MLK SHABBAT BESHALACH 5782

Every January, Americans observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Rather than celebrating a broader Civil Rights Movement Day, we prefer to tell the story of a singular hero who represented and led the struggle for justice and equality, giving his life for it long before his work was done. And Dr. King gave us exactly the story we need.

Jews are now reading from the Torah the book of Shemot—Exodus. Throughout his life, when Dr. King preached, he often turned to the Book of Exodus to build his homilies. And each year during January, for thousands of years, Jews have told this story of the Exodus from Egyptian bondage. It is the story of our struggle for freedom. In Exodus, we read of Moses, a great leader who spoke truth to power, a man who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer, a man who stood his ground against the cruelty of the most powerful man in the world, the ancient Pharaoh. Dr. King was a lot like Moses.

This Shabbos we read of the amazing miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea. Pharoah and his chariots were in pursuit of their former Jewish slaves and followed them into the sea as is split for them. We all know what happened. The Jews walked through to dry land in safety while the Egyptians drowned. It was the final stamp on our redemption.

Tomorrow night we will celebrate Tu Bishvat, the Jewish New Year of Trees. The Hebrew letters for Tu (tet vav) have a numerical value of 15, and the 15^th of Shevat was considered the beginning of spring in Israel and therefore, the date when we would start counting how old a tree was. Why is that important? According to the Torah, the fruit of very young trees could not be eaten for 3 years, so it’s important to know how old a tree is. Afterward 3 years, the owners of fruit trees had to give a 10% tithe of their fruit and divided up between the kohanim, leviim and the poor.   

It’s interesting, trees are an important part of Jewish tradition. Judaism refers to the Torah as an Eytz Chayim (Tree of Life). The Torah compares a human being to an eytz hasadeh, “a tree of the field.” What kind of tree? Pirke Avot (3:22) teaches that a tree represents 2 kinds of human beings. There are those who grow very tall, and they appear to be mighty, but they have a shallow root system. These trees are in danger of being destroyed by a major windstorm. Their height makes them susceptible to toppling. On the other hand, there are trees that have strong roots. They may not be very tall, but since they are strongly rooted, it enables them to ride out a storm.  

And so human beings, Pirke Avot teaches. There are those who are high and mighty, but they fall so hard. Like Ghislaine Maxwell—as my mother would say, “a bum!” but she wasn’t a bum. She was a member of high society. She grew up in home that was a mansion. She had a yacht with a Jacuzzi, a sauna, a gym and a disco. And she ends up being a sexual offender? How far have the mighty fallen?!

And then there’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was never a mighty person growing up. Like me, he was not very tall (5’ 7”), but he had strong roots. His grandfather was a sharecropper, and he couldn’t go to the high school he wanted…why? because he was black! But his parents had raised him right and he followed in his father’s footsteps as a preacher. And like Moses in today’s parsha, he also freed the slaves—so to speak. In fact, it would not be inaccurate to say that he changed the course of history.

Sometimes, the little man is to be admired because he might be the strongest of all. That’s what happened with the crossing of the Red Sea. When the people saw the Egyptians pursuing them, they cried out for help. Gd then told Moses (Ex. 14:15): “Why do you cry to me? Speak to the Children of Israel and tell them to go forward.” However, the waters hadn’t parted yet and no one moved. Then, the Midrash (Mechilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 14:22) tells us, one man named Nachshon—prince of the tribe of Judah—had the faith and the courage to jump in. The Midrash says the waters didn’t recede until it was up to his neck.  

Nachshon was a humble man. If you look at the names of the princes of the other tribes, almost all had Gd’s name in their name. They had names like Netanel (Gift of Gd), or Tzuriel (Rock of Gd). But Nachshon did not. The most pious and mighty, the ones who were supposed to represent Gd at his best, turned out to be cowards of little faith. Only Nachshon, who never flaunted his piety, proved to be the greatest hero of all. To this day in Israel, when you want to speak of someone who leads in a difficult or dangerous assignment, you call them a Nachshoni—someone like Nachshon.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was certainly a Nachshoni. He could have remained in the background, not protesting or calling attention to himself. Certainly, he saw that those who did protest the bigotry in our country paid a high price—and he paid the highest price! We commemorate his life now every year so that we pay attention to the fact that the plagues of discrimination, poverty, violence and injustice still afflict America.

In last week’s Torah portion, we read about the plague of darkness. It was so dark, says the Torah (Ex. 10:21-23), that, “People could not see one another, and for 3 days no one could get up from where he was.” The Gerer Rebbe understood that this darkness was so debilitating because people could not see one another—they could not see their neighbor’s pain. The ancient Egyptians were afflicted with this plague from the moment they enslaved the Jews. The Egyptians refused to see their slaves’ pain—they were engulfed in the darkness of prejudice, hatred and indifference.

My friends, this same plague still afflicts our world as well. We still have not reached the Promised Land that Dr. King dreamed of and prayed for. Yes, I can say that in my lifetime much progress towards racial equality has been made. Today it is in poor taste to utter racial slurs. It is now illegal—although we must admit that it too often happens—to discriminate against anyone in schools, housing, employment or anything else.

But, as our African American members will tell you, they still must have that “talk” with their children—telling them they must be polite and cooperate with police when they encounter them for their own safety. They are still approached in stores as if they work there because they’re black. African American mothers have told me that they still worry whether their children or husbands will come home in one piece when they leave in the morning. Yes, despite its progress, America still suffers at times from the plague of darkness, prejudice, hatred and indifference. Dr. Martin Luther King’s example inspires us to fight this plague whenever and wherever it raises its ugly head.

Nachshon and Martin Luther King remind us of those trees that are strongly rooted…remind us of what the prophet Samuel taught (16:7): “Do not judge one by his appearance or his height…for man looks to the outward appearance but Gd looks into the heart.”

So, let’s hear it for the little guys. They’re the ones who often grow up to be the great ones. Have a meaningful Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Amen!