March 11th, 2024

Some  years ago an awful thing happened in the very Jewish city of Monsey, NY. It was discovered that a kosher butcher in town had been buying unkosher meat, re-packaging it, and selling it as kosher. This was a scandal of epic proportions, with families throwing out all of their dishes, pots, and cutlery. Not surprisingly, they basically ran the guy out of town. He was a religious man known to everyone, someone who had been in the community for years, who had been a guest in people’s homes, was seen davening every morning. No one could understand how someone recognized as pious could, in fact, be so utterly unethical and callous. More on that in a moment.

This past Shabbat, our guest speaker at The Song Shul was former hostage Mia Schem. I had seen the Israeli television interview that she gave after her release, so I was familiar with stories of her dreadful situation. She had been held captive in Gaza in a windowless room at the home of a Palestinian family. When she spoke at The Song Shul, she shared the following story that added a dimension I hadn’t considered:

Every week, Mia knew when it was Friday, the Muslim day of Prayer (like our Sabbath) because her captor would read the Koran. When she knew it was Friday, Mia would manage to light a candle, and she would tell herself, “If this candle flame lasts for an hour, then it is a sign I will be saved.” She did this repeatedly on Fridays throughout her captivity. The candle flame lasted, and this was her weekly encouragement to keep faith.

A nice story, but did you catch what I caught here? It was something that Mia glossed over as she told it:  Her captor read the Koran every Friday. He was a religious man! How could a person who is so dedicated to his religion live a life which included horrific behaviour towards another human being? This is what I don’t understand.

When I was growing up, someone who was running for president was caught in a personal scandal. As a result, my father wouldn’t vote for him.  I asked what one thing had to do with the other, and my father replied, “A person who is unethical or immoral in one part of his life can not be trusted to be ethical or moral in other areas.” This lesson has stayed with me. The reading of the Koran by this Palestinian, and the daily davening by the Monsey butcher, become meaningless*. Null and void. 

As we live our lives, in good and bad times, let us remember to be ethical and honourable in all we do, always choosing the path of morality. Let us be consistent, with our actions a reflection of the good people we aspire to be. Above are extreme examples, nowhere near what any of us would experience, but on every level as humans, and as Jewish people, let us be known for always doing the right thing. Let us be trusted in all we do.

Am Yisrael Chai!

*I am not equating the actions of a Palestinian terrorist to those of a Jewish crook who works in the meat industry.  But that is an in-depth discussion for another day.