For the past week or two, the late Congressmen John Lewis’ coffin crossed the Edmund Pettis Bridge 55 years after he originally crossed it on Bloody Sunday in Selma Alabama in 1965. John Lewis lied in State in Washington D.C.’s Capitol Rotunda. John Lewis lied in State in Atlanta before his funeral and burial this past Thursday. His funeral occurred on Tisha B’Av, the day that commemorates the destruction and mourning of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Prior to his death, Congressman John Lewis wrote his final words and asked the New York Times to publish his words on the day of his funeral, July 30th. In his final words, Lewis reminds a nation and all people who struggle for a free society: “You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time… The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out so long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time,,, So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers, and sisters, and let the spirit of everlasting love be your guide.”
This Shabbat is Parsha V’Etchanan also known as Shabbat Nachamu ( the Shabbat of comfort). It is always the Parsha that immediately follows Tisha B’Av (the Ninth of Av), the day in which we commemorate the destruction of both the First and Second Temple. The Parsha is a continuation of Moshe Rabeinu’s lecture to Bnai Yisroel. While last week’s Parsha, Devarim featured Moshe gently castigating and criticizing Bnai Yisroel; in Parsha V’Etchanan, Moshe urges and cajoles Bnai Yisroel to learn from their hardships. Moshe explains that the hardships that Bnai Yisroel already faced and will face in the future are a direct function of their following God’s Torah. Good things will happen when they followed God’s Torah, and not so good things will happen when they don’t follow God’s Torah. Failure to follow the Torah will result in exile, however, there will always be the opportunity to learn from those mistakes and return to the land and to the relationship with God.
Moshe reiterates the Ten Commandments and his experience at Sinai. Then Moshe explains that while he can speak of the Ten Commandments and share his experience, Bnai Yisroel will now have to pass this information and these commandments in a very different way than sharing a firsthand experience of the revelation of Sinai. Instead, this generation, the generation that did not stand at Sinai, will have to teach the meaning of these words, ideas, and commandments, to their children and live by them. V’Shinantam Levanecha V’Dibarta Bam, B’Shivtecha, B’Veitecha, Uv’Lectecha VaDerech, U’Veshachbecha U’vKumecha. – And you shall teach them [these words] thoroughly to your children and you shall speak of them while you sit in your home, while you walk on the way, when you go to sleep and when you arise. The sages explain that a person’s devotion to Torah is exemplified by the priority given to teaching “these words” and “these values” to one’s children. Teaching can occur through words. Teaching can occur through deeds. Teaching can occur through positive behavior, that is to say, emulate modeled behavior. Teaching can occur through negative behavior, that is to say, learn from the mistakes of the previous generation.
John Lewis’ final words embody the words of Prophets, urging, cajoling, and beseeching the next generation to take up the mantle, to move forward, and to always follow the arc of history bent towards freedom. I have always wondered about Moshe telling Bnai Yisroel to V’Ahavta et Adoshem Elokecha. John Lewis’s final words and philosophy of non-violence that he preached and lived by clarifies Moshe’s words. For how else can one take up the mantle of non-violence without “loving the Lord your God”? John Lewis modeled behavior that makes a community and a society better. His final words resonate the words of Moshe Rabeinu but most of all they resonate the hope that the next generation, the generation that listens to these words and strives to live by these words and this code, has within itself, the strength, and the courage to make the community sacred and holy
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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