A Statement from the Monmouth Reform Temple - June 2, 2020
 

We just celebrated Shavuot, the holiday commemorating Moses receiving Torah. We spent 49 days since Passover, preparing ourselves to hear its call for justice and its unwavering demand to live its charge. As we concluded the holiday, our nation experienced an explosion of pent up anger and frustration following yet another murder of a minority who did nothing except not be white. 

Torah screams to us, “JUSTICE, JUSTICE, YOU MUST PURSUE IT!” Justice cannot turn a blind eye to poverty, racism, bigotry, or hate. We cannot sit idly while our neighbor bleeds. Justice must roll down like an untethered river and righteousness as the mightiest ocean. Nowhere in our Jewish tradition does God allow us to stand by and watch another suffer. We know the plight of the stranger, for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. One who does not put the needs of the stranger above his own sins before God. The Torah scroll, our “Tree Of Life” that we take out and read every week teems with an unyielding message: “You must heal the world – there is no other option.” The prophets we revere offer no compromise.
 

The rage sweeping our nation is not a new phenomenon. We passed laws to end bigotry, but laws change laws and not hearts. The rhetoric of speech in no way resembles our nation’s founding guarantees, promising every individual the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The murder of Mr. George Floyd, is only the lit wick that exploded the powder keg of systemic racism under which People of Color have suffered for over 400 years. Sunday, officers shot David McAtee in Louisville. Before Mr. Floyd, there were Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, and the list continues too numerous and horrific to count. In our own Eatontown, in March of 1886, a white mob lynched “Samuel “Mingo Jack” Johnson for being Black. This wave of racism is not new. 

At a time when our nation should be holding each other as we combat COVID-19, the plague of racism runs rampant. The double standard racism imposes on our society violates every tenet of justice we hold sacred. No differently than COVID-19 disproportionately impacts people of color, so does access to justice. We cannot be a country of freedom until we address the ongoing bigotry that rips apart the fabric of society.
 

As Jews, we of all people know what it means to be targeted. In the wave of increased bigotry, we are again targets. We cannot walk away. We cannot hide. We must speak out, or we deny the value of our sacred prophets and our Torah. I call out our most sacred teaching from Our Rabbinic tradition, “If I am not for myself who will be? If I am only for myself, what good am I? If not now, when?” Now is our time to stand up for each other.
 

Kol haneshama – every soul must speak. Every one of us must pray for the families of those ruined by this violence. We pray for the safety of those who call on our governments to fix a broken system. We pray to protect our communities and know that safety cannot be real until oppression is eradicated. We pray for reason, for compassion, and for peace. Our prayers must come not from our mouths, but from our behaviors. Our prayers must begin with arms outstretched to hold people in need, hearts to hear their cause, minds to understand better answers, and legs with which to walk with each other through life’s journey.
 

Our Monmouth Reform Temple family is and always has been at the forefront of justice work in our community. Proud of our heritage, we must continue to strive to do and be more still. We must reach beyond our comfort remembering to "Do Justice, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God."
 

From:
Monmouth Reform Temple
Rabbi Marc Kline; Cantor Gabrielle Clissold; and Marjorie Wold (President)