Observing, discerning and cultivating

Affordable housing, climate change, COVID-relief, criminal justice reform, economic inequality, food insecurity, homelessness, immigration reform, racism, unemployment, voter suppression — these are issues that threaten some people’s survival as well as our collective ability to create a county where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

I am grateful to live in a county in which there are many activists and organizations working to address these issues. I donate to and partner with as many as I can to lend my support and the support of the members of my beloved coastside community.

Sadly, in all that we do, there are others working to maintain the status quo, resist change or oppose our efforts. This is especially true whenever and wherever liberals and conservatives are pitted against each other. I am deeply saddened by the enormous sums of energy and resources spent in ways that only cause greater frustration, loss and suffering.

I am not a politician, community organizer or expert in public policy. I speak as a person of faith — not faith in a God who can save us from ourselves but faith in the godliness we can each bring forth from within us. And I speak as an observant Jew — not one who adheres strictly to Jewish law but one who is mindful enough to observe what is really going on around us.

Passover begins in three weeks and reminds us of this perennial truth: Those of us who were once oppressed should know how that feels and should therefore be actively engaged in working with and on behalf of those who are still oppressed. This message applies to us all, for even if we haven’t experienced oppression we have at least witnessed its various forms and somewhere in the depth of our humanity, we know that the diminishing of another human being is wrong.

Although Moses was raised in privilege as a presumed member of the ruling class, something in him changed when he went out to where his own people were laboring and observed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave (Exodus 2:11). Soon afterwards, he renounced his privilege and retreated to the wilderness. When he eventually returned to confront Pharaoh, his message was simple and direct: “Let my people go.”

Today my message is just as simple and direct. There is one thing each one of us can do that will impact every single issue listed above. It is an action that can be taken by liberals and conservatives; by those with the most power and those with the least; by those in the highest levels of government and business and those unable to work and pay their rent.

This action begins with observing what is going on around us. Each one of us has the means to discern what is just and true, however, we may need to retreat at times from the incessant noise that makes us think something is true if it is repeated often enough.

If there is anything we have learned from the past four years, it is that character matters. Yes, this applies to presidents and to leaders in every field, down to those of us, like parents and teachers, who must set an example for our children. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, “Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”

In Judaism, there are systems and practices such as Mussar and Tikkun Middot that focus primarily on character development. I believe that these daily practices are just as important as any ritual observances, if not more so, for as we learned from Moses’ example, transformation begins deep within our hearts. Or as Rabbi David Jaffe will make clear in an upcoming program sponsored by the Coastside Jewish Community, our real work involves changing the world from the inside out.

We must continue to address the many challenges cited above, but we can do that best when we take the time to observe what is going on, discern what is just and true, and cultivate the qualities of integrity and character.

R’ Moshe Heyn lives in Half Moon Bay and serves as the spiritual leader of the Coastside Jewish Community. He is also a hospice chaplain with VITAS and a member of the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort, a coalition of interfaith leaders working for the common good in San Mateo County.