A Snapshot of Our Nation

I was reading the Sunday paper and turned to the Nation section of the Dallas Morning News. I was amazed! It was a perfect "snapshot" not only of this country, but also telling picture of a society whose core values have disappeared. On one page, there were three "briefs."

● The first was about two teen sweethearts from Kentucky, an 18 year old man and a thirteen year old girl, who are armed and are leaving a trail of crime across the state.

● The second was about a woman in San Diego arrested on suspicion of murder. Two bodies were found, a man who had been shot and a child found in a freezer hidden under some items of frozen food.

● The third story was about a 24 year old man in Pittsburgh who set a fire that killed six people, including four children, for revenge on someone in the house.

The main articles, the mall shooting in Florida left two dead including the shooter. This was a case of Domestic Violence. Luckily, this happened before the main shops were open. The man's wife, the intended victim, survived. At the bottom of the page, a 22 year old New Jersey woman was charged with murder for putting her newborn baby girl in the middle of a road and set the child on fire. The baby died 2 hours later in the emergency room. 

The article in the middle of the page talked about the new after-school dinner program for those in elementary schools from low-income families in Los Angeles. It is a growing trend and this is happening in a number of other cities around the country. Many of these students come from homes where there is not enough money for the children to eat regularly. In 2009, 19 million suppers were served, in 2014, 104 million suppers were needed. 

The introduction of dinner to school routines could take the place of what many consider a near sacred ritual: the family dinner, which has suffered much in our society. Proponents say many students stay on campus until the early evening anyway, but for the most needy, they might not get anything to eat when they get home. One 10 year old said she usually eats crackers and then goes to bed.

As the saying goes, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" (or you don't care!). We have to ask ourselves if this is the kind of country we want? Is this what we want for our children and all those who will come after us?

The work of the TOV Center fosters common values, common goals and communities of action for the common good. It is a grave sin to waste human potential. Our children, our young people may have answers for us and new ways of doing things, new creativity and new approaches, but we may never know because a hungry mind can't function. The Jewish Sages taught, Ain Kemach, ain Torah, “If there is no bread, there is no study and no learning.” 

We believe America is suffering a values crisis – a crisis of core shared values. The core values bonds that held earlier generations together are glaringly absent today. We are committed to raising the awareness of the importance of individuals consciously adopting core values and creating value-based relations. We are also committed to educating, training, and assist in community building.

Please help Jim Myers and I raise the seed money we need to fund the initial work of the TOV Center. We have been working very hard on our first series of classes and seminars, and hope to have them ready very soon. I hope that you will join in with me and be part of the TOV Center’s very important work. For information about how to make a donation – CLICK HERE.  

Do TOV, Choose Life

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor