May 29, 2022|כ"ח אייר ה' אלפים תשפ"ב Texas Tragedy, Tochacha and Gun Control
Print ArticleWe were horrified this past week upon hearing about the murder of 19 innocent elementary school children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. This was the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre and this is the 27th shooting to happen at an elementary or high school shooting in 2022. We are stunned and we don’t know what to do. We cry. We pray. We speak to our children who may be traumatized by the tragedy and we try to provide them with extra support. Once again, we think about gun control in this country and we wonder if our leadership can actually do something effective about this.
Today we read about tragedy in the parsha, or more precisely, we read about the right response and the wrong response to tragedy. Because the tochacha, the admonition that God tells Moshe to tell the Bnei Yisrael about what will happen to them should they sin, is more than a simple statement that there are consequences for our behavior. It is also a guide for us while we find ourselves suffering and in pain. In the beginning of the tochacha, God tells us that He will punish us if we sin. Then the Torah states, “V’im telchu imi keri” – if you go with me “keri” – and we will define that shortly, “v’lo tovu lishmoa li” – and you refuse to obey Me, then God promises to punish even more severely. What does the Torah mean when it warns us not to react to punishment with “keri?”
In Hlichot Taaniyot (1:3), the Rambam writes that whenever a calamity arises, it is an opportunity for soul-searching and an opportunity to cry. However, “im lo yizaku v’lo yar’i’u” – but if they don’t cry out or sound the trumpets, meaning if they don’t engage in soul-searching during a time of calamity, “ela yomru davar zeh miminhag ha’olam” – but they say that this is merely a natural phenomenon, “v’tzarah zu nikra nikrait” – and this calamity is merely a chance occurrence, “harei zeh derech achzariyut” – this is a cruel conception of things, “v’goremet lahem l’hidabek b’maasehem ha’ra’im” – which will cause them to remain attached to their wicked deeds, “v’tosif hatzarah tzarot acherot” – and this calamity will lead to further calamities.
According to the Rambam, if a calamity besets our people and we don’t take note of it, then we are being cruel for not recognizing that the calamity has been caused by our sins. If we do not recognize this, then we will not repent and the calamity will continue. Then the Rambam writes, “hu she’katuv baTorah va’halachtem imi b’keri” – this is implied by the Torah’s statement in this week’s parsha, “if you remain “keri” with me” – if you think that what is happening is a “mikreh,” a fluke, or a random occurrence.
Although the Rambam was writing about responding to a calamity that specifically beset the Jewish people, it is appropriate to apply this principle more broadly to the tragedy in Texas this past week. We have a responsibility in the aftermath of a national tragedy to ask ourselves if we can do better and not simply say that this is a “mikreh,” a random occurrence, or the price of freedom in this country or that sometimes bad things happen and we can’t insist on perfection and we can’t protect 100% of our citizens 100% of the time. When national calamities occur, we must reflect in a meaningful way.
And I think we must do more than reflect. We must truly act as one nation at this time. To be clear, there are times when it is appropriate to focus on our differences and to passionately advocate for our particular positions and some of the fierce debates that place in this country between republicans and democrats have ample precedent in our Jewish tradition: Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, and Chassidim and Mitnagdim. Even though I am a passionate Litvak, I appreciate a passionate Chassid. For me, I admire you if you disagree with me if you do so thoughtfully and amicably. Diversity of opinion deepens our identity because when we strongly advocate our unique position, we live a more engaged, conscious and passionate life.
However, there are times which call upon us to do what we can to find common ground. Tomorrow we will celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, celebrating a city that is called an “ir she’chubrah lah yachdav” (Tehillim 122:3), a city that unites the Jewish people, a city that King David specifically built as an expression of bi-partisanship. He could have selected a capital city in his home tribe, the tribe of Yehuda, but as the Malbim points out, he specifically selected a capital city that was partially in the tribe of his political opponent, the tribe of Binyanim, as well, as an overt act of bi-partisanship. We celebrate Yom Yerushalayim properly when we celebrate the holiday not just with our ideological colleagues, but when we celebrate it with our ideological adversaries, as well, and when we celebrate this holiday truly as one nation.
On Monday, this country will observe Memorial Day. For many of us, Memorial Day is simply a day off from work and school and a day to barbecue. However, in reality, Memorial Day is a day for fallen soldiers when we remember that people in this country sacrificed for freedoms that we truly cherish such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of the press, and that to truly stand for something is to be willing to pay a heavy price for that stance. On Memorial Day, we stand not as democrats or republicans but we stand truly as one.
Like I said, there are times when we are encouraged to express our differences and there are times which call upon us to do our utmost to find common ground. After a tragedy like that which our country experienced this past week, we are called upon to work together. After all, following the tochacha, the Torah finishes Sefer Vayikra on a positive note. It ends with a peculiar halacha, the halacha of Erchin, about the rules and regulations if you donate your own personal value to the Beit Hamikdash, to the Temple.
The Chozeh of Lublin asks a very simple question. “Lamah nismchah parshat erchin l’parshat ha’tochecha” – why is the section of erchin juxtaposed to the section of the admonition? The Chozeh of Lublin explains, “keivan she’yishma adam et divrei ha’tochecha hakashim” – once a person hears all of these harsh words of rebuke, “yesh lachush she’ya’aleh al dato she’ain lo chas v’shalom shum erech vachashivut” – a person might think that he has no value or importance, “v’yit’ya’esh l’gamri” – and he will completely give up. “Lachen katvah Torah miyad parshat erchin” – therefore, the Torah immediately wrote the section of erchin, “l’horot she’ain lecha adam she’ain lo erech” – to teach that there is no person who doesn’t have value. Every single person has value.
Do not use this tragedy to further cement divisions within this country. When we live in our own political or ideological echo-chambers we can easily interpret any event to support our political and ideological position and say, “I told you so.” We must practice “erchin” following “tochacha,” following this tragedy and value every single person and his or her perspective and try to find common ground when we can.
What does this mean in practice? Let me share with you some statistics from a Pew Research Center poll taken last year. Majorities in both partisan coalitions favor two policies that would restrict gun access: preventing those with mental illnesses from purchasing guns (85% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats support this) and subjecting private gun sales and gun show sales to background checks (70% of Republicans, 92% of Democrats support this). At the same time, roughly half of Americans (53%) favor stricter gun laws, and 32% believe that the laws are about right and 14% believe that it should be less strict.
What this means to me is that there are certain policies regarding gun access where there is broad bi-partisan support but almost 50% of Americans are generally fine with the gun laws. Why the discrepancy? It seems to me that people for whatever reason decide to line up on one side of the aisle or the other side on the aisle. I’m a Second Amendment guy and don’t want the government to tell me what to do or I’m a gun control guy and want stricter laws. Maybe many see this issue as an us versus them issue or they haven’t thought about the issue enough or maybe they are afraid to make concessions because they view making certain concessions on gun laws as a slippery slope that will empower the other side to enact more legislation to take away their guns. The nasty extremist rhetoric on either side further cements people in their positions. But when we come to this issue with an open mind, we realize that the overwhelming majority of Americans would support certain proposals.
Now is not the time to focus on division. A time following the tochacha is not a time of “vahalachtem imi b’keri,” of saying that it just happened and there’s nothing that we can really do about it because of the political gridlock. It is a time of reflection and it is a time of action. It is a time of “erchin,” when we must urge democrats and republicans alike to truly value each other’s perspective. It is a time when we must urge our politicians to set aside their differences and to work together to assure the safety of every child in every school in America and to help put an end to these horrific murders that are plaguing our beautiful country, especially in areas of gun control when there is broad bi-partisan support. May God bless us in this crucial endeavor.