Parashat Shemot
In Pirkei Avot (3:2), the Ethics of the Fathers, compiled around 200CE Rabbi Hanina is quoted as saying: ‘Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the respect it inspires, every person would swallow their neighbour alive’. We have just prayed for the Queen, Government and leaders of our country, but Jews have understood, arguably since the destruction of the second temple, how inextricably connected their fates are to the wellbeing of the states they have lived in, and the decisions of their leaders.
The first time a prayer of this type was found in a siddur was in the 14th century, in a prayerbook compiled by a Rabbi in Seville, David Abudarham.
Many of these prayers for the government have been crafted over the centuries. The wording has varied, but largely they ask for blessings upon the land and for government officials to have the wisdom necessary to make sensible, compassionate decisions in line with the values of our tradition.
Jewish men in the UK have only had political agency since the 19th century, women over 30 couldn’t vote until 1918. Nonetheless prayers for Queen and country began long before this. We have certainly thrown ourselves into democracy with gusto. In Germany, after Kristalnacht in 1938, Jews continued to pray for the welfare of the government, not because they wanted to protect the Nazis, but because to remove the prayer would not have been good politics for them, and I’m told in Apartheid South Africa, the words were subtly changed to pray for good government rather than the government.
Praying for the government hasn’t always meant agreeing with the government, or even with one another about who should govern. There have certainly been a broad range of both criticism and praise directed at our own government over the last few months both within and outside the Jewish community. This week was no different. With Monday’s announcement of a third lockdown there was both celebration and condemnation, sometimes from the same direction.
Personally it has been a week of grappling with the new situation. There hasn’t been much time for politicising the events, just a need to cope with the new realities of homeschooling, two full time jobs, cold winter parks, darkness, growing fear around transmission rates, and the inevitable stress that exists in living through a pandemic for so many months.
Obviously the events of Wednesday night have also had a big impact this week. The shock of seeing the seat of American democracy stormed by protestors determined to disrupt the enacting of a democratic process was both utterly shocking, and yet strangely unsurprising after the last few months, even years. As Pirkei Avot reminds us, if there is not respect for the government, people are much more likely, in the words of Rabbi Hanina, to swallow their neighbour alive.
Reverend Raphael Warnock this week became a Senator-Elect from Georgia (the home of Martin Luther King). Back in November he tweeted that ‘A vote is a prayer about the kind of world we want to live in.’ The reality of living in a democratic nation may not always lead to decisions we like, but it is a fundamental Jewish value that we live within and help to create the societies where we live. I love this image of our votes becoming prayers for the world as we want it to be, in part because this is often what prayer itself is for me. Tefillah, prayer in Hebrew, is a reflexive verb- something we do to ourselves. We pray that we might be able to make the world as we would want to see it. That we may have the strength to create the changes needed for all to thrive. In the 1960’s when he marched with Rev Martin Luther King, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel described their marching as like praying with their feet. Sometimes making change does require protest, does call for action, but not in violence. We pray each Shabbat for the wisdom of the Government, and every few years (or more often if you are in Israel) we are blessed with the opportunity to pray with our votes. Prayers, action, democracy, all knitted together- sometimes beautifully, sometimes less so.
Sometimes our prayers are not answered as we would want.
In this week’s Torah portion we hear about a totalitarian regime that has enslaved minority parts of its population. A Pharoah who will again and again choose the suffering of his people over the loss of his pride and property. The Jewish stories of overcoming tyranny are many, but what is perhaps particularly interesting about this episode, is that we are taken to freedom by a leader who really doesn’t think he can do it. Who doesn’t think anyone will listen to him, but who through the support of his siblings, and of course the Eternal whom he encounters at the burning bush this week, becomes one of the greatest leaders in Jewish tradition. Change is not brought about through one person’s charisma or control, but through collaboration and sometimes even patience.
This morning we also heard Marcia read from the Prophet Jeremiah, who goes on to say “seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the Eternal on its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7) Some see this as the origins of the requirement to have a Prayer for the Government. Wherever we are in the world, and no matter how incapable we feel, we are encouraged to seek the best for the places we live, and to work for their prosperity. We don’t only look to a lost past, we look after where we are here and now, not only with our prayers, though they are a helpful reminder of our intentions and hopes, but in how we work for the betterment of those places, and actively participate as democratic voters or pray-ers. And of course seeking the welfare of the cities in which we live has been a huge part of our lives this last year – balancing the challenges of protecting each others physical health, mental health, and the economy which until now has been a key to sustaining both of these.
The prayer for the Government and the welfare of our nation serves as a weekly reminder that we do not dwell alone as individuals or a people — the welfare of our neighbours and our government are bound up with our own. This prayer can be challenging if we are not big fans of a particular government, but even during those difficult moments, this prayer affirms the necessity of government as a social good and the vested interest we have in its ability to make just and wise decisions. The pulpit is not a place to discuss how to vote, but I do think it is a place we can remind ourselves that voting is a part of actualising our prayers, and of working to see the world as we want it to be.
May 2021 be a year that defies its beginning, and leads us into freedom, healthy and happy, together. Cain Yehi Ratzon.
May this be God’s will. Venomar. Amen
