Falling Church Attendance...

Top of the evening Ladies and Gentlemen...

I know.  I know.  Why does a rabbi care about falling church attendance?  It is more than just professional respect for my colleagues.

I have been watching with appall as the social upheaval in the United States continues.  Pulling down the statues of people deemed not to be sufficiently woke is the latest crusade of the politically correct.

On some level, I suppose that there is some merit to the removal of some of the monuments.  Many of the statues of the Confederate generals of the US Civil War were put there after the fact, as a backlash to the results of that war.  Perhaps their removal is appropriate.  It is certainly worthy of discussion.

I drew the line today.  Why?  Today was the day I found out that folks in San Francisco pulled down a statue of Ulysses Grant.  General Grant was a slaveowner.  He owned one, to whom he granted freedom in 1859.  He later wrote that "as time passes, people, even of the South, will begin to wonder how it was possible that their ancestors ever fought for or justified institutions which acknowledged the right of property in man."  We know that he led Union troops to end slavery.  We know that he advocated for the rights of freed slaves.

Other statues were pulled down in San Francisco as well.  After toppling the statue of George Washington, it was burned with an American flag wrapped around it.  I am unimpressed at this temper tantrum.

I guess for starters, it might have been nice to have other limited pictures of President Grant in mind in toppling his statue.  Perhaps someone might have said his statue was inappropriate due to his treatment of the Jews.  As a general, he signed an order that President Lincoln had to override ordering the Jewish community out of Tennessee.  Why is that not an issue for me?  When he was President, he and his entire cabinet attended the dedication of Congregation Adas Israel in Washington DC.  He made amends.

A note from Jewish tradition:

בְּמָקוֹם שֶׁבַּעֲלֵי תְּשׁוּבָה עוֹמְדִין אֵין צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִים יְכוֹלִין לַעֲמֹד

In a place where those who have returned (repented) stand, even the entirely righteous cannot stand.

I shudder to think that we now live in a world where there is no forgiveness.  I shudder to think that only absolute purity in thought and in deed, from cradle to grave, is the only type of role model we now accept.

No one is without sin.

I wonder whether or not those who are on the rampage are willing to tear down statues of Martin Luther King.  Whatever else he might have done, he was a known philanderer.  That is spouse abuse.  Here is only a small part of that history: https://nypost.com/2006/01/02/mlk-confessed-to-wife/.

However, if we are going to discuss Martin Luther King, I am going to invent a couple of lines to add to one of the most compelling pieces of oratory ever delivered, "I Have a Dream."

I have a dream that we might be remembered for our successes instead of, or even despite, our failures.

I have a dream that we might one day be judged on our growth instead of on our errors.

I have a dream that we might accept that no one is morally pure.

I have a dream that we might accept and be thankful that the list of people in history who oozed evil from every pore is a very short list.

And why did I mention church attendance?  The parable from Christian Testament (John 8:7) leaves us with the famous saying: let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.

Please let this madness end.

Have a good evening everyone.

R/SCG