T ORAH P ORTION
We Can Make That Change
BY RABBI JEREMY SCHNEIDER
Parshah Vayera
IN THE YEAR 1054, there
was a huge supernova explo-
sion, an explosion that
eventually became the Crab
Nebula. Astronomers in
places as far fl ung as China,
Japan, Arabia and even the
Americas recorded the event.

Yet strangely, there is no record
of this gigantic event anywhere
in Europe. How could that be?
Is it possible that Europeans
did not see it?
One probable explanation is
that such an event went against
the mindset of Europeans,
under the infl uence of Aristotle
and the Catholic Church. To
these Europeans, the heavens
were rotating spheres that were
unchangeable. Heavenly bodies
did not explode; they simply
circled the earth for eternity.

Such an explosion would go
against their very belief system
and due to this belief system,
Europeans did not “see” it.

What we believe aff ects how
we see the world. We learn
this same lesson from the
story of Hagar and Ishmael
in this week’s Torah portion.

Depending on how we trans-
late the text, Sarah fears that
Ishmael either will be a bad
infl uence on Isaac or actually
hurt him. At Sarah’s urging,
Abraham expels the child and
his mother from his tent.

Hagar and Ishmael wander
in the harsh wilderness. Th ey
quickly run out of water,
and Hagar despairs. She is
convinced that there is no
water in the wilderness and
that the two of them will die of
thirst. Ishmael is crying, and
she cannot bear the thought
of watching him die. She sets
him down under a bush, so
he will be hidden from her
view, and removes herself a
good distance. God hears the
cries of young Ishmael, and
God opens Hagar’s eyes. She
now sees that right before her
is a well of water. It was there
all along, but Hagar did not
see it. Th e boy is saved and will
grow up to be a leader of a great
nation of his own.

Th e question is, why did
Hagar not see the well of water
that was right in front of her?
Why did God have to open
her eyes? Perhaps she was so
convinced that everything was
lost, that her son would die,
that her mind would not allow
her to see the water.

Th e Talmud says “a man is
shown only what is suggested
by his own thoughts” (Berakhot
55b). Too oft en we do not see
what is really there, but rather
we see what our mind suggests
is there.

In the same way God
opened Abraham’s eyes to see
that there was only one God
CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
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Nov. 13
who is the creator of all. God
opened our ancestors’ eyes
through the Exodus experience
to see the meaning of freedom
and of covenant.

When our eyes opened,
when we can recognize that
what we are seeing is in our
mind and is not or does not
need to be reality, we experi-
ence a paradigm shift . From
that moment, we never see the
world the same again.

Th e founding of this country
was such a moment, when we
came to realize that freedom
requires a government that
is, in Lincoln’s words, “of the
people, by the people and for
the people.”
So, if it is true — as the
Torah teaches through Hagar
— that we see only what our
mind sees, how does this
impact our daily lives?
First, knowing the power of
the mind to shape our percep-
tions can free us from being
4:34 p.m.

4:28 p.m.

trapped by the past and make
us receptive to new and higher
truths. Never assume that the
world is as you see it.

Second, having been set
free from the shackles of our
preconceptions, we can allow
our minds to imagine worlds
diff erent from what we see.

We can lift ourselves up above
our current reality and choose
to see the world diff erently.

When we make that choice,
we become empowered to
change the world to match our
new vision.

May we learn to be open to
seeing the world in new and
unexpected ways. May we strive
to see the world as it should be
and to do our part to make it so.

Th at’s doing Jewish. ●
Rabbi Jeremy Schneider is the
spiritual leader of Temple Kol Ami
in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a past
president of the Board of Rabbis of
Greater Phoenix.

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Two Years Since Tree of Life Shooting,
Anti-Semitism Persists in Politics
BY STEVE ROSENBERG
IT HAS BEEN TWO YEARS since the Jewish
community in my hometown of Pittsburgh was
the target of violent anti-Semitism. A deranged
gunman, radicalized by online hate groups
and outraged by Jewish values of equality and
acceptance, killed 11 innocent people. It’s a
day we will always remember, and one that the
next generation of Jews will know as the day
everything changed.

While anti-Semitism had been on the rise
for the past few years, the Tree of Life tragedy
was in some ways a catalyst for the hate and
terror still to come, such as the violent acts in
Poway and Jersey City. Now, in the COVID-19
era, dozens of Jewish synagogues, schools,
and community centers have been targeted by
vandalism and Zoom bombers. In 2019, the
Philadelphia chapter of the Anti-Defamation
League counted 109 anti-Semitic incidents in
Pennsylvania, a 22% increase from the year
before. The loss of life in Pittsburgh, and our
nation’s response, didn’t repress anti-Semi-
tism — it added more fuel to an increasingly
hot fire.

The 2020 election cycle, thankfully now
concluded, offered yet another vehicle for
hatred of Jews to thrive. Jewish candidates
for public office were targeted with threats 
and other anti-Semitic messages, including
having their nose enlarged in ads or leaving anti-Semitic threats at their own
front door, as happened to Pennsylvania state Rep. Aaron Kaufer (R-Luzerne
County). While Jews in both parties continue to be targets of hate, our votes are highly
courted. While we are only 2% of the U.S. population, we are reliable voters,
with an estimated 85% turning out on a given election, much higher than the
national participation average. To attract us, the two major parties tend to claim
the high ground, telling us we should vote as they do because the other party is
unwelcoming and inhospitable for our people.

The truth is that both the Democratic and Republican parties are home to
anti-Semitism. The extremist views of the far-left and the far-right are no longer
on the fringe: A QAnon candidate, who has espoused a plethora of dangerous
Jewish tropes, won a congressional Republican primary in Georgia. Candidates
who support the anti-Semitic boycott, divestment and sanctions movement are
gaining ground in Democratic circles. The U.S. House of Representatives will be
home to members with anti-Jewish views next year, a fact that’s alarming to Jews
of all political persuasions.

Our leaders’ failure across the board to address this problem is wildly disap-
pointing. Elected officials and party leadership frequently refuse to address
anti-Semitism, as well as racism and other forms of bigotry that pop up within
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their own caucus. More often than not, they act to distract, by pointing to
anti-Semitism on the other side. By not acknowledging this problem, or
attempting to dismiss it, our political leaders are allowing the hate to flourish,
and placing Jews in the, sadly familiar, role of the outcast.

The only way forward is for our political leaders to acknowledge, accept and
make a plan to eradicate the anti-Semitism that exists within their own ranks.

As the election winds down, and the votes are tallied, there will be a new or
altered governing body that will be tasked with uniting a divided country and
combating the pervasive bigotry within our midst. Anti-Semitism is thousands
of years old; it will take a worldwide effort to eradicate it entirely. But if America’s
political parties can critically examine their own role in incubating and
spreading anti-Semitism, the rest of the world might just follow suit.

As we gather to commemorate and mourn the lives lost two years ago in
Squirrel Hill, let’s hold the thoughts and prayers. It’s time for leaders in the
Democratic and Republican parties to show their support to their Jewish
communities by confronting and eliminating the anti-Semitism in their own
backyard. Steve Rosenberg is the chief operating officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia. This op-ed first appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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