I would like to encourage you to read the OU statement in the “wake of the Death of Mr. George Floyd and National Protest.”
Martin Luther King Jr. said: injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.
As Jews, we are chosen to ensure that we don’t stop struggling for a society that recognizes the inherent G-dliness of every person and that lives with this G-d consciousness in mind (see Isaiah 11:9).
Our parsha reveals a beautiful message of the uniqueness of every individual. This week’s Torah portion, Naso, is the longest Torah portion in the Torah (176 verses) as it describes 12 times in succession and in great detail the many yet identical gifts brought by each chieftain of the 12 tribes for the inauguration of the Mishkan (sanctuary).
The commentators explain that the parsha is extended because of the attention given to the individuals involved. Even if each of the chieftains did the same thing, each one of them found different meaning in what he did since the perspective of each was unique.
We can find here a desire by God that each and every one of us deserves our own valued place since we are all uniquely significant – that each of us is an entire world.
Each individual is inherently unique!
We might not inherently love every person but it’s a choice to hate them and a greater choice to come to love them. The Torah states: You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your fellow, but you shall not bear a sin on his account (Lev. 19:17- interestingly, the very next verse instructs us to love our fellows as ourselves).
On this verse, Maimonides (human dispositions 6:6) teaches that to banish hate, we need to dialogue. We need to approach one another and dialogue.
The more distant we feel to someone, the greater the need to approach them and create bridges and understanding.
So, allow me to suggest an action item that doesn’t resolve the national issues we face but improves our society by improving ourselves: reach out to someone who you feel and have become distant from. Create a bridge with someone different than you- who thinks different, who looks different, who votes different…
Perhaps, if each one of us improves ourselves, we might improve our family, then we might improve our city, then perhaps our country and eventually, with G-d’s help, the global community of which, we are each a unique part of.