A BISSEL TORAH: BDS REALLY??
By: Suri Davis
19% of the undergrad population at the University of Maryland is Jewish. Yet, a vote to determine whether the University should divest itself of Israel investments was held over Passover. The resolution to divest failed by a vote of 25-9, yet it was closer than in the prior year.
This Shabbos is also the last day of Pesach, it is a day that we say Yizkor, a prayer for parents who have passed. It is a day that we read in the torah reading for Shabbos about Moses returning to Mt. Sinai with new tablets to replace the tablets he broke when he descended Mt. Sinai the first time to see the Jews worshipping the golden calf.
It is also in the torah reading that we learn that the firstborn male donkey carries holiness and should be redeemed by a Kohen/priest by replacing the donkey with a she/lamb or kid goat.
Today marks the day in history that the Jews marched forward after their exodus from Egypt into the Red Sea, which was a two-day event starting today and ending tomorrow. This Shabbos commemorates the Jews entering the land of Israel with Joshua its leader. It marched around Jericho and blew the ram’s horn as part of the seven-day process of the initiation of the conquering of the land.
Let’s bring our history points together. Why is it that we have to redeem the firstborn of donkeys and not camels or horses or dogs? A donkey is not a kosher/pure animal under Torah law, then why the donkey? This week we started a new masechet/book in our daf yomi, the masechet of Bechorot/the elders. The first of our pure animals and of our produce is brought to the holy temple to be given to the priest as a reminder that all comes from G-d, and also as a reminder that when the tenth plague hit Egypt, the plague of the death of the firstborn, the Jews were saved, and that is why the firstborn sons are redeemed by providing silver to the priest when the son is 30 days old, and it is why the firstborn males of pure animals are also brought as sacrifices in the holy temple.
So why are donkeys singled out amongst impure animals? Because we have to be grateful to them. When we left Egypt with great wealth and riches, the donkeys were loaded up with this wealth and carried it for forty years in the desert. As a show of gratitude to the donkey, we redeem the firstborn foal by giving a pure animal to the priest in its stead.
Gratitude for what came before us. That is a theme running through Yizkor, wherein we remember our parents who provided for us, loved us, role modeled for us. Gratitude.
Our ancestors provide us with the foundation to know what is morally right, that for which we have to stand up, in the face of those who mislead the world that Israel is an apartheid state, a wolf in dove’s clothes, who take the moral road to ask the world to harm Israel economically, when Israel is a driving force in ethics and morality. How is it that University of Maryland permitted the BDS resolution on campus, it is no better asking the world to boycott the Israel/Jewish marketplace/economy than the Nazi-era boycotts of Jewish stores, but on a grander scale. How did the University permit the vote on the resolution to move forward on Passover, when many Jewish students would be celebrating the holy holiday of Passover with their families? Shame on you University of Maryland. PLEASE EMAIL THE UNIVERSITY AND LET THEM KNOW THAT THE RESOLUTION ON BDS IS ANTI-SEMITIC AND SHOULD NEVER BE CONSIDERED IN THE FUTURE: ApplyMaryland@umd.edu.
Today is the day of faith. The Jews had the great Red Sea on one side, and the strength of the full Egyptian army on the other and they marched forward. Emunah/faith.
As we move forward in life, we will err, but sinning is not a permanent condition. Moses goes up to establish a second tablet, and returns on the 10th day of Tishrei, Yom Kippur, which is an eternal day of atonement, on which G-d redeems us from our sins and gives us the ability to live another year under His watchful grace.
Life is a continuum. Moses tells Pharaoh that we will leave Egypt Bivanenu u’bizkenenu/with our children and elders. We need our elders for moral guidance, we need our children to propagate G-d’s miracles for future generations, not merely for the Jews, but as a guiding moral light for all the nations of the world. That is why the Seder is so very family-centric, inter-generational, the number one observed Jewish holiday in the world.
G-d’s very public redemption from Egypt is a shout out to all the nations of the world and for time eternal that we are the chosen nation, and it is our job to redeem the world with the coming of the Messiah speedily in our days.
Chag sameach/shabbat shalom.
-Suri