Enough Is Enough: Fighting For The Soul of Our Country

By Rabbi Mark Borovitz

As I ponder the events of the past two weeks, I am scared for the future of our country and our world. Not scared that we will no longer exist, rather, that all we will do is exist! This fear comes from Ferguson, Har Nof, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Damascus, Paris, Moscow, Tehran, Washington D.C., etc. We have come to expect and demand less of our leaders and ourselves and this is the greatest tragic outcome from 9/11 and November 22, 1963 and April and June of 1968. All of these events, plus Watergate, Irangate, and others have eroded our belief in the goodness and truthfulness of our leaders. We are not, in my opinion, in a race war—we are in a war for the soul of our country, our communities and ourselves.

While it is necessary to examine what happened in Ferguson, it is also necessary to examine what has happened in our own hearts, minds and spirits that has brought us here. From the “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” speech to the “I have a Dream” speech to “other men see what is and ask why, I see what can be and ask why not,” we have moved backwards rather than forward. We have elected a Black President; we have not elected leaders who share the vision of what is in the best interest of God and the Citizens and Immigrants of the United States. Why not?

We haven't followed through with the promise and guidance of the John and Robert Kennedy, of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, of Mother Theresa, of so many others because we haven't continued to be led and guided by their principles. We have become a nation that is guided by personalities, not principles. We are not serving God, though many say they are, because we reject the widow, the poor, the orphan and the stranger. We are not serving the interests or intent of our founding fathers because we are still being ruled by kings, albeit they live behind gates and work on or get their income from Wall Street. We are being lied to and following along like lambs to the slaughter. This is why I am so scared.

We have to stop the cycle of lies, of spirit crushing, of impotence. We have to become so Addicted to Redemption that we put our Spiritual Principles above all personalities. We have to agree to disagree and support others once a true decision has been reached about issues, not based on politics, but based on Morality, based on God's Will, based on the Prophetic Way of holding people and God in every moment together. We have to become so Addicted to Redemption that seeing the God-Image in each and every person becomes the norm, that we erase the margins so that everyone is included. This doesn't mean that we don't send people out of the Camp because God knew and knows that we have to do this and we have to have Cities of Refuge for those who do things that are outside of the bounds of decent behavior. We have to become so Addicted to Redemption that we demand leadership and Morality, not moral relevance, not political posturing to get re-elected, by our Congress, our President, our State and Local governments. We have to be so Addicted to Redemption that we all stand up and say: ” WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

We can do this, we can tell the Leaders of the Senate and House, Republican and Democrat, we can tell the President, we can tell Prime Minister Netanyahu, Prime Minister Putin, President Assad, the Ayotollah, etc. We have the power, we need the Spirit and Passion to use our power. We can only get the Spirit and Passion when we are so Addicted to Redemption that we answer God's call: “Ayecha, where are you” with “Hineni, here I am.”