Message from the Rabbi: Justice, Judaism, and Much-Needed Dialogue on Race Relations
Chevreh: Many of us marched for racial equality fifty years ago; many of us hoped that the ugly biases of our nation’s history might be transformed with the election of the nation’s current President. Sadly, the recent Zimmerman trial and subsequent discontent makes it patently clear that we are far from a post-prejudice era. I would be remiss, as your spiritual leader, if I didn’t share with you my thoughts on the trial and the deeper issues that emerged from it. The high profile trial of George Zimmerman, accused of the murder of Trayvon Martin, became even more volatile with the finding of Zimmerman as being “innocent,” based on the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida.. I understand that Nevada, also, has a “Stand Your Ground” law. Jewish wisdom tell us that “If someone comes to kill you, kill him first.” (Talmud:Sanhedrin 70a) But the Talmud continues: “If, however, you can prevent his killing you by wounding him rather than killing him, and, nevertheless you kill him, you become a murderer.” (Sanhedrin 74a) I ask myself how the Stand Your Ground law compares to the Talmud’s teaching, and I find them diametrically opposed. Martin was unarmed; Zimmerman was armed. Martin was being pursued; Zimmerman was the pursuer. But I wasn’t there, and I can’t understand whether Zimmerman was feeling a need to protect the neighborhood from a young man in a hoodie. I wasn’t there and I don’t know why Zimmerman did not stand down, as he had been instructed by the police. I don’t know what was in his mind; but his own words seem to indicate a fear of or, to put it mildly, a bias against a young man based on the color of his skin and the clothing. Maybe it was fear of “the other.” Maybe it was something else. I don’t know; I wasn’t there.
Should the family bring forward a wrongful death suit in civil court? I believe they should. Again, we go to the Torah, which famously says “An eye for an eye,” (Leviticus 24:2-21); but the Talmudic interpretation does not take this literally, rather that one should have financial recompense for suffering, health care, lost wages, and legal fees…and I do know that that could make a difference in this case. The need for understanding “the other,” for realizing that we are all created “b’tzelem Elohim,” in the image of G-d, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, and that we should not pervert justice. I think that many of us do understand these teachings; and I think that many of us simply give them lip service. There was a time when Jews walked side-by-side with Blacks, working together for the betterment of African Americans. It’s time we resumed that walk and resumed that dialogue. As my colleague, Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan writes: “Both the American Jewish and Black communities are self-protective, and with good reasons. But there is strength in numbers, in coalitions, and in asking serious questions. Even if justice, in the strict procedural definition, was served in court…, we know that social justice was not. “ As we enter this month of contemplation and selfassessment, let us ask if we are content to “sit idly by” or if we are willing to re-enter the deeper dialogue about race relations in the United States. After all, the Torah teaches “Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof!/ Justice, Justice pursue!” L’Shalom u-l’Shalom Bayit, Rabbi Yocheved Mintz
I was not in the courtroom either, and I have to trust that he was duly judged by a jury of his peers. The responsibilities that this jury carried were onerous, for sure. I don’t know what my verdict would have been, and I don’t know how the country would have responded had Zimmerman been found guilty. But I do know that the Torah teaches, “Do not pervert justice or show partiality” (Deuteronomy 16:19). I have to trust that the jury took their responsibilities seriously and felt that the prosecution did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. They were not asked to determine if Zimmerman was a racist.
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