Responding to the Shofar's Blast

Rabbi Joel Fleekop

Friday, September 23, 2005

During this, the month of Elul, synagogues around the world end their weekday services with the blowing of the Shofar. A blast that calls us to action, a blast that calls us to the process of tshuvah.

The shofar, the ram’s horn, with its ancient and haunting sounds is traced back to our ancestor Abraham, who, as we will be reminded on Rosh Hashanah, sacrificed a ram in place of his son Isaac. Abraham, our tradition tells us, was among the most righteous persons of all generations, more righteous than Noach and more righteous than Job.

In Avot d’Rabbi Natan, the Rabbis tell the story of how Job, seeking an explanation for his suffering, contests God’s designation of Abraham as the most righteous.

Job wonders why he gets no credit for abstaining for so long from the blame game played by his friends. He surely suffered more than Abraham, for while Isaac was saved, no pardon was issued for Job’s children. Rhetorically he asks, “Did I not feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked?” Job makes a compelling case for himself, and wonders why if he is blameless he is not the most righteous.

Like Job, many of our leaders have been making a strong case for themselves. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, officials from all levels of government have been doing their best to show that they are not to blame.

They rhetorically ask, “Did I not try to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked?”

Going even further than Job, our leaders have proven their innocence by showing us who really is at fault. Michael Brown, the former director of FEMA, Brownie, a man who by some own accounts was doing a heck of job, is to blame. They are innocent.

The fact of the matter is, it doesn’t really matter if the Mayor Nagin of New Orleans, the Governors of the Gulf States, and the President are all blameless. It doesn’t matter because, as God explains to Job, being righteous and being a leader means a lot more than just being blameless.

God responds to Job by acknowledging that he has done many just and righteous things. He has lived a good life and helped those less fortunate than himself. But Abraham has done more. God tells Job that “Where you invited hungry guests into your home and greeted them when they came to the door, Abraham ran out to greet them and invited them inside. What’s more, Abraham busied himself building roadside inns and stocking them with wine and food so that there no longer would be tired and hungry travelers.

God tells Job that while he is surely blameless, and while he worked to alleviate the suffering of others, Abraham is more righteous because he worked to eliminate the suffering of others. Abraham is righteous because he didn’t wait to be confronted by an acute need, but rather saw the things in the world in need of repair and proactively set out to fix them.

This is the standard God sets for righteous actions, and this is what we have the right to demand of our leaders. We have the right to demand our government be proactive in preventing suffering.

Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster and if you are looking for someone to be angry with over the existence of hurricanes, you have come to the right place, its God. But the severity and devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is in part the result of the actions and inactions of our government.

As Nicholas Kristoff points out in a recent New York Times editorial, no one can directly link Hurricane Katrina to global warming. No one make a direct link, but relying on the research of noted scientists, including Kerry Emanuel of M.I.T., Kristoff makes a compelling argument that green house gases increase the intensity of hurricanes.

While the debate over green house gases continues, what isn’t disputed is the devastating effect of the loss of wet lands. Wetlands serve as a speed bump for hurricanes, absorbing their impact. New Orleans, which is now almost directly exposed to the Gulf of Mexico, used to be protected by miles of wetlands. But since 1930, 1,900 square miles of wetlands have vanished from the area, the result of mishandled Mississippi River management.

Actions could have been taken to curb the effect of global warming and the disappearance of wetlands. Actions could have been taken proactively, but they weren’t.

And then there is the question of infrastructure. This is what Abraham provided for the needy travelers, building inns along the highways and trade routes. Abraham invested his time and resources in providing things necessary for public safety, but such projects aren’t very glamorous. And so our government’s resources are spent not rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, but rather pleasing constituents. The recent transportation bill passed by the congress includes $24 billion worth of vote buying, special interest pork projects. As George Will points out, this is 10 times more than the amount of the levee New Orleans needed. The government could have taken preventative actions, but it didn’t.

The pictures from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast illustrate the failures of environmental policy and infrastructure. But perhaps most sharply, they highlight our failure to create economic justice.

Forty one years ago President Johnson declared a war on poverty. The war was declared but in the process of winning, and losing, and stalemating, other wars, our government seems to have forgotten that this war was being waged. An underclass, disproportionately minority and disproportionately young, exists in too many of our cities. Hurricane Katrina exposed the vulnerabilities of this segment of our nation, but they have been vulnerable for a long time, for generations. Again proactive actions could have been taken, by all levels of government, but they weren’t.

I want to be clear in stating that our nation’s struggles with the environment, infrastructure, and poverty did not begin with this administration. They are not the result of one political party or ideology. Leaders from both sides of the aisle have ignored these issues and have failed to take proactive actions. We have the right to demand more from our leaders. We have the right to demand more from them, but we also have the obligation to expect more from ourselves.

America as a whole, and the Jewish community in particular responded to the needs of Hurricane Katrina’s victims with remarkable speed and generosity. People not only wrote checks but got involved in gathering food, and toiletries, and blankets. Shocked by images of Americans dying from hunger and dehydration, people donated and continue to donate not only their money but themselves and their time. The response was truly remarkable. But the questions remain, weren’t many of these people in need before the hurricane? Why didn’t we help then?

In the days after Katrina, Barbara Bush was criticized for insensitively suggesting that life would be better off for many of those now living in the Houston Astrodome then it was in New Orleans before the hurricane. Her words may be insensitive, but from the simple measure of having shelter and three meals a day, they are not entirely inaccurate. For years and in some cases generations, families and neighborhoods have been living below the poverty line. But we only noticed them, only became willing to help after the little they had was taken away by nature’s wrath.

Like Job we have been good at meeting the acute needs of others. In an emergency we are quick to respond with food, clothing, and shelter. But we need to expect more from ourselves. We need to push ourselves to be more like Abraham who not only provided comfort to those in crisis, but worked to prevent crisis from occurring. And so I urge you, as you continue to donate food, clothing, and money to meet the needs of those less fortunate, whether on the Gulf Coast or here in Silicon Valley, you also think about joining an organization or group like our Social Justice Committee which is working to change the underlying social, political and economic forces that hold people in poverty.

During the month of Elul the shofar is blown calling us to action. And when its clarion call is heard, we respond with prayer and with acts of tshuvah. So too we responded to the piercing blast of 24 hour news coverage, calling us to help the victims of hurricane Katrina. We have responded to the call for help, but just as after Yom Kippur the Shofar will go silent, we know all too well that the news cycle will soon move on. But the needs of those less fortunate than us will still be there. And so we pray and promise that our response to the shofar’s blast, to the call for help, will last much longer than the sound of tkiyah gedolah.