 |
| A disgusting comparison |
Too many of us see the typical black person as an inferior human being. Although most of those among us that harbor such feelings will not say so directly to a black person, that attitude can - and often is - subtly expressed. In my mind that lack of sensitivity makes them the inferior ones . At least morally. It is what former President George W. Bush called soft bigotry.
To be clear, this attitude is not limited to Orthodox Jews. It exists in a lot of non Jewish white people too. But my concern is about us. It is about how Jews should behave as a treasured people chosen by God to be a light unto the nations. By making a Kiddush HaShem. Not a Chilul HaShem.
It doesn’t take much to recognize this moral stupidity when it happens. (What a contrast to the Kiddush HaShem those young people from Chabad made - which I described yesterday.)
Rabbi Shafran did a good job in his Cross Currents article wherein he basically condemns how some of our people reacted to Governor Cuomo’s decision keep summer camps closed.
One can debate the wisdom of that decision. I can understand why Orthodox Jewish camp operators are upset by this considering the need - and the extraordinary amount of time and effort they put into a plan to run these camps under the COVID_19 restrictions. Which had been approved by ‘ nine nationally-recognized infectious disease doctors and medical professionals’.
While I disagree with the idea of opening any form of camp activity because of the increased dangers of asymptomatic children spreading the disease, I understand why Rabbi Shafran and others feel the risk is low enough to justify the benefits of opening them up.
But I agree with him about the inappropriate expression of outrage by Chasidic parents who wanted a summer camp for their children. Which happened as follows:
Two of the slogans are featured on signs being held by chassidic children in a photo that appeared online and in at least one respectable Jewish print publication. One sign reads “Kids’ Live Matter” [sic] and the other, “No camps, no justice.”
The third was part of a caricature in a Jewish magazine intended for young people. It portrayed Mr. Cuomo dressed as a police officer with his knee holding down a child wearing a summer camp t-shirt and crying out “I can’t breathe.”
I have to wonder about the values of the people behind this. Where do they get these values? What kind of a editorial policy in a Jewish magazine thinks that this caricature is a good idea? Where is their rabbinic advisory board?
Why is there no Chasidic Rebbe protesting the slogans on the signs being held by Chasidic children? Where is the outrage? Do they think that expressing protest this way is a good idea?
Some might suggest that the Rebbes that these Chasidim follow had nothing to do with it and would have prevented it had they known about in advance. Perhaps. But these Chasidim weren’t born yesterday. They didn’t wake up one day suddenly ignorant. This is a learned attitude which is widespread.
If these Rebbes were really all that upset by racisim, they would have been speaking out against it before this. Condemning the soft bigotry that results in slogans like these. My guess is that they never talk about racism at all.
Here is what Rabbi Shafran says about it (with which I completely agree):
Did they not realize that equating the cruel snuffing out of lives with depriving children of a summer camp experience is obscene?
Did the sloganeers consider for a moment how a black citizen, anguished by the seemingly endless parade of killings of unarmed black men and women by police, would perceive the “borrowing” of chants used to protest such carnage in the cause of demanding that… summer camps be opened?
Leave aside how a black American would feel. How should any thoughtful person feel?
As Rabbi Shafran notes the lack of empathy is disturbing. The Torah teaches us to treat all human beings created in the image of God with the respect and dignity that they deserve. A lesson that was apparently never taught in those circles.
This once again shows the consequences of living lives isolated from the rest of society while being indoctrinated to see all outsiders as lesser human beings - if not outright evil. The sad thing is that I do not see this attitude ever changing as long as the Chasidic leaders continue to preach isolation and the vilify the outside world.