The Struggle

Friends, The last time we were here, it was much much colder. And I’m sure you remember that I cited this ancient rabbinic saying: לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה lo alecha ham’lacha ligmor v’lo atta ben chorin l’hibatel mimmena— You are not obligated to complete the task, but you are not free to desist from working at it.

Rabbi Tarfon, the first-century sage who spoke those words, was really talking about the study of our Holy Bible. But what great quote exists that hasn’t been appropriated for other righteous applications?

Since I was a child, in the sixties, the words “the struggle for civil rights” have been a steady refrain in my exposure to social justice, in my reading about legal justice, in my learning about moral justice.

lo alecha … You are not obligated to complete the task, but are not free to desist from working at it

As we celebrate Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., 55 years after hate took his life, the work, his work, is not yet done.

Is it not absurd, is it not preposterous, that today, more than a century and-a-half after the Civil War, there is still a “struggle for civil rights”?! Why, are the truths of us all having been created equal, of one person one vote, of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness — are these truths not yet self-evident?!

And against whom are we waging this struggle? Against people with no conscience, who willfully whitewash the lived history of their fellow citizens? Against those who would raise the flag of Christendom over this country while purposefully forgetting the great moral teachings of Jesus?

• let your light shine before others
• What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
• do to others what you would have them do to you
• with God all things are possible.

The struggle is sacred work in a civic space, all things are possible, and our efforts can bring us closer to happiness, to an aspirational promise in the book of Psalms:
אַ֭שְׁרֵי שֹׁמְרֵ֣י מִשְׁפָּ֑ט עֹשֵׂ֖ה צְדָקָ֣ה בְכָל־עֵֽת ashrei shomrei mishpat osei tzedaka b’chol eit. Happy are they who act justly, who do right at all times. (106:3)

The late Dr King echoed the words of the Psalmist when he said: “It is always the right time to do the right thing.”

Friends, the struggle has not ended, and we may not desist from the work. Let’s get to it!