& that blame game

The first thing that appeared on my news feed this Friday morning, on the tenth of tevet was:

” They blame the Jews for the LA fires”

Quite the agenda : Just blame the Jews

It does not matter about the truth, it does not matter if it is logical; just blame the Jews .

In Education, totally ignore the Holocaust; just blame the Jews.

All of the world’s problems; just blame the Jews.

I recently had a conversation with an artist; a bright midlife lady , from a totally different religious and cultural background, Yet we had several things in common. We both hailed from a small friendly town in Pennsylvania, we were both dedicated to the care of our parents. We talked about responsibility; responsibility for our parents, ourselves, and for others. I told her about my parents , their experiences in WWII; my father managed to escape Nazi invaded Europe, and my mother survived after enduring the atrocities of the Holocaust.

I said that today society is violent, aggressive,”wingey” ( Aussie slang for whiney) ,and is lacking in moral clarity.

She responded and said : “They should be teaching about the Holocaust in all schools everywhere.”

So why educate when you can just blame.?

Look at our Universities, so preoccupied with blame.

”Ushemartem al Nafshechem” – you are obligated to take care of yourselves both body and soul

When I used to teach leadership to teens we would often discuss the interconnected tiers of care and how that was a part of Tikkun Olam :

first take care of your hygiene and health

then your spiritual – g-dliness

Then your family

then your community

your expanded community

then globally

we often discussed examples and that taking care of the earth, was a part of this too.

”kulanu areviim zeh lazeh”

we are all responsible one for the other- for each other.

We are reflective lights, holy lights.

This is education; taking responsibility, knowing that there are challenges , seeking growth even after the challenges.

In the Parasha we see Joseph take responsibility physically for his family and in turn his family took care of him by  sustaining  him spiritually.

May we remember to look at the majestic mountains and the flowing waters, recognizing g-ds many gifts.

Nature- a phenomena

We need to protect

We are all responsible.