Rays of Torah, August 2, 2024

Every Step Counts
Parasha Mattos-Masei (Numbers 30:1—36:13)
Submitted by Rabbi Eliyahu (Elijah) Collins

The tragic and preventable death of Echol Cole and Robert Walker was the impetus to the Memphis Sanitation Strike in February 1968.  During one of their tours, the two African American sanitation workers sought refuge from a torrential rainstorm in a local establishment, however, the owner’s enforcement of the then prevailing laws of segregation resulted in them being denied access and forced into the street. Eventually, they resorted to taking shelter in the compactor of their garbage truck. According to reports, a mechanical malfunction activated the compactor, which trapped both men and crushed them to death.

In the wake of this horrific event, the prominent civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was called upon to be the public voice of the African American community’s pain, increased frustration, and outrage. The challenges of this task were exacerbated by the deepening call for social change, and a growing population of people who were starting to question the efficacy of his agenda for non-violent resistance and economic withdrawal as stratagems to overturn “Jim Crow” laws.  It would be under these pressures that Dr. King would deliver his speech entitled “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top’.

From the outset, Dr. King engaged the audience by sharing with them a fantasy in which the CREATOR affords him a cosmic tour of some of the most momentous occasions throughout history, time, and human civilization. He described having a vision of the most powerful hegemonies at the time when they made their greatest contribution to the world. In his vicarious experience, Dr. King shared his impressions of what it must have been like to witness the red sea being cleft into parts so the Children of Israel could march to the promised land; to  have been in Greece when they were redefining the western world through their art; to have had audience in the pantheon when the great philosophers had their discourse or to be one of the first to walk off a plantation after the Emancipation Proclamation. He later goes on to say that even after all these considerations if the CREATOR asked him to pick a time and an era to which he could go back in time, that he would humbly request to remain in the turbulent times of the Civil Rights movement. Dr. King acknowledged that this is a very baffling statement, especially being in full awareness of the increased threat to his safety and impending violent death. This speech took on an ominous sentiment when Dr. King was assassinated only a few short hours later.  What did Dr. King see in all the struggle that gave him solace and inner peace although he knew his tragic fate?

In our reading of Parasha “Masei” we learn that the CREATOR had instructed Moses to record the journeys of the Children of Israel to the promised land (Numbers  33:2). During this trek they would encounter forty-two stations. Each place they halted was under divine directive as they were bid to march and set camp according to the pillar of cloud or fire that accompanied them. Each location initiated an experience and the opportunity to learn something about themselves and the G-D that was leading them through a wilderness to the land of promise. Some places served as the abode for the Children of Israel for years, other places were temporary dwellings for a few months or days. Some places ushered in a time of response, joy, and contentment, while other locations presented a sense of deprivation, fear, and insecurity.  The response to these environments and triggering events were meticulously journaled whether they revealed the people’s honor or disgrace.  In Moses recording, each station became inextricably tied to the history and destiny of the nation.

The Talmud records a conversation among the sages regarding what happened to the tablets that Moses smashed when he witnessed the people worshipping the golden calf. They concluded that the pieces were collected and stored alongside the second set of tablets (Bava Batra 14b). The broken pieces were not only the remains of the great gift given to them by the CREATOR, inscribed with the very finger of the CREATOR, but their location in the ark conveys a story of the nation’s investment in their relationship with the CREATOR. The second set of tablets came by way Moses carving out the stones and carrying them up the mountain. Hence, the shattered pieces would represent the process, a part of the story as to how the whole tablets were obtained.

From an individual and national perspective, we can relate to the inclination to want to erase, denounce, or disown some of our experiences. Like any good saga, our life is not a static narrative, but evolutionary and transitory, constantly introducing interesting characters, discoveries, and moments. In retrospect, we might wish that some of the phases that we encountered in our life were impervious to the process of time. We were happy. Everything seemed right or at least was falling into place. Our outlook on the future brimmed with hope and promise.  We might ask why did this time have to end? Yet there are moments in which we would love to be a cast member in the Matrix, who takes the blue pill, to completely remove or to pretend that certain things never happened. They never occurred. The thought of them elicits regret, pain, hurt or loss. But these moments and phases, as undesirable as they might be, have had influence on the person you are today. They have for good, bad, or otherwise, shaped your perspective of the world and how you engage it. They exposed deficits and growth areas. They taught you life lessons, revealed your resiliency and resourcefulness. They are an intricate thread in the tapestry of your personal life journey. It is the failures, disappointments and setbacks that can serve as the foundation for growth and success.

Most would agree with the fact that experiences and locations can alter our physical appearance and mood. But did you know that beyond mere thought processes, our experiences can literally change the map patterns of our brain. “There are billons of neurons in the brain that have the same genetic coding, but as the brain develops through experiences in early life, neurons differentiate through specific gene activation. Experience affects the formation of the connections (synapses) among neurons to establish new pathways for brain functioning. These pathways govern our intellectual, emotional, psychological, and physiological response to what we do every day” (Dr. JF Mustard- National Library of Medicine, 2006).

Just as we leave a microscopic imprint on the surfaces we touch; our experiences leave an imprint on how we think and feel. If we do not recognize this, we end up with a distorted and fragmented sense of self. Our egos become inflated. There is a loss of truthful perspective of what we do and the reasons we do them. We don’t see ourselves through a lens of struggle and growth. We see ourselves as those who have arrived, without any connection to what got us there. The potential transformative power of setbacks, disappointments and failures is lost.

Today there is a rigorous campaign by some who are determined to rewrite history. Inability and or unwillingness to grapple with historical moments that are not congruent with the desired public persona have resulted in new and erroneous historical narratives. A little over one year ago, I was invited by Eric Freedman (President of Ahavas Sholom) to attend a video conference to discuss the “Amistad Curriculum” ( a plan for including African and African American history into the New Jersey Social Studies curriculum), which was in response to efforts to remove the topic of African American Slavery from standardized education. The meeting was a eye-opening experience! I could not believe the push there was to not only refuse to discuss the Atlantic Slave trade and all its horror, but to purport that the millions and millions of Africans imported to the US, were not forced, but offered the opportunity to be indentured servants. This is now the proposed take to be told to current and future generations. There is also a proliferation of dangerous rhetoric and propaganda that aim to question the validity of the Holocaust. These lies seek to disregard and devalue the horrific death of over six million European Jews. There is a refusal by some to acknowledge the pain and suffering endured by Jews, which today continues to fuel the flames of antisemitism through antisemitic tropes, desecration of synagogues, and violence. It is unfortunate that for some to ennoble their people through history they need to denigrate another people. Ethnic cleansing is not only accomplished through the sword and instruments of war, but through the stroke of the pen and alteration of the chronicles of time. 

This destructive agenda will prove successful over time unless it is constantly challenged.  There must be a reinforcement of truth through preservation of our history through written and oral means. It can never be solely left to others to tell the story of our people; that is ultimately our responsibility. We must remember that for many of us, these incorrect narratives are an attempt to miseducate or re-educate those who know the history, however if they are left unchecked, these narratives would be the story taught to future generations, with no other narratives to counter them. Students would have no reason to question a single narrative taught as history.

Torah teaches us that every human experience is valuable. It encourages us to embrace life it its wholeness, to share in pains and joys and to recognize that they are all part of our continuous story. This integration of joy and sorrow is deeply integrated in our Jewish practices. During our services for festive and agricultural seasons we pray Yizkor. Five days after our Purim fast, we observe the feast of Sukkot. We break a glass (in memory of the destruction of the two temples) during a wedding. In the diaspora we hope for our return home. The Torah gives us the directive to “not forget’.  Our challenge is to embrace the challenges of the present day, with the assurance that we were created and made for this moment, that given all that the CREATOR has invested in us, this is the time that we were built for, and called upon to effect positive change in the world. Our personal Tikkun Olam is not in another era, but now! This is where and when we are to help influence not only today, but the world of tomorrow.

I believe that this is what comforted Dr. King. He ended his speech by proclaiming, “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place, but I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will, and He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the Promised Land.” From this elevated vantage point, I think that he could see that every step mattered because it was necessary to be able to turn the page of time.