Sermon for Human Rights Shabbat

Here's my mini-sermon for the Friday of Human Rights Shabbat:

This week is Human Rights Shabbat, commemorating the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 62 years ago. It’s a Shabbat that’s near to my heart because of my connection to Rabbis for Human Rights, an organization I joined several years ago and continue to support, partly because of the cause, and largely because my friend and colleague Rachel Goldenberg encouraged me and brought me into the group. We all have friends, I’m sure, who manage to get us into things we don’t anticipate.

It’s a fitting Shabbat, and not just because it was ratified this date. This week’s portion shows us Judah confronting Joseph over his immanent enslavement of Benjamin, their brother.

Usually when we read this portion we focus on Joseph’s testing his brothers, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t look at Judah as well. He doesn’t know this vizier is his lost brother; he only sees power, power being utilized in a capricious fashion. Speaking against that power—remember, Joseph is second only to Pharaoh—is not only audacious, it’s unprecedented. It should result in Judah’s imprisonment and possibly death. Instead, Judah’s advocacy moves Joseph to tears. Yes, Joseph is testing his brothers, but his brothers are testing Joseph as well; has he allowed power to undermine his values as a child of Israel?

As Jews, especially in America, we have seen ourselves as advocates of Justice. And advocacy is desperately needed. We need it in a world where Liu Xiaobo’s seat at today’s Nobel Prize award ceremony, as he remains imprisoned. We need it as a people when some 50 rabbis sign their names to a teshuvah banning Jews from renting or selling land to non-Jews in Israel. We need it as a country as the Senate fails to overturn Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

This Shabbat many of our teens are in Washington DC with the Religious Action Center doing advocacy work, learning how important it is to us as Jews, and what happens when we keep silent. I hope we can learn from their experience, and learn to live like our namesake Judah, speaking truth to power. Amen.