I
recently had a marvelous experience. I was making copies at Office Max for a
class I'm teaching. As I was waiting to pay, I noticed large pictures of a WWII
torpedo bomber floating in the water near an aircraft carrier on the counter. A
very elderly man was standing there with a ball cap that said "28th
Torpedo Bomber Squadron." I asked, "Is that you?" He answered
"Yep, about 70 years ago. We just came back from a torpedo run against the
Japanese fleet. I ran out of fuel and had to ditch my bird." I said,"
WOW!" I thanked him for his service and told him how much what he and so
many others did is appreciated. His big smile was his thanks. He said, "Back
then, we had a job to do, and we did it. It's not like now and all this
terrible violence." I responded,
"Amen!"
I
remember when I was growing up and eating dinners as a family. The TV would be
on and the news would list the daily body counts during the Vietnam War. They
were just numbers, the dead, the wounded the missing. After a while, they were
just numbers, not people to many of those watching the news. Of course, it was
a very different situation to those involved and their families. But, all of
this violence took place in a war where violence was the only option for the
soldiers.
Doing
the work that I do -- dealing with
homicide, suicide, domestic violence and PTSD -- violence is “the chosen
response.” More and more American civilians are “choosing” to respond to
adversity and disagreements with acts of violence. What is the problem? We
could go back and forth about whether violent video games and movies have
numbed the senses. No one has to deal with a problem -- just blow everyone away! I do not and never have played video games.
I usually have too much to do. But really, the best “game” I ever play is the
one in my mind, which we used to call "imagination." I can go
anywhere, be anything and do anything at any time. And it's all on the screen
in my mind. My game allows me to consider the outcomes of different choices I
am considering. I wonder if video games offer different options – without violence – as possible responses
to problems. Nah, that probably would never fly!
Violence
is everywhere today.
● I just finished reading about
"mobs" of Buddhists in Myanmar. They are attacking the small Muslim
minority people called Rohingya who endured killings, extortion and beatings
and expulsion from the country.
● Locally, a16 year old boy murdered a 16 year
old girl who was a “close friend.”
● Another person was stabbed to death because
she wanted her "boyfriend" to move out due to domestic violence.
Maybe
this violence is the new normal reaction to not having individual needs
gratified immediately. Maybe it is because the perpetrators of violence were
never taught about how to act as a mature moral adult who understands that much
of this life does not give us what we want and how to cope with disappointment.
When
I was in the Seminary, one of my professors said a most profound thing. He
said, "There is no freedom, without
the discipline of Torah!" We read the Torah every week in synagogues
together. We learn how those in the Torah responded to different situations and
see them in light of the instructions given in the Torah. We also acquire
shared values that we can build community relationships on. Without shared core
values, everyone acts as “an individual” and does whatever they want (or have
learned to act by watching others) – there is no common ground. First you have
chaos in individual lives and then it spreads throughout communities.
The
Hebrew word “Torah” means, “instruction and teaching.” The teaching establishes
the core shared values. In the Torah, the first values and standard revealed
are those the Creator uses to judge His own actions – we call them TOV Values
& the TOV Standard. This allows us to measure our actions, as well as the
actions of others, by a common standard that holds the protection and
preservation of human life as its highest value.
Chances
increase tremendously among those who hold core TOV Values that their response to
adversity and disagreement will not be violence. You see, there is something
that happens when individuals who hold TOV Values get to know each other – they learn to trust. Something that is
being left out of the discussions on violence is the massive loss of trust in
our world. The Torah teaches that it is our individual and collective
responsibility to “repair our world.” It requires trust – we must learn to trust ourselves and each other. This leads to
SHALOM – peace, totality, and wholeness
in our world.
Tomorrow
is Veteran’s Day and it is important to remember the men and women who have
served in the military. Many experienced the violence of war. We want to thank
them for their service and commitment.
Choose
Life by Doing TOV!
Rabbi
Jeffrey Leynor
