‘You want us to do what?’

The
American Jewish community is still reeling from the attack on a Reform temple
in the Detroit area. Thankfully, no one was killed on March 12 other than the
attacker, though several first-responders were injured. It’s a near miracle
that roomfuls of children in the building that afternoon got our safely with
teachers and synagogue staff.

As I write
this, Jews throughout the United States are preparing for Shabbat.

This
Shabbat is called Shabbat Hachodesh. It takes its name from the
beginning of the special maftir (last Torah section) that is read before
the month of Nisan begins, the month in which Passover is observed. The section
itself, Exodus 12:1-20, contains the first Passover commandments: slaughtering
a lamb on the 14th day of the month, smearing its blood on the doorposts,
roasting its flesh, and eating it hastily in family gatherings with matzah and bitter herbs.

But
preceding these particulars is the commandment to take the designated lamb and
watch it for four days. Just watch it. Tie it up, and don’t do anything to it
yet. Just watch it.

It does
seem a bit unusual to be told to “do something by doing nothing,” and one might
imagine folks back in Egypt responding to Moses: “You want us to do what?”

The Torah
text itself does not explain the need to wait several days before the animals
are to be slaughtered. However, the Talmudic sage R. Masya ben Charash offers
that after years in Egypt, the Jewish people had become so assimilated that
they had no real merit that would justify their being redeemed.

God gave
them two commandments, both involving blood: the commandment to smear lamb’s
blood on the doorposts of their houses and the commandment of circumcision,
which had been neglected in Egypt. Since the obligation of partaking in the
Passover sacrifice could only be done by males who were circumcised, the
procedure was done on the 10th to allow several days for the newly circumcised
males to heal before offering the sacrifice.

Two commandments calling for blood, only a couple of days after Jewish blood was nearly shed again. We are already poignantly aware of how true the words are that we will soon be reciting at our Passover seder tables: “In every generation, some rise up to destroy us … .”

Yet we are
still divided on how to adequately respond. Of course, the recent truck-ramming
by an armed immigrant-turned-U.S. citizen in West Bloomfield, Mich., is a call
to redouble our efforts to secure our institutions and ensure that they have
the technology and staffing required. Indeed, trained manpower saved the day at
Temple Israel.

But those
who thwarted the attack were professionals, hired by an institution that could
afford them. Not every Jewish institution is so fortunate. And even the professionals
may not be enough to stop someone focused on the intent to do harm.

It again raises the issue of training laity with firearms, if necessary, at least as a supplement for the professionals. Yet whenever this idea is raised to clergy and lay leaders, the response is too often as incredulous as the one that the Jews in Egypt might have given Moses: “You want us to do what?”

Sometimes, the incredulity is accompanied by dismissal, sadness or anger. My own attempts at getting our local leadership to offer training to community members have so far been politely ignored. In the hours following the Detroit incident, a friend’s suggestion that a firearms training program be sponsored by the Jewish Federation was met with an indignant, “Please refrain from giving your unsolicited advice.”

With the month of Nisan coming, preparing for Passover is upon us. Our ancestors’ initial preparation of just watching the lamb was so easy that it may have seemed ludicrous. At this moment, adequate preparation for what may come may seem doesn’t seem easy at all. Still, it’s time to consider new approaches because the old ones aren’t working.

Regardless
of how ludicrous the command might have seemed to our ancestors and how
incredulous they might have felt, they obeyed. Current circumstances dictate that
when it comes to Jews being armed and properly trained, we put our own incredulity
and indignation aside, and embrace “this new thing.”

Lives might
depend on it.

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