D'var Torah on the Charleston, SC Church Shooting

I'll get things started with something you might call a "golden oldie." 

Between roughly 2012-2017, my family temporarily relocated to Greenville, SC (job transfer, don't ask). In the summer of 2015, between Rabbi Julie Kozlow leaving our synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, and Rabbi Barry Kenter starting a 1 year stint as interim Rabbi, I served as a substitute "Rabbi" on Saturday mornings. As I said the first time I took the bimah (pulpit), I'm not a rabbi, but I can play one on Shabbat. Or, perhaps, not an actual rabbi, but an incredible substitute! Or, maybe, the Emergency Rabbinic Hologram.

Most Shabbatot (Sabbaths), I was very careful to keep my focus 100% on the Torah portion of the week, scrupulously avoiding any mention of current events. After all, current events can get any faith leader into hot water; if a "real" rabbi could get in trouble for mentioning current events, how much more so a purely temporary one? 

Well, on Wednesday, June 15th, 2015, all that changed. On that day, Dylan Roof (may his memory be erased), shot and killed 9 people, injuring 1 more, at the Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. I simply could not avoid mentioning this horrid event. I absolutely needed to mention it. If there were consequences, so be it. Below is the D'var Torah (literally "Word of Torah," kind of a sermon) that I gave on the following Shabbat.

D'var Torah, 6/20/2015, Parashat Korach

Why do we name an entire parasha of the Torah for a man who is described as being the very embodiment of a demagogue. Yes, we have Parashat Balak, named after the King of Moav who hired Bilaam to curse Israel, but the result of that was some of the most beautiful blessings the Israelites ever received. There is no such outcome from Korach’s rebellion. So, why do we name the entire parasha after him?

On the most basic level, the reason for this is simple: “Korach” is the first significant word in the reading itself, much as “Balak” is in that parasha, and “Devarim” (names) is in the first reading from that Book of the Torah. But, perhaps the Torah is teaching us something deeper, and more significant, than this.

During one of his conversations with Moshe, Korach declares that Moshe should not be the exclusive leader of the Israel, nor Aharon its high priest, because “Every one of the congregation is holy, and G-d is amongst them” (16:3). Midrashim have him going further, though, and mocking Moshe with questions such as “does a room full of Torah scrolls require a mezuzah? Does a garment entirely of techelet require tzitzit?”

From his first statement, though, we get a hint that Korach’s initial motivation was essentially good: he was a Levite, but wanted to do more in service of G-d and the people of Israel. The midrashim, again, have him telling Moshe that he, Korach, wanted to be High Priest… but Moshe responded that he did as well! Korach took his essentially positive ambition and directed it in a negative direction: challenging the leadership of Moshe and Aharon. The challenge of Jewish leadership- really, of all leadership- is to identify potential “Korachs” in our midst, and redirect their ambition in a positive direction, rather than a destructive one.

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But I can’t stop here without discussing the elephant in the room. That elephant is the horrid violence in Charleston: the massacre in the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest AME church in the south. On a personal level, I have a distant connection with this church, as I used to walk past the Mother Bethel AME church in Philadelphia- the first AME church anywhere- on my way to services at B’nai Abraham.

These shootings were the ultimate expression of baseless hatred: the shooter, may his name be blotted out, chose this location, and these victims, precisely because they were African American, and because of that church’s historic role in the civil rights struggle. As my friend David DiSabatino put it, “Can you imagine the reaction if an American Muslim had murdered a room full of white Christians? Congress would have passed 16 new laws yesterday and went out on the Capitol steps to sing ‘God Bless America.’”’

This shooting is a stain, not only on Charleston, not only on South Carolina, not only on the South, but on all of the United States. This kind of baseless hatred requires a response- but not just prayer. Prayer is good, but, in this case, prayer isn’t enough. I don’t know what the response should be, I really don’t. - but it can’t just be to shrug our shoulders and do nothing. 

At the same time, one can’t help but be awed by two things that followed the shootings: first, the reaction of the City of Charleston, and the reaction of the families of those who were shot. Charleston saw no riots: instead, there were outpourings of love + support for those in mourning, highlighted by a human chain, people of all races holding hands throughout the City. And the families of those who were shot forgave the shooter. If that didn’t send a shiver down your spine, I’m not quite sure if you have feelings at all. These people illustrated what the Rev. Dr. King meant when he said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”