Politics
This past Shabbat, I invited a conversation on how best to be helpful to people at this time of unsettled and challenging news. From this, Rabbi Graff and I have learned several things:
First, we should be clear on our values. For example, we believe in the rights of LGBTQ people and want Kol Emeth to remain a home that is welcoming to all. We wish the whole country could also extend such love and welcome as is found in our walls and we stand with our LGBTQ community in working to extend such welcome through our actions, words, and deeds. I would say the same of immigrants. We are grateful to the immigrants who make up the KE community. We want our country to welcome the stranger with love and compassion. This is why KE (including the Booth family) partnered with local aid agencies during the pandemic to make sure immigrants both legal and not had housing, food, and stability. This is why I have quietly been an advocate on several occasions for people’s green cards and even sponsored a student financially so she could stay in the US.
Second, our community craves Torah. People would appreciate sessions on Shabbat and at other times on issues like reproductive freedom, immigration, or even trade policy. Such sessions would add Jewish sources to help people form their own opinions. Similarly, people would benefit from sessions on finding equilibrium at difficult times or how to find calm and compassion amid anger and instability.
Third, many in our community are experiencing disruption and direct impacts from new policies. These disruptions include grants that are cancelled or disappear, job insecurity, and immigration challenges. Offering comfort and love in such moments is a core responsibility of our clergy and community.
Fourth, many turn to Shabbat as a time to unplug, to get away from the rancor and pain the news often brings in its wake. We are committed to sustaining Shabbat at Kol Emeth as a time of healing and restoration, a time away from the divisiveness of modern politics. By the same token, there is an opportunity to explore more challenging topics at other times.
Fifth, Kol Emeth is committed to welcome. We extend welcome to people across a variety of political views. We are committed to staying away from the partisan and focusing on deep Torah and Jewish values. There are plenty of places to express oneself in a partisan manner; we believe Kol Emeth has something sacred and important to offer by being a Sanctuary from such types of expression.
Both Rabbi Graff and I want to hold, nurture, and guide our community through these turbulent times. We believe that Torah, prayer and community can strengthen all of us to bring more wisdom and compassion into our political and other discourse.
May this Passover be a time of healing, redemption, and compassion.
Rabbi David Booth
