Over the last several weeks, I have had the privilege and honor of speaking about and representing both Judaism and the Jewish community at several of our local schools. Inevitably, in each of these events and opportunities, I’m asked to try to capture the essence of what Judaism is all about. And each time I share the story about Rabbi Hillel being asked to summarize the Torah while standing on 1 foot. If you’re not familiar, he says, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you. The rest is commentary, go and study it.”
I was thinking about this story as I sat and listened as over 125 volunteers read the names of those who were murdered during the Holocaust during our eighth annual Every Person Has A Name Commemoration and Vigil. Our annual event happened to take place on the same day that Alex Pretti was standing up for someone else and was ultimately shot by ICE agents in the streets of Minneapolis.
I provide that context because if people, all people, would follow Rabbi Hillel‘s basic teaching, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you”, what we are witnessing and experiencing would not be taking place.
Think about that for a moment… If each one of us, every single person, followed the mantra of “Do unto others as you would have done unto you, it is hard to imagine that the hate and violence we are seeing play out before us would continue to exist.
Every year, shortly before the ball drops in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, John Lennon’s Imagine is played throughout Times Square. The song captures the imagination of what the world could be like if we treated everyone as we believe we should be treated.
Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No Hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Livin’ for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Livin’ life in peace
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharin’ all the world
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
*******
On a separate note, I would be completely remiss if I did not acknowledge and celebrate the return of the last remaining hostage kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. To think that for the first time in 4,208 days, there are no Israelis being held hostage in Gaza. Take a moment to soak that in. It is why, I believe, we saw, with great celebration, videos and pictures of people removing their yellow ribbons and our IDF dog tags on social media. The sense of relief and wholeness for the country must have been palpable in ways no one could have possibly imagined. In many ways, the word Shalom was actualized. As you may be aware, the root word (Shalem) means whole…. In essence, when we use the word Shalom as a reference to peace, the true meaning is wholeness. Israel is finally whole again… finally experiencing Shalom for the first time in a very long time.
Jason Moss is executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Greater
San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys.
