H
ha odesh y c g d
JUNE-JULY 2015 | SIVAN-TAMMUZ-AV 5775
Th i s Mo n t h @ C h i z u k A m u n o
“Environment Establishes Expectation - Inequality Instills Indignity” This current moment in Baltimore instigated by Freddie Gray’s unnecessary death, this current moment of protest demanding justice, this current moment in the aftermath of violence, damage, and curfew, this current moment that must engage us is about two things. In every community where despair rules and discrimination is real, two fundamental problems exist, one physical and the other spiritual. Both of these injustices require our awareness and ultimately our response in helping to correct them. We may not see ourselves of East and West Baltimore today. Knowing Baltimore’s history and our heritage, we must see ourselves of a society that can no longer tolerate these conditions anywhere. The first problem is the tangible problem of home. The physical environment in which you live, the neighborhood of your life’s experience, teaches you what the world is like. Environment establishes expectation. Think about where you grew up. Whether you had sufficient or little means, whether you lived in a single family home, or an apartment crowded with relatives, if you looked out at an urban or suburban landscape, whether you lived in a close knit and friendly neighborhood or felt isolated and
not welcome among others; where and how you lived taught you something about yourself and your destiny. Living in sub-standard housing, in dilapidated neighborhoods, living without sufficient food and nourishment, it’s hard for people to imagine for themselves that anything more is possible. Contrast that with those of us who are fortunate to live now in well-built and well-kept neighborhoods. We take pride in our environment. We are blessed to live well. We have a responsibility to help other neighborhoods rebuild their infrastructure because environment establishes expectation. In the late 1960’s Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught, “The prosaic demand for housing without infestation, for adequate schools, for gainful employment, for so much that people seek, seems so trite, so drab, so banal, so devoid of magnificence. God is concerned with everydayness, with the trivialities of life. That equality is a good thing, a fine goal, may be generally accepted. What is lacking is a sense of the monstrosity of inequality.” continued on page 3
Upcoming Programs (details inside) The Voice That Weeps in the Heavens: Rachel, Leah, and the Mystery of the Bartered Wildflowers Tuesday, June 2, 6:45 p.m. Featuring Rabbi David Fohrman
New Shabbat Friday, June 5 • 6:30 p.m. New Shabbat A.M. Saturday, June 13 • 10:30 a.m.
NEW SHABBAT
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Summer Shul Shabbat Mornings, 9:15 a.m. July 4, 11, 18, 25 August 1, 8
Shul
Summer