Amos 9:7-15
Welcome back HawkTorah peoples! We hope you are doing well. For those of you taking finals, we hope they’ve been going great so far and that they go well in the coming days! Only a few more days! (And about a week and a half until graduation!)
This week is parshat Kedoshim so we are reading Amos 9:7-15. This portion gives us hope for a future of the Jewish people. One line (9), in particular, interests us: “But, I will not wholly wipe out the House of Jacob - declares the Lord. For I will give the order and shake the House of Israel through all the nations - as one shakes [sand] in a sieve, and not a pebble falls to the ground.” This line is also translated as, “For, behold I command, and I will scatter the House of Israel among all the nations; as it is shaken in a sieve, and not a coarse particle falls to the earth.”
In this portion we are promised that our people will spread throughout the earth. The portion goes on later to say that we will be restored and will rebuild ruined cities, plant vineyards, and till gardens and thrive. The portion ends with, “And I will plant them upon their soil, nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them - said the Lord your G-d.”
Not only are we promised that we will spread throughout the earth, but that we will thrive and never be destroyed again. We have been attacked time after time, but each time we rise up stronger than before. This is most recently exemplified by the response to the events in Pittsburgh, Poway, and in Israel. Those who oppose us have tried to kill us, but we stand up against hate and grow stronger. We are all united, no matter where in the world we reside, and when we are united as one, we are harder to destroy. A lesson we can take from Amos is that we are all one and we should all unite against those who try to hurt us.
We will leave you with this quote from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, “Jews cannot fight antisemitism alone. The victim cannot cure the crime. The hated cannot cure the hate. It would be the greatest mistake for Jews to believe that they can fight it alone. The only people who can successfully combat antisemitism are those active in the cultures that harbour it.” (Future Tense pp. 108-109)
We’d also like to share this beautiful song by Jacob Spike Kraus that speaks to the idea of us all being united no matter where we are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK99wN9Oer4
Love,
Amanda & Marissa