Rabbi's Weekly Message
"Healing Open Wounds" 27th August 2010
In 1985 I was in a bad car accident on my way to services on Kol Nidrei. At the corner of Burton Way and Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills, just blocks away from the temple, my 1992 Toyota Celica was t-boned by a much larger pickup truck. Although I was not seriously injured, I was knocked unconscious for a few seconds. A nearby resident who happened to know me gave me a ride to the temple and I performed my duties as Jr. Rabbi and Jr. Cantor that Yom Kippur as usual. The rabbis and cantors thought my actions were beyond the call of duty and even dedicated a leaf on the temple’s Tree of Life in my honor that still remains today.
Like most teenagers, I experienced that “rite of passage,” my first car accident. When I called my parents to tell them the details, my mom said that they would bring two cars to temple that night so I could drive home myself. This taught me an important lesson: that when you get knocked off the horse, you pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get right back on again. We have so many other clichés that also teach that important lesson but sadly, I am afraid that our country has not taken that lesson to heart.
I believe that at the core of the consternation expressed in recent weeks over the proposed Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan is the fact that the World Trade Center towers have not been rebuilt. Even worse, there is no permanent memorial to those who perished there on 9/11. In contrast, the Pentagon was immediately reconstructed after the damage it sustained and a memorial does stand today at the plane crash site in Shanksville, PA. But Ground Zero remains a collective open wound.
Sadly and unfortunately, our nation collectively lives with many open wounds. For many, Viet Nam, the assassinations of the 1960s, Watergate, even slavery and the civil war movement remain difficult topics to comprehend, understand, and put into context. This very weekend also marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Although many promises of money and rebuilding were quickly made, the follow through has been slow and lacking. News reports detail many areas that remain untouched from those terrible and shocking days of death and devastation.
Individually and collectively, we are good at responding emotionally and viscerally to images we see on television or to emails that tug on our heart strings. We feel as though we have to do something so we quickly react. But our attention span is short and long term commitment and follow through is certainly not our strong suit.
The Jewish people has had its share of dark ages and tragic events. We have lived through and survived the cruelest of humanity’s behavior and been victimized by demonic hatred. Yet, I would venture to say that our ability to survive and continue despite such challenges is that we were able to turn such negatives into positives. We were able to learn important lessons and teach those lessons to the rest of humanity. We were able to sooth if not heal the open wounds of history by strengthening each other and by working towards fulfilling the prophetic promises. I am sorry to say that as Americans, we have not done the same with respect to the wounds of American history. However, I have hope and Judaism and Jewish history teach and preach optimism and promise for the future. So, I pray that the lessons of Jewish history will serve as an example for our fellow Americans. I pray that we will together turn the negatives into positives, sooth and heal the wounds, and in doing so, we will strengthen ourselves and all future generations.
Tonight at Temple we will have our fabulous Musical Shabbat Service at 7:30 PM featuring piano, three guitars, and drums! Tonight’s service will be carried live over the Internet at www.templebethtikvah.com (click on Live Services). Tomorrow, we will have Torah Study at 9:00 AM and our Shabbat morning service at 10:00 AM. Have a great weekend.
Kenneth Milhander
