Do Worry and Be Happy!
Thursday March 3, 2022 – א’ באדר ב’ תשפ”ב
הַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה” (מגילת אסתר ט:כ”ב)”
“…The same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month which had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy.” (Esther 9:22)
Greetings from Jerusalem!
The month of Adar II, with it the commandment to “increase in happiness,” is now upon us. And it couldn’t come at a more dire moment. As the world sits and watches Vladimir Putin’s one-sided, immoral, and unprovoked attack on the sovereign state of Ukraine, we, turn in solidarity to the people of Ukraine. We offer all that we can to provide humanitarian aid and to absorb the soon-to-be hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the country.
As Jews, this paints an all too familiar picture and leaves Israel as a complicated place. For many of us, our priority is to help the Jewish communities of Ukraine. We feel a sense of collective responsibility and have sprung into action. We’ve launched multiple appeals and emergency campaigns. Our own Movement’s campaign has received generous contributions, and this week the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish Federations of North America announced that it has raised over $8 Million in support of the Ukrainian people.
From the view in Israel, we are pressing the government both to condemn the actions of a megalomaniacal Russian Czar, and to ease any and all restrictions for Jews and their family members to seek refuge in Israel. Israel, as it so often does, has sprung into action. From Foreign Ministry officials navigating border crossings to Jewish Agency and Joint Distribution Committee staff working with the local community evacuating Jews and Israelis alike. The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs is organizing food, medicine, and shelter in preparation for scarcities, and is working to determine an accurate picture of the needs of the Jewish community there.
Despite the fast action and quick organizing to provide aid and support, Israel’s situation isn’t so clear.
As veteran diplomat and columnist Alon Pinkus wrote in Haaretz this week, quoting the U.S. Congress’ Congressional Research Service:
“It essentially comes down to a simple truth: When your foreign policy on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has more resolve, determination, conviction, and moral clarity than your stuttering, tentative and noncommittal stance when Russia invades Ukraine, you may have a serious problem. Not just a problem of moral clarity, but a problem of a coherent and smart foreign policy.”
On the one hand, Israel is doing everything it can to support the victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it has not been as clear as it should have in outright condemnation of Putin’s actions. On the other hand, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid earlier this week stated clearly that:
“The UN will vote on a resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Israel will co-sponsor and vote in favor of the resolution, together with a decisive majority of the world’s countries.
…
Israel has been and will be on the right side of history. Those are our values. Our most important ally has been and will be the United States, but our American partners also understand … what we need to be mindful of and what requires us to be careful.
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Israel effectively has a security border with Russia. Russia is the most significant military power in Syria, and our cooperation mechanism with them assists in our determined battle against Iranian entrenchment on our northern border.”
Lapid’s point is important and needs to be taken into consideration. However, that should not lead us to vacillate on what should be a clear and moral stance to take.
Our tradition offers two framings through which we can look at the world and help explain our situation.
The first is a basic tenet of liberalism, and comes from the Talmud amidst a lengthy discussion of how the rabbis understood the laws of damages and property law:
“שֶׁזֶּה נִהְנָה, וְזֶה לֹא חָסֵר”
(תלמוד הבבלי בבא קמא כ-כא)
A simple statement explaining a situation in which “one party derives benefit, and the other party does not suffer a loss.” (Talmud Bava Kamma 20b)
This approach envisions a world of equity and equanimity. A world in which one person’s thriving and the ability to attain basic rights does not come at the expense of another. It envisions a world where everyone is provided for. It acknowledges that while there will be mistakes made, damages to property, homes, and lives, nonetheless our civilizational and societal framework will prevent unfair and unnecessary suffering. It essentially sets up a system where no one can exploit the system for their own benefit, and that resources, however scarce, should be available for those in need.
The second approach is what, we are sadly seeing in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:”
שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי: רָשָׁע:” (אבות ה:י)”
“What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is [also] mine: This is the definition of an evil person” (Rambam adds that this is the definition of the people of Sodom). (Pirkei Avot 5:1).
Vladimir Putin did not mince words and simply acted on the notion that ‘what’s yours is also mine.’
U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides summed it up plainly at an event of the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem alongside former US envoy Dennis Ross:
“It’s a tragedy. Putin is a madman, and sadly, sadly, thousands of people could be killed, hundreds of thousands of people already have fled, creating one of the largest refugee crises Europe has seen probably in 40 years, if not longer.”
With everything that’s going on these days it may be difficult to feel truly happy these days – and being told ‘to be happy’ may not quite cut it. We need to express our moral and prophetic voices in condemnation of what our tradition sees as evil. Our hope is that as we move into this new month, we will wish the same thing that we have been wishing for over 2500 years, that “the Jews enjoy relief from their foes and the same month which had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy.” (Esther 9:21)
Shabbat Shalom and Adar II Sameach!