Today is both an ancient and modern reminder to raise our voices in advocacy for what is right.
In Numbers 9, we learn of a group of Israelites who lobbied their representative, Moses, for a change in the law that prevented those who handled corpses from making the Passover sacrifice. It felt unfair; why should they be excluded from celebrating Pesach after having served a critical function for the community? Moses consulted with G-d and rectified the injustice, enabling this group to participate a month later: today, on Pesach Sheini (Second Passover).
Fast forward to 2022. All year long, people across the globe and I have been filling our Tzedek Boxes (www.tzedekbox.org), a new ritual object where we store journal entries about our humble attempts to improve our world. Some of us have working hard to protect voting rights in our country and are reflecting on how we can get others involved in the effort. Some have raged with frustration toward Congress unable to act with urgency about the climate crisis and are strategizing different ways to tackle the problem. Some have asked themselves hard questions about their responses to various refugee crises: why have we given Ukraine special support when Syrian and Afghan refugees also need the world’s attention?
Today, on this day where we celebrate raising our voices and getting a second chance to fulfill our obligations to our world, we open our Tzedek Boxes. As we examine our slips of paper and review what we’ve done all year, may we discover patterns in our own actions that both inspire us and provoke us — and may we rededicate ourselves to the Greater Good anew.
