Decency instead of Descent
Since October of 2023, executives, principals, coaches – the adults in the room – have often been incapable of confronting wrongs. Instead of punishing the vandal’s swastika, they’ve commonly opted to wish-it-away or to just move-on. Unintentionally, they’ve made trouble more troublesome.
One incident follows another. Before we know it, cheerleaders for monstrous-cruelty who justify Jew-hatred get normalized. Even when crimes do make the News, viewers seem to have other priorities.
When we assume-generously, we realize that we don’t have a lot of practice with this. And leaders, like all of us, can be experts at some things and amateurs at other things.
Lessons from our forefather Isaac arrive just in time. This week’s portion of Torah finds Isaac at home in Israel. He’s the only patriarch to live his whole life there. When a famine occurs, God tells him: “Don’t go down to Egypt, dwell in the land which I’ve assigned you” (Gen. 26:2). For me, going down to Egypt can figuratively mean, don’t descend into the grip of troubling norms. Don’t lower your standards. Don’t decline. Stay firmly-grounded.
As you know, when your core is grounded, you don’t see yourself primarily on the basis of what others think of you. You don’t depend upon their approval. Moreover, your self-worth cannot be alienated by others.
The timely new book Don’t Feed The Lion brings this lesson home. It probes how middle-schoolers grapple with antisemitism and the courage to speak up. KI’s own Robert Kraft, who’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate is leading global efforts to prevent hate from having a home, says the book “shows how a single moment of hate can ripple, and how young people can choose to lead with strength and decency instead.” By choosing decency instead of descent, you, like Isaac, keep faith with your home field advantage.
Until Isaac, no biblical personality had experienced more fear of danger and deception. Yet he remained poised and steady. He somehow pieced-together his life and kept faith with his calling.
The next time you’re faced with hate, may you find yourself choosing decency above descent.
