would be easy to tell ourselves we are too young, or too old, too weak, or too dis-engaged. This sticky note is there to tell you otherwise. Put it on your dashboard or computer or front door. Remind yourselves that your voice matters, that you matter, and that when the time comes, you may just be the one who helps make positive change in the world.
After her journey across the Atlantic, feeling sea tossed and wary, Greta Thunberg was asked why she had embarked on the journey in the first place. The young woman, whose natural tendency is to shy away from the spotlight, answered something to the effect of, “I was one of the few people on earth who could, so I did.”
I leave you with one of my favorite quote’s from Anne Frank, and one that I recently saw on the wall at the Jewish Community Center: “How wonderful it is that nobody need to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
A Tzam Kal, an easy and meaningful fast, and a sweet and joyous year to us all.
Last Updated on 11/03/2019 by Marc Slonim