tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78333611082158583632024-03-21T18:24:11.886-07:00Rabbi Dinner's Soul FoodRabbi Lucy Dinnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16709222492337078477noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833361108215858363.post-69606813224102803902016-04-05T17:17:00.003-07:002016-04-05T17:26:21.781-07:00HB-2 Consumes NC Shine a New Light<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Rabbi Lucy H.F. Dinner Temple Beth Or<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Shabbat Shimini April 1, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I Never
Expected to Talk About THAT From the Bemah<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">An alien offering before God! Nadav and
Abihu spurned their father’s authority, spurned God’s command, and were
immediately consumed by fire. This is a difficult portion to explain, one of
the more challenging for B’nai Mitzvah students, like our Bat Mitzvah this week,
to have to grapple with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Frankly, most years I choose to teach
from other parts of this particular parasha. It is not that I shy away from
difficult issues. You know me too well than to think THAT would dissuade me.
Nadav and Abihu offer AISH ZARAH an alien offering, an offering so offensive
that it morphs into the Hebrew label for idol worship: AVODAH ZARAH. This alien
offering caused God’s immediate and irreversible wrath resulting in the
spontaneous combustion of Nadav and Abihu. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I never thought I would have a salient
reason to teach about this portion, until the convergence of North Carolina’s
House Bill 2 and Parshat Shemini. A week and a half ago, a special session of
the legislature convened to deal with what they deemed a clear and pressing
emergency: the legislation of what bathroom one is allowed to enter or not
enter. HB2 has set off a firestorm in our state. It has consumed the media,
from North Carolina, to around the nation. It has elicited the wrath of several
states and municipalities who have banned official business travel to the
state.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> And, perhaps the biggest fire bomb of all to
our particular state, it has threatened the future of the religion to the
masses of North Carolinians – NCAA basketball.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Now, I know that there are some who will
say: Rabbi I don’t come to temple to debate politics. I come for a spiritual
sanctuary from a screaming, violent world. The spiritual sanctuary of Shabbat,
of the rituals of our heritage, are not meant to be an escape from the world.
Rather, they are a platform on which we hone our ideals so that we can bring
that “light unto the nations.” Albert Vorspan, renowned, director emeritus of
Reform Judaism’s Commission on Social Action, teaches: “Of course Judaism is
more than a passion for justice, but Judaism without that passion is an
oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, a failed mission, an exhausted and
caricatured promise.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We are facing a moral fight that looms
larger than one hastily enacted law. Nonetheless, this law is a microcosm for
the fear and greed that is overtaking our state and nation. HB2, the alien
offering of our state, is framed in the guise of protecting North Carolinians
from people who choose which public bathrooms to enter based on their gender.
Earlier this year the city of Charlotte had passed a measure making it more
welcoming and safe for transgender persons to use the restroom. State legislators
called the “emergency” session to override the city of Charlotte’s ordinance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Have you ever accidentally walked into
the wrong restroom? Women, tell the truth. (A few men too perhaps) Have you
ever used the wrong bathroom because the line to get into the right one was so
long and there was no line to get into the wrong one? All of us who have done
this and thought we could still be upstanding citizens are living in the wrong
state. That behavior now constitutes a citable, legal infraction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">While I speak sarcastically about the threat the law brings
to almost every person at one time or another, HB2 brings real and present
danger to transgender persons. Discrimination has spawned an alarming suicide
rate among transgender teens and adults. The </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="http://endtransdiscrimination.org/report.html"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; padding: 0in;">2011
National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS)</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">. It found that in the U.S., 41 percent of transgender … people
had attempted suicide, compared to a national average of just 4.6 percent.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The suicide rate directly correlates with the level of
discrimination that trans people face. Journalists Zack Ford reports:</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">(From a new study from Canada:) There, the suicide
attempt rate for transgender people was similar to what other studies have
found: about 18 times higher than the general population. But the study found
that some factors greatly reduced the attempt rate. For example, when
transgender people had affirming parents, the rate dropped by 57 percent.
Access to legal documentation consistent with their gender identity dropped
rates by 44 percent. Trans people who experienced low levels of anti-trans hate
were 66 percent less likely to attempt suicide. And perhaps most importantly,
the further along individuals were in their transitions — i.e. the closer they
were to having a body and outward identity that matched their internal gender
identity — the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="border: none 1.0pt; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; padding: 0in;">less</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>likely they were to attempt suicide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">“There is significant evidence to suggest that
transgender identities<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/how-much-evidence-does-it_b_4616722.html"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; padding: 0in;">have
a biological origin</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">, and there is already<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="http://www.lambdalegal.org/sites/default/files/publications/downloads/fs_professional-org-statements-supporting-trans-health_4.pdf"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; padding: 0in;">consensus
among medical professionals</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">that the best way to support
transgender people is to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="http://www.lgbthealtheducation.org/wp-content/uploads/13-017_TransBestPracticesforFrontlineStaff_v6_02-19-13_FINAL.pdf"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; padding: 0in;">affirm
their gender identities</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">.” (</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/06/22/3672506/transgender-suicide-rates/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/06/22/3672506/transgender-suicide-rates/</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">HB2 is legalizing discrimination that threatens the
lives of North Carolina’s transgender citizens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Nonetheless, this is not the only deleterious impact of
HB2. Last night on a conference call with clergy across North Carolina Bishop
Tonya Rawls, a Black, lesbian, woman, clergy member, and social activist from
Charlotte, said that the bathroom part of this bill is not even the most
significant part. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Beyond regulating restrooms, the bill codifies
prejudice by making it illegal for any county or municipality to enact
legislation protecting those in the LGBT community from discrimination and hate
crimes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Though seemingly unrelated to the restroom emergency,
the bill also makes it illegal for cities and counties to require their
contractors to guarantee their workers a living wage above minimum wage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Further, it makes it takes away recourse for employees
facing discrimination of any kind. Up until HB2 employees could file a state suit
alleging discrimination against employers. HB2 denies all state law suits for
discrimination for race, sex, religion, nationality or disability. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Our legislators have served up an alien offering. Now
our state is being consumed by the fire of this immoral bill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Economically: 100 CEOs and counting have signed a
letter to Governor McCrory calling for repeal of HB2. Cities and states across
the country have banned official government travel to North Carolina. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">* The NCAA and NBA are strongly considering moving
basketball tournaments and the all-star game out of North Carolina. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">* Lionsgate entertainment, the production company
filming the remake of Dirty Dancing in North Carolina is reconsidering all
future filming in our state. They have already abandoned rentals and hiring for
a comedy pilot show that was in the early stages of filming, and moved
production to Canada. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">* Theatre composer Stephen Schwartz is encouraging a
boycott of the state for all composers’ works. From Schwartz’ works alone that
means no theatre in North Carolina can produce his shows including the likes of
<i>Wicked, Pippin, & Children of Eden. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">* Brailburn Pharmaceutical Company, who recently
announced they would build a $20 million plant in Durham, is putting those
plans on hold and considering cites outside of North Carolina because of the
bill. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">This is a real and serious setback to the economic
well-being of North Carolina’s citizens. HB2 threatens the livelihood and
welfare of our State.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">EDUCATIONALLY: Beyond the economics and discrimination
HB2 threatens the loss of $4.5 billion in Federal education funding. School
districts that comply with the law will be in violation of Federal Title IX
legislation. In addition to the Title IX funding loss that puts school
districts at risk for massive law suits and loss of funding from other federal
agencies as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">HB2 has unleashed a fire threatening to consume our state.
It is an alien offering, alienating our citizens, alienating corporations,
states, and even the President of the United States. The law causes real and
measurable harm. It is the perfect fire-storm of the dual towers of fear and
greed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I urge you to contact your legislators
and the governor. Demand an immediate repeal of HB2. Let them know that we will
not be silent in the face of the desecration of the moral, economic, and
educational values of North Carolina.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Our prophetic call is to quench the alien
fire. Our task as Jews, as human beings is to reduce the pain and suffering in
our world, to replace the tower of greed with tzedakah and loving kindness; to
supplant the tower of fear with compassion and hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> AMEN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> Copyright 2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 21.3333px;">Rabbi Lucy H.F. Dinner</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 21.3333px;">Temple Beth Or, Raleigh, NC</span></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
Rabbi Lucy Dinnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16709222492337078477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7833361108215858363.post-47917313923819027532016-03-23T09:09:00.002-07:002016-03-23T09:09:34.632-07:00Why I Stayed In The Room for Trump<div style="line-height: 18.85pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Why I Stayed In The Room for Trump</span></b><span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rabbi Lucy H.F. Dinner<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">This week the largest gathering of Jews in North America AIPAC
swept into the vortex of the presidential campaigns in the aggregate and the
Trump campaign in specific. AIPAC has decades of experience in bipartisan
support for Israel. AIPAC's advocacy has propelled support for the State of
Israel into one of the few areas that garners agreement across the American
political divide. The invitation by AIPAC to all the presidential candidates to
speak, inclusive of Donald Trump, brought a distinct challenge to AIPAC's
longstanding policy and to the 18,000 participants in the conference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.85pt; margin: 0in 0in 8.55pt;">
<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Trump's appearance presented an acute dilemma for the 700 plus
rabbis and cantors in attendance at the conference as it did for many of the
delegates. Trump has used his campaign as a bully pulpit to incite violence,
malign Muslims, slander immigrants, and ignite disdain for everyone from the
President, to his fellow candidates, and anyone who dares to speak up against
him. Many rabbis, cantors, and attendees chose to walk out of the session
rather than to honor Trump with their presence. Some rabbis from the Reform and
Conservative movement organized alternative study sessions on pertinent Jewish
values. A few chose to cancel their attendance at the conference in protest. I
was among those who felt compelled to witness Trump's session. I wanted to bear
witness: to demonstrate respect for all human dignity, including Trump's,
though he denies it to all others; to not remain silent in the face of evil;
and to be able to respond first hand to both his presentation and the reaction
of those present.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.85pt; margin: 0in 0in 8.55pt;">
<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Torah commands: "Thou shall not stand idly by the blood
of your neighbor." I stayed in the room precisely to uphold this
commandment. Trump, who has maligned so many and literally encouraged violence
against his detractors, can only be stopped if we stand up to him and if we
call him out for his derision. My presence in the room preserves the respect I
have for the dignity of the office of the President of the United States and
for America's great democracy, where every citizen deserves a voice even those
with whom I vehemently disagree. My presence in the room gives me the right and
obligation to take a stand against the abject hatred Trump spreads. My presence
in the room proclaims I will not let the bigotry of one individual usurp my
right or anyone else's to full participation in democracy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.85pt; margin: 0in 0in 8.55pt;">
<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">As for Trump, he was classic, narcissistic, Trump. He opened
with an insult to Muslims, reminding the majority Jewish crowd that it was
Muslims who perpetrated 9-11. He claimed that he was The Authority on the Iran
Agreement saying: "I have studied this deal very much believe me more than
anyone else in the world and it is a bad deal." In Washington, DC, in
front of 18,000 people, many of whom worked for weeks and months around the
clock against the Iran deal, he claimed that he studied that
deal more than anyone else in the world. He anointed himself the top
deal maker in the world since he wrote a book that had the word deal in the title
-- and since that book was, he said: "the number one best seller in the
world, or one of the number one, yes, number one." He was so disrespectful
of the Office of the President and of President Obama particularly that AIPAC
felt morally compelled to issue an apology distancing itself from Trump's
remarks. No facts, no plans, only wild unsubstantiated assertions about the
state of the country today and promises without substance, depth, or form, of
where the country will be when he is in charge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.85pt; margin: 0in 0in 8.55pt;">
<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The audiences' response to Trump was what transformed the
bombastic, overblown remarks of the candidate and elevated his egocentricity
into a volatile and pathogenic blow to the democracy of the United States of
America. Upon Trump's entry to the arena the crowd sat fairly stoic. It did not
take long for Trump's absurd claims to elicit open laughter that could be heard
all the way to the hallways of the sport's arena. And then when the crowd was
loosened up with his absurdity Trump turned to his charismatic, bullish charm
to draw people into his vortex. With much the same promises, (i.e. The United
States will always be Israel's greatest partner) albeit in much simpler
language than the other candidates, Trump managed to whip the crowd to
excitement, until many were off their feet in one standing ovation after
another. This is how he transformed a crowd believed to be so hostile to Trump
that AIPAC had at least three times before Trumps' appearance exhorted the
crowd about proper respect for guest speakers. And there they were on their
feet in unbridled, spontaneous support for this man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.85pt; margin: 0in 0in 8.55pt;">
<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The way that Trump charmed that crowd took me back to a buried
memory from a high school civics project. I was doing a report on the KKK and
went to gather research material from a freestanding KKK bookstore in my
hometown. When I entered the store I was struck by the lack of books. Instead,
tables were strewn with pamphlet after pamphlet of outlandish propaganda. At
first I was shocked that so much of the material was anti-Semitic in nature - at
least 50%. Nevertheless, I took comfort that the poor quality of the writing,
the clearly outlandish claims, and the exaggerated cartoon illustrations of
Jews, Blacks, and Mexicans, would hardly be convincing to any rational person.
The pamphlets were almost laughable, so clearly devoid of any shred of truth or
fact. Then the door of the store opened and a seven year old boy walked in and
greeted the salesperson, his mom. Who would believe those outrageous pamphlets
that I was almost laughing at minutes before-- that little seven year old boy,
whose world was surrounded by those pamphlets and the people who propagated
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.85pt; margin: 0in 0in 8.55pt;">
<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Why is Trump a threat to our democracy? He is a threat because
he has that combination of bully and charisma that draws people in, who are one
minute laughing at his bravado and the next cheering wildly for his feral
promises. Trump is the instigator, but the real danger is an American public so
desperate for an easy answer, so afraid of their own shadow, that they grasp at
the elixir of a modern-day, snake oil, salesman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.85pt; margin: 0in 0in 8.55pt;">
<span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Staying in that room gave me not only greater insight into
Trump, but also keener understanding of the desperate fears affecting so many
Americans. Staying in that room gave me the perspective to work for a more just
answer to the alleviation of those fears. In order to "not stand idly
by" we have to understand the trepidation of our brothers and sisters. We
have to acknowledge those fears and seek an alternative to saving oneself at
the expense of the blood of the other. May the voice of the prophets guide us
on that path: "to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before
God."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Rabbi Lucy Dinnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16709222492337078477noreply@blogger.com6