The mandate of discernment

As we proceed deeper into Devarim/Deuteronomy and head toward the dramatic holiday cycle of Tishrei, there is no question that 5784 has been an unusually challenging year for the Jews. As I am writing this in mid-August, it seems unlikely that this situation will change soon.

Parashat Re’eh, a wide-ranging parashah including some of the most essential mitzvot of the Torah, opens by highlighting our powers of discernment. The first word, re’eh, literally the singular imperative “See!”, tells us not only that we should be cautious about following the mitzvot, about choosing the blessings which God has set before us, but also suggests something much more expansive.

See! Look to the future, which depends heavily upon our actions today.

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See! Watch the trends of society, of government, of the actions of our potential foes.

Be aware of where the Jews are headed as a people, and particularly a people dispersed among other nations. Ibn Ezra, in his commentary on the word re’eh, tells us, “Pay good attention so that you will not be like the nations of the world who relate to everything half-heartedly.” We cannot afford to be half-hearted; our millennia of resilience have depended on our commitment to the truth.

See! Have the foresight to discern what is happening right now, and to be prepared to take action in the future. This is the suggestion of Rabbi Shim’on in Pirkei Avot 2:9, when prompted by his teacher Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai to determine the most righteous human attribute.

See! Observe the language used around you carefully and parse the language around you, because words matter, and public discourse matters.

A federal judge in California recently ruled that UCLA must prevent anti-Israel protesters from blocking Jewish students’ access to university buildings and classes. Such a ruling might seem obvious — the whole point of enrolling in university is to go to class to learn, and the university should protect students’ rights to do so in safety. But the university fought against the ruling, arguing that while it is “committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from intimidation, discrimination, and harassment,” it was not responsible for the behavior of the protesters.

This approach seems frustratingly consistent with other universities and municipalities who, wary of violating First Amendment rights or of angering progressive allies, have tried to please all parties. But in doing so, they forfeit protection of the Jews: of Jewish students’ ability to learn without persecution, of Jewish citizens’ rights to live in peace, unmolested by threatening protesters and antisemitic graffiti.

As the parent of a rising senior at Allderdice, I have visited a number of university campuses in recent months.

And in such a fraught moment, my nostalgia for my own college years and my respect for academia are bumping up against my very real anxiety about what my daughter might face when she arrives on campus a year from now.

We certainly cannot see into the future. But our tradition mandates discernment, and understanding that the others around us may not always place the safety of the Jews first. And we should be acting with foresight to make sure that our rights, our lives, our interests remain protected. PJC

Rabbi Seth Adelson is senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.