Rosh Hashanah Sermon Day 2
Al Chet: For the sins we have committed knowingly
and the sins we have committed unknowingly
Rabbi Tziona Szajman
Al chet --We have sinned knowlingly and unknowingly.
Deuteronomy 21:1-9:
In response to finding a corpse in the Land of Israel, the elders of the closest
town would decapitate and sacrifice a calf, an Eglah Arufah. This was a
communal atonement for the crime proclaiming that the townsfolk did not shed
his blood. The elders would perform the sacrifice and publicly declare: "Our
hands did not spill this blood, and our eyes did not see it done.”
The question is raised: “Why a sin offering for the whole town? For what crime?”
Talmud Sotah 38b
R. Yehoshua' ben Levi says: the Eglah Arufah only comes on account of
stingyness, as it says: "they shall declare: 'Our hands did not shed this blood...' "
- would we have thought that the elders of the court are murderers [that they
need to declare their innocence]? Rather, [what they are saying is]: "This person
did not come into our hands, he did not come to us that we left him without food,
we did not see him and let him leave without an escort.".
The elders of the town declare that they have done no overt wrong, but they
sacrifice a calf for the sin of not seeing, for allowing a fellow human being to slip
though their fingers, thus not receiving the care he need to go safely on his
journey. The community is held accountable as a whole for failing to help, even
those they do not see…..
We as a community often benefit from the labor and blood of people
unseen.
What is our responsibility to the unseen masses who pick our coffee beans,
weave our clothing, and manufacture most of our material goods. In today’s
global economy, commercial products often flow through many hands, yet they
always seem to begin in poverty stricken countries that have little to no workers
rights enforcement. What is our responsibility as a community to the deaths or
terrors in these far away places that lead to goods in our homes.
Deuteronomy 22:8 “There shall be no bloodguilt in your home”.
Rabbis of the Talmud make note of the fact that DAMIM can mean both blood,
and money. (Tamari, Meir, Sins in the Markeplace)
The blood of our fellow and commerce are interconnected.
In today’s global market, we make choices that affect other’s, sometimes in
distant lands. We may eat a chocolate bar that used child slave labor in picking
the coco beans. We may buy an innocent product, a plastic, a chemical, that
was produced in a non safe environment and effectively killed the laborers
making it.
Leviticus 19:16 “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” It is a sin to do
nothing, thus allowing another person’s blood to be spilled.
Blood Diamonds:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamonds
http://www.amnestyusa.org/Our_Issues/Conflict_Diamonds/page.do?id=1011014
&n1=3&n2=74
Blood diamonds, or conflict diamonds are illegally traded diamonds that fuel
terrorist wars in conflict areas.
Possibly the bloodiest story is that of Sierra Leon.
For several years, rebels in Sierra Leon enslaved people and forced them to
mine diamonds which were then traded illegally in Iraq and other countries for
guns and ammunition. These were used in one of the most inhuman wars ever
seen. In Sierra Leon whole families were butchered, the children taken to be sex
slaves or child soldiers, children fed drugs (bought with diamond money) and
given semi-automatic weapons (bought with diamond money) sent out to kill,
maim and terrorize. Blood diamonds supported a terrorist army that chopped off
peoples hands for the sin of voting in democratic elections.
It is a sin to do nothing….. but in 2003 a plan to stop blood diamonds was put
into place. The Kimberly process is a method of keeping track of the history of
each diamond and keeping illegally traded diamonds off the diamond market. It is
a voluntary process whereby each retailer and diamond dealer certifies the
origins of the diamond. This is buyer power at its best: insisting that the entire
chain of a product be accountable to our community.
There is an individual component of responsibility: A survey by Amnesty
International in 2004 found that only 11% of retail stores in the United States had
a policy regarding conflict diamonds, 67% would not divulge if they had any
policy, the rest had none. This means that they still do not issue warranties and
therefore sell diamonds of questionable origins.
Our individual responsibility we must fight to see those that the some would
rather be unseen….
In our high holiday liturgy we pray to God to forgive us for the sins we have
committed knowingly and the sins we have committed unknowingly.
Al chet:
Al chet she-hata-nu
We have sinned against you knowingly and unknowingly.
We have sinned against you by hardening our hearts.
We have sinned against you by perverting justice.
We have sinned against you by causeless hatred.
God grant us atonement.
This central prayer of penitence written in the plural. As a community we are
held accountable for sins we did not see….. One midrash explains that all of
humanity is one body and that the individuals are the limbs, and so we stand in
judgement together as a whole.
What the writers of this beautiful prayer and others have done is to teach us that
as human beings we are all connected, that each action, even those most
innocent in our heart, holds consequences for our fellow human beings.
We have sinned against you knowingly or unknowingly.
My knowing or unknowing action is part of a chain of events that sometimes
leads to a perversion of justice, causeless hatred, murder, theft.
I have sinned by hardening my heart, I have looked the other way.
It is not surprising to learn that the $10,000 diamond we wear was mined by a
man who stood in hot equatorial sun for 12-14 hrs a day and was paid about $1
for the diamond he found.
It is not surprising to learn that children around the world are kidnapped and
enslaved to work in the garment industry, and sex trade in Asia.
It is perhaps not even surprising that we have so polluted our world that global
warming endangers polar bears in the arctic and tsunami victims alike.
What may surprise you is how much power we have in our small everyday
actions to make a large difference.
Our tradition has trained us to be conscious and meaningful in our everyday
living:
• To look for kashrut labels and read food ingredients
• To give those who work for us their wages in a fair and timely manner
• To avoid waste and harm
• To care for the orphan and widow
Now the Conservative movement is exploring a new form of labeling- that which
identifies a food as both kosher and abiding by the laws which require fair wages
for the laborers involved, fair treatment of the animals and environment- fairness
of information to the consumer.
http://www.ethicalpurchasing.bcics.org/?p=106
Fair Trade Federation.org is another source of information and labeling to bring
us consciousness. Small actions on our part have big consequences.
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/
Fair trade certification guarantees:
• No child labor was used in production unless the entire community is
involved in the craft and the children are still attending school
• Environmentally sustainable production practices were used when
possible
• A fair wage was paid, with 50% up front to underwrite material and
production costs.
Currently fair trade organizations account for an estimated $400 million in the US
and Europe, just 0.1% of all global trade and is growing. It is easier and easier to
make fair trade choices.
http://www.equalexchange.com/
Our own Wegmans has many fair trade products, coffee, chocolate, “World of
Good” gift and food items. “Newman’s Own” & “Green Mountain” coffee among
others. At Down to Earth you can buy organic fair trade coffee and grind the
beans yourself in the store.
Each time we buy these products we send a message to our local supermarket
and they in turn enlarge and expand fair trade products carried.
Looking for Fair Trade labels is as easy as looking for kashrut symbols and as
meaningful in our relationship with God and fellow human beings.
Telling your grocery store you want them to carry fair trade products is as easy
as a click on a mouse and a visit to a website.
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatyoucando/act_now/campaign_action/coffee/ad
opt_a_supermarket/forms/toolkit
Kashrut is a mitzvah between people and God. When we pray to God we can ask
forgiveness for oversights in kashrut and other ritual laws. But there is no
atonement through prayer for transgressions of one human being against
another.
Al chet
We have sinned against you knowingly and unknowingly.
We have hardened our hearts
True tshuvah requires a change and mindfulness of action. We have the power
to make a difference.
God grant us atonement.
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