There was a town filled with good people who cared about one another, cared about the world, and cared about doing what’s right.
This town was located next to a river that happened to have a very steep and dangerous waterfall. One day one of the townspeople happened to be walking by the river and saw someone struggling in the river, unable to get out, heading dangerously close to the waterfall. Fortunately, the townsperson found a tree branch, threw it to the person in the river and pulled them out just in the nick of time.
Later, the town held a meeting. Everyone was concerned. They all agreed that something had to be done. They discussed and debated, they debated and discussed, and ultimately, they decided to place a guard at the river’s edge. The guard would have a long pole and safety equipment and would be able to pull people from the river. This worked for a while, and as time went on, there were more and more people being rescued by the guard. Almost too many people for one guard to rescue. The town had another meeting, they talked again about the problem and added a second guard.
Time went on, and it came to be that there were almost too many people for the two guards to handle. The town had another meeting. Someone suggested putting a net across the river that could catch people, thereby giving the guards more time to rescue them and pull them to safety. People really liked this idea. They had almost come to a decision, when someone stood up and yelled, “The solution to the problem is to go upstream and find out why people are falling in the river in the first place.”
As Jews, we are obligated to participate in matters that affect the community as a whole. It is a waste of time and energy to stand downstream and fish people out of the river. It is our obligation, to prevent people from falling in, in the first place.
Therefore, I feel obligated to be politically aware, knowledgeable, and active. We are commanded to know what is happening around us and to try and repair the injustices in our world. We cannot simply turn the channel or scroll past the news that is hard to bear.
This past weekend I had the privilege of taking seven of our [B’nai Jehudah] teens to Washington, D.C., for a L'Taken gathering. We went with the Religious Action Center, the lobbying arm of the Union of Reform Judaism. We began the weekend with Shabbat services with 500 teens from across the United States, learned how policy is enacted, and how lobbying and Congress can have the biggest impact.
The teens visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Mall, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Memorial, and they had Havdalah on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. After learning about myriad upcoming bills, they chose the topics they were most passionate about and wrote speeches to present to our U.S. Congress members from Kansas and Missouri, before rooting our Kansas City Chiefs on to victory in a room filled with Philadelphia Eagles fans.
On Monday, Feb. 13, we hit Capitol Hill with fervor. These teens became Jewish adults before my eyes. Even though they can't yet vote, they lobbied on behalf of 1.8 million Jews in the United States. They spoke articulately to our representatives’ staff members about their concerns with our country. They used sacred text to explain to our leaders how Judaism influences their thinking and beliefs. They lobbied on behalf of gun violence prevention, environmental action, economic justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and mental health services in school.
To hear excerpts of their speeches, join [B’nai Jehudah] for Erev Shabbat services on Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. Learn how you too can go upstream and help L’Taken; repair our fractured world.
Rabbi Stephanie Kramer is the senior rabbi at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah. This editorial is one of Rabbi Kramer’s “Beyond the Bima” messages.