Greater Is the Measure of Good

Such an intense time in Boulder Colorado these recent few weeks! The freezing temps on the 25^th could not keep people away from the final live performances of Fiddler on the Roof by a cast and audience made up of some of the same people who were at the horrific June first terrorist attack that took a life and injured several Boulder residents. Many reviewers of the play have already made the connection between the two events, but I would like to go even deeper with it. There is a mystical teaching that whatever happens in our lives has some connection with the weekly Torah portion. This year it was the ten plagues and the Exodus that was being read and studied around the world. The image of a Fiddler on the Roof embodies experiences of both exile and redemption that permeates so much of Jewish history. The fact that such a spotlight was on Boulder because of Fiddler, I think was no accident. It is so fitting that the primary role of Tevya was so suitably played by the rabbi of Bonai Shalom, Rabbi Marc Soloway.

A few weeks ago in a masterful and all-encompassing presentation of the history of Jewish Boulder, David Fellows, editor and publisher of the Boulder Jewish News mentioned something that was a surprise to me: the ominous presence in Colorado of the KKK in the 1920’s. In fact, see the titles of these articles, among others: ‘Colorado women of the KKK’, 2011; ‘When the KKK ruled Colorado: Not so long ago.’ 2015.

I am a believer that what happens in a particular place on earth, retains some of the energy of the event, in a similar way that memories serve individuals. Perhaps the reverberations of the KKK presence were echoed in the horrific terrorist attack last year here on June 1^st. On the other hand, however, I have a deep faith in the rabbinic principle of ‘Merubah Midah Tovah’ –‘greater is the measure of good.’ Therefore, the Fiddler performance taking up so much attention in the week of MLK convinces me of the validity of that concept. I do believe, ‘We shall overcome.’! As MLK famously declared, ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but its arc bends toward justice.’

The Torah portions of the Exodus are mentioned repeatedly in our daily prayers, as if to remind us that we all have both our confining enslavements and liberating Exodus, both individually and collectively. An idea I often quote: ‘Last year’s Exodus is this year’s slavery.’ In other words, we can’t stay in a static state even if the latest one was good. The Jewish exile from Anatevka was tragic on one hand, but it did not destroy the Jewish people, as Tevye whispered to the daughter that ‘left,’ ‘May G-d be with you.’ Why has Fiddler been so beloved all over the world- I think it was played in 32 countries and 16 languages? Yes, the story and the music are, pardon the pun, ‘captivating,’ but they also strike an eternal chord. As Jonathan Sacks has often suggested, the most moving stories of individuals, are usually the most universally relatable to all of humanity.  

Another amazing ‘synchronicity’ or as Jews call it, ‘Hashgacha’ in these past weeks: The body of the last hostage, Ron Gvili Z’L was found only after there was a search of 249 graves…Ron was the 250^th! And the numerical equivalent of the name RON in Hebrew? 250!  The recovery of his remains also resonated for some with the verse in the Torah portion for this week- ‘Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him.’ Yosef was not alive at the Exodus but his memory and spirit travelled with the people and like Yosef, Ron’s final resting place was in the Jewish homeland, to which all Israel are destined to return.

The Hebrew letters in the name RON, Reish and Nun, are also same letters as the word, ‘NEIR,’ meaning candle. It reminds me of one of the most moving scenes in Fiddler, when all the residents of Anatevka are lighting Shabbat candles at the same time. Both in the film and the play, this scene was magical. 

In Boulder, Colorado, much light has permeated our city from this stunning production.. May this light grow stronger and stronger and transmute any past darkness. May the verse, ‘the soul of a person is the candle of G-d,’ continue to inspire us to add more and more light into the most concealed places. As the young twenty-year-old hero, Leibel Lazaroff from the Bondi massacre insists in a recent interview, even after his nearly fatal wounds and multiple surgeries, ‘we can’t stop bringing more light into the world, until the coming of Mashiach, when death will be swallowed up forever!’

Let us all try to hold on to that reminder, ‘Greater is the measure of GOOD.’