Response to the Capitol Riots

A SERMON IN RESPONSE TO THE CAPITOL RIOTS

Never say, “it cannot happen here in America.” It can. Never say that any one political party will ensure our safety and wellbeing. It cannot.

Shabbat Shemot 2021/5781

Rabbi Stephen Weiss

Where do I begin? There is so much that must be said. I will warn you up front this will be longer than a typical sermon. Let me begin with a description of events at and connected to the Capitol riots that you may not have heard on the evening news, regardless of whether you watch Fox or CNN:

Some of the rioters wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Camp Auschwitz” and “Work Brings Freedom,” the translation of the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei which is written over the gates of Auschwitz through which Jews passed on their way ultimately to the gas chambers.

Other rioters brandished neo-Nazi flags and swastikas.

One could be seen on livestream as he wrote: “OY VEY not anuddahshoahh.”

On 4chan, an alternative social media network, a photo of a police officer in the Capitol building was met with the comment “KILL ALL [N-word] AND COPS AND JEWS.”

Protesters replaced US flags not only with Trump flags but with the flags of the Confederacy and of their militia groups.

Prominent among the rioters, seen inciting and leading their actions, was the national leader of Q Anon. You saw him on TV. He always wears red, white and blue face paint and horns on his head. Among the conspiracy theories at the heart of Q Anon is a vicious anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that holds that the Jews secretly hold the reins of power in this country and use that power in their own interests and to destroy America.

In the hours since pro-Trump extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol, anti-Semitic ideologues, activists and conspiracy theorists have attempted to implicate Jews and Zionists in the violence. In postings across social media, they have written that the events of Wednesday, January 6, 2021 were either planned by Jews or revealed the extent of Jewish and Zionist influence over the American democratic system.

Some of them were pro-Trump. Some were anti-Trump. But they were all anti-Jews.

A Twitter handle associated with the white supremacist group Patriot Front tweeted that the pro-Trump extremists were “turning out in the streets for a disgraced Zionist fraud.”

Anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist Adam Green speculated that the pro-Trump rioters were manipulated by Jews and supporters of Israel to riot in order to discredit President Trump so that they could empower a Biden administration to implement a repressive social agenda. Green wrote:

“Trump’s term was giving Israel everything they could—propping up Israel, giving them the tech, giving them the Abraham Accords, giving them all of these goodies, everything on their laundry list—and now they’re going to dispose of Trump after they milked us dry and got powerful enough. And now they’re going to bring in the Bolshevik left. The left hand of the Zionist Bolshevik dialectic. And they’re going to unleash war on Edom, or America, and bring down America. Destroy any possible remnant that could possibly fight ZOG (that’s the Zionist Occupation Government, code among white nationalists for Jews controlling America).”

Conspiracy theorist and Holocaust denier Michael A. Hoffman II wrote that the rioters were “worshippers of the Zionist state of counterfeit ‘Israel’” and are behaving “not like Christians, but like Israeli settlers.”

The white supremacist “Green Dragon” Telegram channel posted that the female Trump supporter who was killed inside the Capitol building was “executed by goons of political operatives for ZOG.”

A Twitter user with more than 20,000 followers celebrated the damage to the Capitol building by comparing it to the ransacking of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. “I love it when ZOG loses,” they wrote.

Another rioter tweeted a picture of an Israeli flag being carried next to Trump flags and wrote: “Zionism will be there, as always.”

On an anti-Semitic Telegram channel with over 2000 subscribers, a post claimed that the violence did not go far enough, adding, “USA is finished. Harris will assume rulership and the elite Jews will reset the system and agenda 21 will be rolled out.” (Agenda 21 is a longstanding antigovernment conspiracy theory focused on a United Nations sustainability plan).

One rioter posted that “Hitler was right,” while another was photographed sitting on the steps of the Capitol giving a Nazi salute.

That’s a long list. I could go on.

I don’t think any of us can truly grasp the meaning of Wednesday’s events without understanding the extent to which vicious violent anti-Semitism was at the root of and pervaded those riots. Nor – without hearing all these painful examples – can we understand that Wednesday’s riots posed a threat not only to our democracy but also to us as Jews.

Time and again over the centuries, Jews lived comfortably and accepted in various societies until there was political upheaval. But when turmoil set in the Jews were always the scape goat, and they became the target of hatred and persecution. That is our collective story.

It has been our story since the days of the Exodus, the story that we read this week in the Torah. Joseph rose to be Vizier of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, not by violence or oppression but by saving the people from famine. Yet we read this week that vayakam Melech hadash, a new King arose, a King who feared attack by outside forces and — fearing the Jews might join with such an attack – he labeled the Jews as enemies and contrivers. The king enslaved our ancestors. Overnight, we went from being revered and accepted to being hated and oppressed.

We all trembled watching the capitol riots on our televisions. Never in our lives could we have imagined that we would see such a sight, that our Capitol, the sacred Temple of our democracy, would be breached by attackers seeking to overturn the legitimate results of a free and fair election; that our national leaders would be in the position of fearing for their safety and their lives.

But I also trembled for a different reason: We could never have imagined that Jew-hatred would play such an enormous role in the attack. It is not only democracy which was threatened on Wednesday. As Jews, each and every one of us should have felt threatened as well. Never say, “it cannot happen here in America.” It can. Never say that any one political party will ensure our safety and wellbeing. It cannot. Our only salvation is in the stability of a government that fiercely guards its democracy.

The events of Wednesday must be condemned in the strongest terms.

I am heartened by the fact that numerous leaders of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, have condemned the riots and recognized it for what it was: an assault on our democracy and our constitution. I am also heartened that so many leaders, again, from both parties, have condemned the president for his role in inciting and encouraging the rioters’ actions.

The president inflamed emotions that led to the riots by repeatedly spreading lies that the election was rigged and stolen despite statements by everyone from Attorney General Barr to The Secretary of Homeland Security to the head of national cybersecurity, to top officials in each of the states, to rulings of judges in over 30 cases, that there was no widespread fraud of any kind in this election.

The president set the stage for violence by telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” He also egged the rioters on by telling them to march to the Capitol, and that they would show the Republicans the kind of pride and boldness they need to “take back our country.”

Perhaps worst of all, when the President told the rioters to go home, he told them: “You are very special… We love you.” We love you. Those words were addressed to the rioters. The ones from Q Anon, the Neo- Nazis and white supremacists. “You are very special… We love you.” Those seven words were reminiscent of another statement by our President, in Charlottesville, that there were “good people on both sides.” At the time there were those that tried to reassure us that those words were taken out of context, and that is not what those words meant. On Wednesday, it became clear exactly what they mean.

I want to be clear. I am not criticizing the president for his policies, political actions or judicial appointments. One can love everything this president accomplished and still see the dangers in his words and actions fomenting what no less a leader of the Republican party than Senator Mitch McConnell called an “insurrection.”

There may be some who will say that this is a political address and they do not want to hear politics from the bimah. To that claim, I want to say two things:

First, I have made it a policy and always will that I never address partisan politics. That, however, has never meant that I would not point out when a political leader has crossed a moral line. To do so would be to consider that leader above the law, and to shirk my responsibility as a moral and ethical leader.

The Torah is very clear on this: God commands that a king must wrote his own copy of the Torah and carry it with him everywhere, because even the supreme leader of the land is subject to the law, and to be morally accountable to God.

Second, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel famously said, it is the role of the rabbi to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. If I do not raise moral issues and dare you to re-think assumptions, then I have failed as a rabbi. Judaism challenges us to always be growing and seeking higher levels of holiness. We can only do so when we confront our own failings honestly.

We read in this morning’s Torah reading not just of the new Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites, but also of the rise of the one who would save them from tyranny and lead them toward their new destiny as a free people covenanted with God. The Torah shares four stories about Moses and his leadership.

The first tells of Moses intervening in a fight he witnesses between two Hebrews. The second is the story of how Moses saves a Hebrew being beaten by an Egyptian taskmaster. The third is when Moses breaks up the shepherds who are blocking Tzipporah from getting water from the well.

Our sages teach us that these three stories teach us three important lessons:

The first is that like Moses, we must stand against in-fighting and injustice among Jews. The second is that we must stand up against oppression of Jews by others. The third is that we must fight for justice even among non-Jews are involved and Jews are not.

We need leaders like Moses today. Leaders who will stand up to injustice in any form. Leaders who will put the sanctity of our constitution, the stability of our democracy and the security of all people in this nation first, and above all else.

We need this not just from our leaders We too need ourselves to be like Moses. To live our lives as if at every moment we are standing before that burning bush, being called to serve God by bringing justice, freedom and peace into our world. The America that we cherish depends upon it. The welfare of its citizens of all backgrounds depends upon it. And make no mistake: Our future in this country as Jews depends upon it too.

Where do we go from here?

First and foremost, we must reach out and embrace each other. We are all hurting, and we all need one big collective hug. And I do mean all.

It is not just one political faction that was outraged and shaken by the events of January 6. Many Republicans as well as Democrats, conservatives as well as liberals were equally upset. The events if Wednesday have nothing to do with the merits or demerits of liberal or conservative ideas and policies. They were not about political parties.

Those events were about one person, unwilling to let go of the reins of power, manipulating the population to undermine democracy. If we allow Wednesday to create a deeper divide between parties and people, then he wins. Then the extremists win. And though I do not believe it was his conscious goal to unleash them, the forces of hatred win.

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was once asked how he can approach every person and every circumstance only with love, given all the wrongs that are committed in our world.

Reb Shlomo answered in this way: If I had two hearts, I would be able to afford to hate with one of them. I could use one heart to love and one heart to hate. But what can I do? God only gave me one heart. And that heart is full of love.

We will soon celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Reverend King taught us that darkness cannot drive out light, only light can do that. Hatred cannot drive out hatred, only love can do that.

So go forward from today and seek to love with your whole heart. Love everyone, whether you agree with them or not. Love your neighbor. Love your family. Love your community. Love the stranger. Love those with whom you disagree. Love our leaders even when they are from the other party, embrace them as part of your family, the family of America. Love democracy, which has given us as Jews the great gift of liberty.

Cantor chants Psalm 121
Rabbi Rudin Luria reads Psalm 121 in English

A song of Ascents

I lift my eyes to the mountains,
From where will my help come?
My help is from Adonai, who made the heavens and the earth.
Adonai will not let your foot slip,
Your Guardian does not slumber,
For the Guardian of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.
Adonai is your protector,
Adonai is the shield on your right hand.
The sun will not strike you down by day
Nor the moon by night.
Adonai will protect you from all evil and watch over you.
Adonai will watch over your coming and your going
from this time forth and forever.

Rabbi Weiss concludes with a prayer by Alden Solovey (adapted)

Oh, my people,
What have we become as a nation?
And what will we become,
In the wake of violence and insurrection,
In the face of armed assault against our democracy?

Rioting. Criminality. Attempted coup.
Domestic terror fomented
By the lies, fear, and anger of a President.
Death and destruction in the Capitol.
This doesn’t happen in the United States.
But it did.
And it can again.

Woe to the land that teeters on the brink of fascism.
Woe to the people who stay silent.
Woe to the politician who cannot stand against this outrage.
Woe to us all as the tide of history turns against our Republic.

Shame on those who have hardened their hearts,
Shut their eyes,
Closed their minds,
And empowered those who
Attempt to banish justice
And free elections from our midst,
Those who bring swords and guns
Against our sovereign land.

You God, who are our Rock, our Source and Shelter,
Grant safety and security
To the people and democracy of the United States of America.
Protect us from violence, rebellion, intimidation,
And attempts to seize our government.

Save us from domestic terror.
Save us from leaders who cannot say no to attacks
On our legacy and our future.

God of nations and history,
Let truth and justice resound
To the four corners of the earth.
Let the light of freedom
Shine brightly in the halls of power,
As a beacon of hope
For every land and every people.

Amen.