As a student of Columbia University in the early 90s, I lived in the aftermath of the civil unrest of the late 60s. Tall gates stood guard each time you entered or exited the long city campus. While they remained open during my entire college career, their threat of closing hung over us like a warning. An entire underground network of tunnels that had once provided easy access during inclement weather, had been completely blocked off and unavailable for decades. These tunnels had been used by students to infiltrate the administration and hold the campus hostage. All of these measures were meant to prevent exactly the type of unrest we have seen in the news today.
This week’s Torah portion Acharei Mot, or after the death, contains a similar threat that the gates of Columbia held for us. Rashi, the famous medieval Jewish commentator, writes that the portion’s name acts like a warning by a physician not to do a particular action because it will lead to death. He writes you are much less likely to follow such instructions if they didn’t contain such a dire warning. Yet, as harsh as the opening of the portion is, our ancestors must have known it was not foolproof. As much as we try to prevent accidents, they still happen. The advocates of flight regulations after the crash of flight 3407, know this too well.
Fifty-six years separate today’s unrest from the one that occurred in 1968, an entire lifetime. Not only were this current set of students not alive in the last one, neither were many of their parents. While I didn’t understand the extreme precautions the university took when I was a student, I most certainly do now. Perhaps there had been wisdom in their actions, but it was never foolproof. We cannot prevent the pain of the past from seeping into the future, but we can continue to strive to remember to lessen the chances of repeating our past mistakes. As a Jew, as a rabbi, as a Zionist, my heart hurts for the current crop of students. May peaceful times return and may the gates of Columbia return to silent sentinels, allowing the free access to learning on the campus of my Alma mater.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex