~ Mishnah Avot 2:16
For three years, our country has been going through a profound shakeup: the threat to its democratic character, and then harsh wars — not only at our nearby borders, but rather a continuing campaign on multiple fronts. The people are in deep crisis, and growing segments of society are choosing to close themselves off, to adopt solutions of brutal force, with no restraint and no discrimination.
It is precisely at this moment that a different set of Jewish values needs to find expression: the values of “doing kindness, justice, and righteousness in the land” in the words of Jeremiah (9:23). That is the formula for hope.
I suggest we call it “moral resistance” — the commitment by each of us to take action wherever we witness violence, hatred or racism.
That is the call of the hour: an internal message for ourselves and a message for the world.
