Shabbat Shuvah Discussion Questions
1.
Before
looking at the handouts, take a moment to discuss your current ideas about
civil rights, social justice, and Jewish values. How, if at all, do they all
fit together?
2.
Look
at the source sheet with Scripture, Talmud, Halakha, and modern Jewish works.
Which verse, poem, song, or picture do you like best or you think best
encapsulates Jewish values?
3.
What
narrative does this chronology of Jewish life tell? Do you think it is
accurate, in accordance with your experience of Judaism and/or social action?
If not, where does it divert? What would be a more accurate reflection?
4.
Take
a look at the Racial Justice Definitions hand out. Is there anything on there
that is new to you? What makes sense and what is confusing? Do you agree with
these definitions? Why or why not?
5.
Read
the poem by Yehuda Webster and Zahara Zahav. Does it resonate with you? Why or
why not? What assumptions can you make about the authors based on their names
and poetry alone? Do you think they’d fit in at the Virginia Tech Hillel?
6.
This
conversation has been centered on racial justice and the civil rights movements
of Black Americans. Does the Jewish community have a similar responsibility to
protect other oppressed people? How could you use a similar approach as was
discussed tonight to defend the civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community?
Texts:
Leviticus 19:16, 18
You shall not go around as a talebearer among your people. Do stand
idly by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a false grudge
against members of your community. You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I
am the Lord.
Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 11a
At a time when the community is suffering, no one should say, “I
will go home, eat, drink, and be at peace with myself.”
Rambam (Maimonides), Mishneh Torah Hilchot De’ot 6:7
Whoever is in a position to prevent wrongdoing and does not do so
is responsible for the sins of all the wrongdoers whom they might have stopped.
Scottsboro (An Excerpt) by Betsalel Friedman
(1931)
Liar! You tell our children of freedom,
while day and night you lock them in chains and cells,
choke children on trees beside their fathers.
Lincoln freed grandmothers and grandfathers, you tell.
Children come out of the movies. Sometimes joy is in their eyes,
fooled by lies of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
You’ve poisoned the milk that little babies drink,
poured into little hearts hate for Negro millions.
The joy in Black homes is like starved flesh:
Even when a child is born, one spends joy sparingly.
Who knows where a white ruler draws his blood?
Will he choke the neighbor’s son on a tree?
Pale is the tale of ancient Egypt
and the Hebrew children drowned in the river.
It’s 1931 with a frame-up in Scottsboro . . .
nothing like it in the history of slavery.
Strange
Fruit By
Billie Holiday and Abel Meeropol (1937)
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
“The
Hope of How”
By
Yehudah Webster and Zahara Zahav, JFREJ leaders
“My
insides are churning”
A
most sacred home in flames deemed worthless, disposable
How?
A
pastor and worshipers slain, heads bowed, in the sanctuary
How?
A
mother sits in the street where her son’s soul was poured out
How?
A
world turns its back again, again, again – there is none to comfort her
How?
A
people shown their Black bodies, tears, families do not matter
How?
How
have we fallen to such disgrace?
How
long will we slink away from justice?
How
do we allow?
How
do we hope?
How
do we dance when so heavy with grief?
How
do we turn to face each other?
A
woman climbs where no one dared, tears down a flag of hatred
How?
A
mother refuses to back down, power yields to her demands
How?
A
wave of clergy rise up to meet resounding call for a different world
How?
A
movement plants seeds everywhere, sprouts flowers over burial ground
How?
A
black man’s cry, “I can’t breathe” amplified in the streets for all to hear
How?
With
this hope we pray that we do not reach the point of total destruction
We
pray that we desist from senseless hatred and brutality
That
sacred places remain holy, unstained from the blood of racism
That
we do not repeat the mistakes of our ancestors, taking instead honest account
of our obligations
We
pray that community, allyship and love forge new bridges of understanding and
trust
That
we continue to hope and believe in each other
Demanding
as one that black lives truly do matter
All
these things we pray in solidarity together
And
let us say,
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment