Rabbi Michael Siegel
January 14, 2006

In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “it must have felt like déjà vu all over again”. Jacob was at the end of his life, and like his father, he was ready to offer his sons their final blessings. Jacob must have been mindful of his own experience, now long ago, when he entered his father’s tent, dressed in his brothers clothing, with fur attached to his arms, to receive the blessing that was intended for Esau. Now, years later, Jacob’s own sons were gathering, and it was for him to give them their charge. The blessing that Jacob was to give his children was far more than the formulaic words that Jewish parents offer their children on a Friday night; no, these words were intended predictors of the future. The fact that the covenant of Abraham would now rest on the shoulders of his sons must have weighed heavily on Jacob. After all, he, better than anyone knew their potential for acts of goodness as well as the possibility of his son’s impetuous acts of violence. The question was what would Jacob say on this day when the past and the future met?

The story begins with Jacob gathering his children around him and the addition of an odd phrase. So they I might tell them of “the end of days”. What do these words mean? At the end of which days? Does he mean their lifetimes? Does he mean the end of their period in Egypt and the ascension to Israel? Or does he mean the end of time?

Here, Rashi, our great teacher comes to our aid. We are commemorating the 900th anniversary of Rashi’s death this year, and each week our congregation publishes a teaching of Rashi to celebrate the work of one of our greatest commentators.

To explain the words, at the end of days, Rashi quotes from a more ancient Midrash that tells us that Jacob had wanted to tell his children the future, all the way to the very end of days, but when he went to tell them, the Divine presence left him and he lost the vision. Instead, according to the Rabbi, Jacob’s sons attempt to reassure their father that they will be true to the teachings of the covenant and say Shma Yisrael, Listen Israel, Adonai Eloheinu, the Lord is our God, Adonai Echad: Just as God is one in your heart, so too, is God one in ours. And then in a moment of supreme drama, Jacob utters the words in his last breath, Baruch Shem Malhuto L’Olam Vaed: Blessed be the name of His Kingship for ever and ever!

Now the question that I would like to pose to you this morning is why does Rashi quote this Midrash, and what is he trying to teach with it. Certainly, the Torah itself does not indicate that Jacob had these prophetic lapses when he tried to tell of the end of days. For someone who is states that his goal is to present the plain meaning of the text in his commentary, Rashi’s choice of this Midrash is odd.

What I would like to suggest to you, is that Rashi’s choice has much to teach us about the courage to hope, the religious impulse and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Now some would say that Rashi was reacting to the Christian world around him. A religion that focuses on the second coming and the end of days, and that Rashi was instructing his community that what a Jew must consider is their faith in the here and now. Others would argue that Rashi is arguing against Messianic speculation in the Jewish community at a time of Jewish oppression. I would like too offer a different understanding of the inclusion of this Midrash. I believe that Rashi offered a caution to his generation and those to come; that one should not be quick to write the last chapter based upon the facts of a given moment. Rather, there is always the hope that people will rise to the occasion, and do what no one thought possible. In his own life Jacob, had gone from being the crooked dweller in tents, to the one who conquered an angel to win a blessing and the name Yisrael For Jacob, .standing before his sons was truly déjà vu all over again.

The blessing that Jacob offers his sons that day comprise a rather sober assessment of each of the sons, as well as a warning of where their futures will lead if they maintain the present path. But according to the Midrash, the final chapter has not been written, in fact, the sons themselves are its authors, and they have the potential to pen a better future for themselves as wells as those who come after.

Friends, the mark of a great leader is the ability to create a balance between a sober assessment of reality and an inspiring vision of what can be in the future so that people will note loose hope in the present. What Rashi teaches us through the use of the Midrash is that which was hidden from Jacob was the last chapter, the one that was dependent on those who would come after him to overcome their foibles, their prejudices, their violent tendency and create a new future. The ability to hope when there is no rational reason to do so, to continue to believe that people can be good when all indications are otherwise, is the religious inclination.

This weekend, our nation pays tribute to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Listening to his speeches during that tumultuous time, one is reminded of the power of oratory. He was one of the great speakers of the past century. But the greatness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was his ability to inspire. Courageously, he was able to balance an honest and sober view of the world in which he lived, with the hope for tomorrow.

Certainly, Dr. King was not the only one of his time who pointed to the inequities of society, and the racism in this country. But what he was able to do, was to inspire people to see a tomorrow that was based not on the direction of things, but on a new path, that the end of days be a time for hope and not destruction. King offered a vision that people did not have to fear but could be embraced NOT A VISION OF THE END OF DAYS THAT NEEDED TO BE FEARED, BUT ONE THAT COULD GIVE US ALL HOPE THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE TO BUILD A BETTER TOMMORROW

Consider his I have a dream speech " I Have A Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. Source: Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Peaceful Warrior, Pocket Books, NY 1968

“ Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds”…”

King was unafraid to speak the truth, and to address the inequities of American Society with our nations symbols as his backdrop.
Here, Martin Luther King Jr. does something important: He creates a balance, and will not let his rage overtake him, or the sober reality of America in 1963 lead to chaos.

“… The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

. . . What he offers people is the ability to dream

“ I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”

King-like Jacob created a balance between a sobering reality and the dream of tomorrow. .In so doing, he tapped directly in to the religious impulse. In a world where people were speaking openly of a God who had died, King spoke in the manner of Biblical Prophets, smashed the idols of complacency and changed forever how this country would speak about racism.

Now 42 years after that speech was given, we look at our own stark reality. The United States of America remains a country where racism remains alive and well. Certainly, we have come a long way since Governor Wallace’s Alabama, but the pictures from New Orleans this past year make it all too clear that economic disparity is the sad reality of today. Or to put it Dr. King’s language, we continue to default on the promissory note.

What has changed in the last 40 years is technology. We have become increasingly adept to showing the images of despair and injustice throughout the world. We sit night and after night remote control in hand, seeing the visual images of tragedy.

But we are quickly loosing the ability to believe in the possibility of a better tomorrow. We see the despair everywhere and it is so easy to be overcome and feel that efforts for change are futile. Our cynicism jades the eye, and anyone who speaks in terms of hope for change is looked upon as a naïve dreamer.

Without hope, people turn inward and give up on real change. Without hope, we write the chapter entitled the end of days with today’s facts—and the results are dark indeed.

In our world: AIDS has become the greatest killer from infectious disease: 2.8 million deaths
Swasiland: AIDS among younger women is over 40%
So while Americans are finding better ways of combating this dread disease, other parts of the world are drowning in the epidemic: and there is no outcry!

Darfur: Internationally displaced persons 1.83 million people
Sudan refugees in Chad
Deaths since 2003: 400,000 men women and children
Congress failed to pass the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act or appropriate $50 million for the African Union mission in Darfur before adjourning this session.

And there is no outcry!

Where is the hope?
Where is the vision?
Where is the passion?

The voice of the prophets that is so much a part of Dr. King’s speech is missing today.

We are far better at looking at statistics, shrugging our shoulders and locking our doors.

In the Jewish community there is one national organization that continues to speak with a prophetic voice in these matters. American Jewish World Service led by Ruth Messinger, and ex- New York Politician, this tireless woman has rebuilt and invigorated an organization that very few people had ever heard of. She has reached out to the synagogue community and will speak here in June. She has been sending Rabbinical students to see first hand what is happening in those places that world would rather ignore. Ruth Messinger is working to remind the Jewish community that there is a prophetic voice calling to us and saying that despite the sobering reality, we are not at the end of days yet.

Africa can still be transformed through technology and the resources present in the world today.

We can create a world where there is respect for human life.

We can fight the racism that continues to pervade America if blacks and whites are willing to look into their hearts and see how they contribute to this scourge of America.

We can create a different world for our children by first creating a vision of what the world can be based upon reality and hope and then acknowledging our individual responsibilities to be builders and not television observers.

So permit me to suggest two things that you can do after Shabbat. Remember these three words: American World Service. Type them into your computers search engine and spend 18 minutes looking at the information inside.

The second request is to make a contribution of 18 dollars to the Jewish World Service in honor of the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Who, through Rashi’s interpretation, presents a lesson where Jacob of old teaches us that the most effective weapon to with which to confront reality is a dream of what can be. In other words, the world of the future need not feel like déjà vu all over again.

I conclude with the words of Dr. King: “…When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"