Take it from the Bible: All lives do matter!

By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel

CHULA VISTA, California — Sometimes, what ought to be the most apparent ethical truths are less than obvious. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (1707-1746, Italy) writes about this problem in his ethical tract, The Path of the Just. He noted, “I have not written this work to teach men what they don’t already know, but to remind them of what is already known to them from before.”

With that thought in mind, as a rabbi, and as a community leader, I decided to follow in the footsteps of Luzzato and bring to your attention basic truths that transcend political correctness that few members of the clergy are willing to mention today, lest they be branded as a “white supremacist” or tarred and feathered as a “racist.” If you think the McCarthy era of American history represented one of the most oppressive epochs of 20th century American history, it cannot begin to compare to the intolerance we are witnessing today.

The texts I have selected come from the Tanakh, which is better known as the “Bible.” Contrary to what today’s leftist revolutionaries might realize, the Bible is more radical than most people appreciate. Although it was written thousands of years ago, it still challenges our contemporary social ethos—especially now as our country is facing its greatest crisis since the Civil War era.  The philosopher Aristotle used to speak about “First Philosophy,” he believed the principles of metaphysics were foundational to philosophy. Judaism, however, differs. Ethics constitutes the “First Philosophy” for people would retrogress to the most barbaric creatures once ethics no longer serves as our guiding principle.

What are some of the “Ethics as the First Philosophy” of the Bible?

• God created humankind in his image, in the image of God He created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

For those unsure what this passage means, rabbinical wisdom informs us, “Whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world.”^[1] Does this passage only pertain to people of Semitic origin? No, it doesn’t. Does it only pertain to people of European, Asian, or African origin?

It pertains to all people because to God—all lives matter!

All lives matter for a reason. Yet, for those brave souls who are willing to say the obvious, those persons risk losing their jobs. They may be tarred-and-feathered as a “white supremacist.” We are witnessing people being attacked for simply being born with the wrong skin-coloring. This is very wrong. A Berkeley professor’s anonymous letter commented:

“No dissent is tolerated. The tonality of political discourse is “tightly policed” and managed.  And yet, I see my department uncritically reproducing a narrative that diminishes black agency in favor of a white-centric explanation that appeals to the department’s apparent desire to shoulder the ‘white man’s burden’ and to promote a narrative of white guilt.”

Unfortunately, the goal in college no longer encourages debating the great ideas that have shaped civilizations across time, but to stifle and eliminate contrarian ideas and possibilities. “When black and non-black intellectuals point out how black on black crime constitute the greatest number of people harmed,” the U.C. professor adds that such a reaction is “racist dog-whistle” and that “Only fascists talk about black-on-black crime”, ad nauseam.[1]</

But this professor is not the only one who has experienced a nightmare. My cousin Artie teaches in the Baltimore school system. If she were to say, “All lives matter,” she would be fired on the spot. Here is another example:

• Grant Napear, 32 years the TV voice of the Sacramento Kings, is a goner this week, fired from his gig as a Sacramento sports talk host and “resigned” as the TV voice of Kings TV broadcast because he’s a racist. – His crime: Napear dared to say, “All Lives Matter.”  The Kings’ NBC Sports regional station issued a statement that “Napear’s views don’t reflect the views of the network.”[2]

The social paralysis we are witnessing is mind-numbing. The clergy and the politicians are frightened. People who dare say, “All lives matter” risk losing their jobs. The silence is deafening. Who could imagine someone losing a job for having an opinion?

Part 2:  Let us examine another valuable ethical teaching, one that is not with a certain degree of controversy in the texts of rabbinical tradition. Consider: (1) “The parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may persons be put to death” (Deut. 24:16). (2) “In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:29-30).

Here is one of my favorite passages: Yet you say, “Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?” When the son has done what is lawful and right and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The person who sins shall die. A child shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent, nor a parent suffer for the iniquity of a child; the righteousness of the righteous shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be his own” (Ezekiel 18:17-19)

Why are all the above-mentioned biblical passages so important? For one thing, whatever may have been the sins of our “fathers” or “ancestors” (to use a more gender-inclusive translation), the children are not responsible for their ancestors’ sins—no matter how awful those sins might have been. Although this point reflects the ethos of Judaism and Christianity, it does not reflect the philosophy of Black Lives Matter or the Antifa. For them, the children shall forever be guilty of the sins of their ancestors.

Martin Luther King Jr. said it best:

• I wonder what kind of conversion each of us need and our communities need after witnessing the senseless death of many of our Black brothers and sisters. What kind of conversation do we need to face the hatred and division in our communities and institutions? And what kind of strength and vision can we gather from those who are raising their voices to demand a better world for everyone. A world where one’s worth is not defined by their color of their skin, their legal or economic status but rather by a collective recognition and affirmation that we are all children of the same God, that each of us carry within the divine spark of Life.

And the rest is commentary.

[1] https://www.rt.com/op-ed/491889-anonymous-uc-berkeley-professor-blm/

[2] https://nypost.com/2020/06/04/nba-voice-grant-napear-was-fired-for-stating-all-lives-matter-truth/

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Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista.  He may be contacted via michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com