Genesis 25:19-28:9
In 1985, an entire city block in Philadelphia, about two miles from my childhood home, went up in flames. This was not an accident, but rather a deliberate attempt by the city leadership to remove an armed separatist group called MOVE from one of the homes on the block by dropping a smoke bomb on its roof. The situation went from bad to worse as dozens of fire trucks stood on standby waiting for the signal to put out the fire. The mayor and others, hoping to “smoke” out the residents of the home, refused to give it until it was too late. By the time it was over, eleven people were dead and sixty-one houses destroyed.
As a child, I remember watching the dark plumes that covered the sky over my home perplexed by what was happening. Ironically, our synagogue president, Bruce Corris was also at the scene, working for one of the local television stations covering the story. In many ways, both of our lives were altered by that fateful day, forever marked not only by the tragedy, but by the city’s inability to ask for forgiveness. Now, over thirty-five years later, the city finally has, passing a resolution last week that acknowledged that a “hasty, reckless decision by the police commissioner and fire commissioner to use the fire as a tactical weapon was unconscionable.”
Starting with this week’s Torah portion, Toldot, and continuing throughout the remainder of the book of Genesis, our matriarchs and patriarchs will struggle with their missteps and their inability to ask forgiveness from those whom they have wronged. This week it is Jacob intentionally stealing both his brother Esau’s birthright, and his blessing with the assistance of his mother Rebekah. Later, Rachel and Leah will continue these sibling rivalries, passing their cruelty down to their children as well. In many of these cases, apologies will eventually come and relationships, in time, are healed. But, over and over, just as in the case of the MOVE fires, we are forced to ask the question that I ask in the title of these Torah Thoughts, “Is there a shelf life for forgiveness?”
The short answer is no. There is always time. Even after the original victims have already died, the mark remains, like a hole on an entire city block that still has not been properly rebuilt all these years later. So, while much has changed in the three decades since the MOVE fires, but both Bruce and I are grateful that the city council finally took the actions that it did. Finally, after all this time, true healing can begin.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex