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Shabbat Sukkot 5766
by Rabbi Dr. Barry Leff
Congregation B'nai Israel
Toledo, OH
Last Shabbat was not the city of Toledo’s finest hour. We found ourselves on
the national news, for all the wrong reasons. A hate group—about two dozen
neo-Nazis from out of town—came to Toledo to demonstrate in opposition to
what they claimed were black gangs harassing a white homeowner. Another hate
group of a very different sort—the gang members—not only demonstrated, but
they terrified an entire neighborhood, they attacked police officers who
were there to maintain the peace, they destroyed a neighborhood business
which had been there for years, they looted neighborhood stores, they threw
rocks through home windows, and turned cars upside down.
My daughter. who is away at college in California called to ask “what’s
going on in Toledo, Dad? Are you guys alright?”
Someone who formed their opinion of Toledo from watching the national news
last week would get a very distorted picture. Toledo is NOT a city filled
with hate. Toledo is NOT a city with a great deal of racial tension. The
events of last Saturday do NOT reflect our reality. But what is the
significance of last Saturday’s events? And how should we respond?
It is particularly difficult for me to talk about this subject today.
Today we are celebrating two special, and happy occasions. Today is one of
the seven days of Sukkot, which the Torah calls zeman simchateinu, the
season of our rejoicing, a time for being happy. And in addition today we
are celebrating kabbalat hasiddur, the receiving of the siddur, for our
third graders. So I don’t really want to talk about something ugly, like
hate and violence, on a happy day like today—especially when I have a row of
beautiful and smiling third graders sitting in front of me.
But I feel I must speak out about the events of last week. I would not be
doing my job as this community’s rabbi if I were to ignore what happened.
And, sadly, even third grade is not too young an age to at least be aware
that there are bad people in the world.
All the trouble started when “America’s Nazi Party” heard about problems in
Toledo between a white North Toledo man, Thomas Szych, and his black
neighbor. The argument the two of them have is about a fence—and there is
nothing inherently racist about an argument between two neighbors about a
fence. But Mr. Szych claims that he has received threats from a black gang,
and somehow this Nazi group heard about it and decided they wanted to come
to town.
Mr. Szych did not ask them to come. The Nazi hate group took it on itself.
About 15 of these neo-Nazis showed up last Saturday, wanting to go on a
march as a demonstration. When the police saw the size of the crowd that was
waiting for them, and saw that people were agitated, they cancelled the
march. It never happened. All these Nazis did was show up, and a short while
later, leave. But it didn’t matter. The gangs in the neighborhood saw the
police protecting the Nazis, and got mad, so they started attacking the
police, and then they just started tearing things up and destroying things,
maybe just for the heck of it.
One of the people there, O’Shai Crenshaw, said “This is stupid. Why burn
this building? That building isn’t [owned by] the police or the Nazis.
This doesn’t make any sense.”
Even worse than that, the rioting played directly into the hands of the
white hate group—it was EXACTLY what THEY wanted: I found the following
email posted on the National Socialist Movement’s web site:
“Way to go, had this rally been planned as well as it turned out id [sic]
think you attended war college. …. Best thing you did was step back and
letting the nature of the beast run wild. GOOD JOB”
As Mr. Chenshaw said, the reaction doesn’t make sense. That’s one big
problem—all the trouble makers in this situation—the Nazis and the
gangs—don’t make any sense.
All the violence that got the attention in the media was not fundamentally
about race, about black vs. white. Some of the white reporters who were
covering the event said that some of the black gang members who were rioting
were quite polite to them. The violence was a reaction by gang members
against the police presence. The violence and looting was no more racially
motivated than the violence and looting in New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina. It was motivated by a lack of respect for the law.
It’s ironic that the Nazis are the ones who didn’t do anything illegal –
they’ve learned to work the system, taking advantage of the American
freedoms they’re so eager to deny to others.
When we in the Jewish community first heard that this group was coming to
town, we had some discussions about what to do. Some people felt that we
should just ignore it, because to do anything—like organize a
counter-demonstration—would just give the Nazis what they wanted, which was
more publicity and attention.
But we cannot ignore it when hate comes to our town. And that’s really my
message today. It’s very simple. We cannot ignore hate, we cannot ignore
neo-Nazis, the Klu Klux Klan, or Al-Qaeda. When people filled with hate come
to town, we have to show them that they are outnumbered by people filled
with love.
There are people who will say hateful things. Our country gives them that
right. Freedom of speech is one of the most important principles of law in
America. The First Amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances.”
Groups like the ACLU, who deplore everything the Nazi’s stand for,
nonetheless have defended the rights of such groups to assemble and speak.
As the writer SG Tallentyre summed up Voltaire’s attitude: “'I disapprove of
what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
But despite the First Amendment, the government has at times put limits on
speech, such as a ban on “fighting words (words or actions intended to
threaten or promote violence).” It would be up to the courts to decide, but
given the violence that happened after the visit of the Nazis to North
Toledo, I believe one could argue that someone wearing a Nazi uniform to a
black neighborhood – or to a Jewish neighborhood – constitutes “fighting
words,” and could and should be banned.
Earlier this morning in the Torah reading for the Shabbat that falls during
Sukkot (Exodus 34:6-7) we read God’s 13 attributes of mercy. One of the 13
attributes is that God is nosei avon, translated in the Bible as “forgiving
iniquity,” but more accurately rendered as “bearing iniquity.”
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto taught that this shows one of the ways in which
God is not at all like people. R. Luzatto pointed out that God is the most
amazingly patient being in the universe. God is the source of all energy,
the ultimate power plant —if God turns off your lights, you’re dead. And yet
when people do sins against God, God continues to give them energy to do the
sin! He “bears the iniquity.”
But do WE have to bear the iniquity?
Why is it that we, the citizens of Toledo, should have to pay hundreds of
thousands of dollars in police costs for neo-Nazis from out of town to come
and spread their hate? That also makes no sense. If such groups want to
demonstrate, they should either have to pay for the cost of security, or
they should be only given a permit to demonstrate in a place that will not
constitute “incitement” by the very nature of the location. The Constitution
allows speech to be restricted by “time, place, and manner” – you can’t hold
a parade at two in the morning, for example. I’m sure we could find the
Nazis a nice vacant lot somewhere – and give them a permit
for sometime in February.
One way I spoke up was to write to Toledo Mayor Jack Ford with a copy to the
Toledo Blade. I suggested that if the National Socialists want to come back
to Toledo they be limited to some location that will not likely lead to a
confrontation.
Freedom of speech is an important principle—and so is the obligation to
speak up. The Torah commands us to speak up when we see someone doing
something wrong. The Talmud tells us that someone who can stop a wrong being
done in his home is guilty as if he did the wrong himself; someone who can
stop a wrong being done in a city, and does not stop it, is guilty of the
wrong for the city.
We cannot simply be quiet when Nazis come to town. We have an example in the
Torah of someone being punished for remaining silent. At the end of Parshat
Baha’alotcha, there is a story about how Miriam and Aaron spoke against
Moses because of “the Kushite woman,” a reference to Moses’s wife as a black
woman. The commentator Ibn Ezra says that Miriam spoke, and Aaron agreed or
was silent – and thus he was punished. His keeping quiet while Miriam spoke
against Moses was a sufficient transgression to merit his being punished.
We cannot be silent in the face of those who would profane God’s Holy Name.
Each of us needs to speak up in our own way – when talking to people at
school or work, by writing letters to the editor of the newspaper – when we
encounter such hatred.
In the Haftorah this morning we read the fiery words of the prophet
Ezekiel: “I, God, will make My Holy name known among My people Israel, and
never again will I let My Holy name be profaned. And the nations shall know
that I the Lord am holy in Israel.”
We have to protect God’s reputation and not let His name be profaned by
people speaking words of hate. At the same time, we do not pray for the
destruction of sinners. Rather we pray that they see the error of their
ways. The seventy bulls that were offered in the Temple during Sukkot
symbolize the 70 nations. Sukkot is a time when we pray for all nations, all
peoples, and envision everyone on earth working together to serve God.
Ribono shel Olam, Master of the Universe, please lead those who would come
to Toledo to spew hate to see the error of their ways. Lead them from
darkness to light, and lead all of us to a world filled with peace, joy, and
love.