I am so grateful to be back in London to celebrate a family Bar Mitzvah and to be able to reconnect with friends and family. With all the pain of this world, I do not take for granted the privilege I have to be able to travel and maintain important relationships with the places and people of my childhood. Truthfully, with all of the craziness in the US right now with the January 6th hearings and the painful and alarming decisions of the US Supreme Court, I am also grateful to have a break and, fankly, to skip July 4th this year. It seems that we are in the midst of a moral civil war and the tensions and conflicts are explosive. I do hope for peaceful and joyful celebrations of independance as I sit here in land from which you all gained it!
The namesake of this week's parsha, Korach, is seen by the rabbis as the ultimate rebel without a cause, or more acurately, someone's who discontent, arguments and disputes are not for the "sake of heaven" but for the sake of his own ego and power grabbing. The very concept of "an argument for the sake of heaven - machloket l'shem shamyaim" is intriguing and complex, but seems to be a disagreement where both parties grow, learn, expand and neither party needs to win. If an argument is genuinely for the sake of heaven, if you win, you might also lose and if you lose, you might actually win. The counterpoint to Korach in the mishnah (Avot 5:17) is the nature of the disputes between Hillel Shamai whose "end endures," meaning the debates continue, unlike Korach and his company who were literally swallowed up by the earth.
As we see the intensity of partisan divides and the hostility from one side to the other, as well as extreme religious and political beliefs thrust upon supposedly impartial legal opinions with claims of constitutional correctness and against the will of the majority of the people, it is hard to see this as truth or argument for the sake of heaven. What are the limits I have been wondering, of us being able to hold in repsect views and opinions contrary to own, seeing the truth within them? The 20th Century Danish quantum physicist Neals Bohr said: "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." The distinctions a correct statement and a profound truth have become very murky and with it there has been an ever increasing breakdown of civil discourse. I wish for us all that we can be inspired by the generosity of Hillel and his school who were kind and thoughtful and taught their own and Shamai's opinions, quoting Shamai's first out of respect. The rage and disbelief that some of us feel in this moment make it challenging at best to see the partial truths in views we despise, yet we need to search for them if they are to be found until they cross intolerable moral lines. Of course we do not and should not all agree, but let's agree to disagree with kindness and patience for the other. When we can.
Thank you to Rabbi Rosalie Osian for leading and teaching this Shabbat and to all who help keep our services alive and well.
Happy 4th of July.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Marc
