The Masks We Wear
Dear Friends,
Sorry to disappoint you but there will be no song lyrics in this blog:-)
I want to talk about masks.
Recently, I was giving a presentation at a local retirement facility about the masks we wear and how we celebrate a day on which we wear masks and go trick or treating. I talked about the day on which Jewish people wear masks, which is our holiday of Purim. Please do a search and learn more about this holiday in the Jewish calendar.
We had a discussion about the reference to Yom Kippur as Yom Kippurim, a day like Purim where we also wear masks including wearing the mask of being a pious person who sincerely wants to be forgiven How many of us are sincere in our desire to be forgiven and how many of us are only wearing a mask?
Our discussion included asking the residents to talk about the masks they wear. One of the residents emotionally described how she wore a "polite" mask and never told people how she felt. As she described this, it was revealing to hear the price she had paid by putting on a "polite" face.
It made me wonder whether we put on masks in order to fit in and how many of us are in touch with our authentic selves.
My take away from this session is based upon a meeting I had with the founder of the Reconstructionist movement in Judaism, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, of blessed memory, who told me the most important possession I would have as a rabbi, would be my integrity.
May our celebration of Halloween yesterday encourage us to take off our masks and be our authentic selves, bringing integrity to all our endeavors. It might be a treat to not have to trick anyone by wearing masks that don't really reveal our true selves.
Finally, I conclude with a four letter word...please be sure to VOTE.
Shalom, Salaam, Peace,
Rabbi Bruce Aft
So, I voted. Early. Apparently, 14 million other folks who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 couldn’t bring themselves to the polls or to vote for Kamala Harris. Once all the votes are tabulated, we can pour over the demographic information about this election and the kind of America a majority want this country to be.
ReplyDeleteIn 4 years, come what may, I will be 80. I got to 76 believing this unattributed comment about Justice on page 61 of the Mahzor Lev Salem:
“ … but God’s single rule allows justice to be the ultimate principle by which the world exists. The biblical standard of justice is always defined by the treatment of the poor, the weak, the powerless, the infirm, the unprotected. God’s care is especially directed toward the most vulnerable, and societies are judged by how they are treated. The lack of justice is the undoing of God’s creation.”
I’ve never found anything that comes closer to my concept of justice and how to live my life. I am not perfect; far from it. But I believe those words and try to live by that standard.
Some people call a person who does that a “snowflake,” a “liberal,” a “socialist,” a “communist,” even a “social fascist.” I can live with the name calling because I know who I am.
So, my question: Not unlike the Holocaust, how do I explain a majority of Americans voting twice — twice! — for Donald Trump as president of the United States. He violates everything I call character, everything that brings justice to the world. How do I hold onto the principles, the very core, of my being and belief system? What is it that I fail to understand about this man, his voters, my core beliefs, the religion that has brought me to those beliefs, and the God that chose Israel to be an example and beacon to the world?
I fail to understand what I don’t understand. That’s a truism, of course, but it’s also a bubble world I thought I lived in but now have come to see that more people in this country that has given me peace and protection, comfort and satisfaction — that these people live in a very different world.
I get the illegal immigration question, with the stipulation that this is a bigoted, white supremest (whether you’re white or not; just bow down to DT) country and has been since whites defined race to suit their needs and egos in the early 17th century in this country.
I get inflation. If I was living paycheck to paycheck and any little bump in the “very good economy” meant I couldn’t feed my kids adequately next week unless I turned off the heat in the dead of winter, I’d look for something else, too. And it wouldn’t take much convincing.
I get the woman thing. Some people and cultures still live in the 19th century when it comes to a woman’s right to … anything. Pigs aren’t kosher for a reason.
I get the macho thing. Just go to the movies or take in some Rupert Murdoch media. Naturally, I prefer Wonder Woman. And she’s Israeli!
I could go on, but then you won’t have time to get to my questions.
Right now, I feel like I am floating in space, unmoored, in a world where the value system I quoted doesn’t exist or have solid form.
I feel lost. Tuesday I cried. Wednesday I grieved. Thursday, I need help.
(Not edited yet for lack of time.)