Milwaukee Burned On the 9th of Av a Prophecy or was it Poverty

August 14 was an important day in the Jewish calendar. The Jewish community commemorated the ninth day of Av one of the most frightening days on the Jewish Calendar. On that day we commemorated the destruction of both Holy Temples when Jews of that day watch as both Temples burned to the ground. A final reminder that Jews would be driven into the diaspora the psalmist declared “to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them through the lands _{(JPS 1999)}” (Psalms 106:27).

It seemed ironic that on the 9^th of Av the Sherman Park neighborhood, on Milwaukee's Northside, were many orthodox Jews live, the City was ablaze the result of riots. Some of the members of the Jewish Community would be heard to say that it was an omen of things to come. Others, would blame the fires and rioting on the lack of mutual respect in this integrated neighborhood. The riots were instigated when a 23 year old Black man was killed by a black Milwaukee police officer. Two young men ran from police after a traffic stop. The driver raised a weapon and was fatally shot after he refused a police order to drop the gun.

Justified or not, the shooting instigated a riots. Police were fired upon by civilians, people pelted the police with rocks and gun fire could be heard all around the neighborhood were I live. Chaos prevailed and police force was brought in to bring the crisis under control. It took three days to restore quiet and those three days felt like three months. Barbie and I basically hunkered down and decided to let things cool before venturing far from home.

On the afternoon of Tisha B’Av I attended synagogue, to pray with a minyon (a quorum of men) and when the services were done I sat to talk with my friend Tuvia. We've been pals for more than 30 years and we’ve supported each other in times of prosperity and in times of despair but we have always been at each others side. Soon the conversation turned to politics. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, I learned that this dear and sweet friend would vote for Trump if he were only an American citizen. Thank God he’s not. That being said, I was still shocked and surprised that Tuvia would advocate and politic for a man who violates every moral expectation Judaism places on it adherents. While Trump is not Jewish and therefore not obligated to these Torah rules, nevertheless, most of these rules are universally accepted as the moral precepts for all of humanity. Don’t call people by derogatory names. Don’t lie about the character of others. Don’t mislead your fellow human. Don’t steal from others to preserve your own wealth.

Some people talk about Trump’s statesmanship but the question for me is the clarity of his moral vision. His mission is self and not community. He does not sacrifice personal needs for the betterment of his fellow human being. Trump like Darwin categorizes people into subgroups from superhuman to subhuman and we cannot deny the unfortunate application of organic evolution to describe those considered to subhuman. We have heard and witnessed this regrettable behavior, when he stands before an audience and demeans a man with a disability and jests about his tremor and his struggle with speech; there was nothing funny about his mimicking the reporter’s tremor and voice, this is not about statesmanship it’s about dignity and Trump lacks the humility and dignity to be President of the United States.

People who care about people don't mock others especially not the disable. If you plan on voting for Trump ask yourself this;

Do you want Donald Trump to serve as a role model for children around the world?

Would you want your children or grandchildren to see President Donald Trump taunting the disabled?

Donald Trump makes disrespectful sexual suggestions about his own daughter; would you want your teenagers to hear the President make remarks that are disrespectful to mothers, daughters beloved family members?

The seriousness of his failure to control his words can best be seen in an article published by the New York Times. I urge you to read the following article._{(http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitter-insults.html?_r=0#rockin-in-the-free-world)}

Jewish law identifies this behavior as Mozei Shem Rah (disparaging accusations) and declares it spiritually offensive. According to Judaism 101, “money lost can be repaid, but the harm done by speech can never be repaired. For this reason, some sources indicate that there is no forgiveness for lashon ha-ra (disparaging speech)”.

The source found in the Torah comes from Leviticus “Do not deal basely with your countrymen. Do not profit by the blood of your fellow: I am the L-ord. _{(Lev.19:16 JPS 1999)}”

Trump is vile in every respect and his values are diametrically opposed to what Judaism teaches us about building a moral code.

When my grandparents arrived in New York after months of traveling across Europe and then across the ocean to a land they only read about in books. They came to a place were the language was different, the culture was different, the monetary system was different but they were willing to pay the price in order that their family might be free and able to practice their religious beliefs. When they arrived these are the words etched as the foot of the Statue of Liberty.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

These words were exactly what they wanted to see, an invitation to sit at the table of democracy and enjoy the illumination of the light of freedom.

Mr. Trump thinks that "extreme, extreme, very extreme vetting, is the answer to the problem of immigration". There was a time when my ancestors aboard the St. Louis were returned to Nazi Germany to face certain extermination because the United States engaged in “extreme vetting”. Nine hundred thirty seven men, women and children were returned to Germany and refused entrance to Cuba or the US. The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC reports about the passengers on the St. Louis the following: “Hostility toward immigrants fueled both antisemitism and xenophobia. Both agents of Nazi Germany and indigenous right-wing movements hyped the immigrant issue in their publications and demonstrations, claiming that incoming Jews were Communists.” Does this sound familiar? Has the crowds at the Trump rallies hyped the idea that immigrants are criminal who steal jobs from American Citizens?

The idea of turning people away because there might be among them a terrorists, or they might be criminals, or steal jobs from citizens is abhorrent and should make us feel ashamed. Trump’s father was an immigrant but now he wants to exclude his father and anyone like him, if they were citizens of Syria or a country with a majority of Muslims, they are to be immediately refused entry.

The guile of this egotistical maniac violates every Jewish principle the Torah teaches. When my friend told me that he would support Mr. Trump if he had the opportunity to vote, I was shocked, appalled, ashamed and embarrassed and the tone of my voice reflected my feelings. My friend is a man who likes peace, he rarely argues and usually finds a way to reach common ground about most matters but not on this matter. He said to me; " you will have to account for this in the world to come!" I responded; "I'm prepared to defend my actions.” Again he pressured me, "Have you asked a great Rabbi?" I told him; "on matters of spiritual issues I ask great Rabbis but on political matters, I make decisions based on my personal knowledge.” Then came the common Israel card, "Israel he said; what about Israel?" Again I responded; "I'm not voting for the President of the State of Israel, I'm electing the President of the United States and I expect that s/he will serve the citizens of this country to the best of their ability." My friend was appalled: "You don't take care of your fellow Jews first." I tried to defuse the conversation since we were not going to find common ground and I told him that I always try and do what's best for the Jewish community but not at the expense of 300 million of my fellow Americans who depend on my vote to live in peace, harmony and prosperity."

We walked out of the building wishing each other well but frustrated that we had seen a side of one another that we did not approve of and wished that it were different.

Milwaukee burned on Tisha b'Av and there was some irony in the experience and an underlying message as well. My friend would say that the spiritual events of the day meant the Messiah was on his way.

For me, the message of the day is that it’s time to get our act together. We can't have 48% of the black community, their young leadership, between the ages of 15 and 35 serving prison sentences. The prisons are overcrowded and all we can expect is more abuse of those rookies who join the prison system.

We can't continue to ignore the importance of providing reasonable opportunities for young black men and women to be educated in suitable educational environments. Including academic and trade schools that will allow our neighbors to prosper.

In a country as rich as ours, everyone, has the right to live in reasonable, safe housing. All people have the right to live in respectable safe housing. If they quelled the riots in New York by offering opportunity to the poor we sure should be able to do it in Milwaukee.

We cannot continue to take from the very poor and give to the rich. Tax breaks for multimillionaires and billionaires is absolutely offensive and we need to really think about our moral mission. When we take 500 million from the University system and allot that same money to build a basketball stadium for the owners of a basketball team who are billionaires there is something serious wrong with our adherence to a universal moral code. The State of Wisconsin under the leadership of Scott Walker and his cronies has lost its virtuous way and abandoned the poor and down trodden.

The Preamble to our constitution declares that “we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,” these are bold goals but not only are they goals; they define the moral vision of the “founders” of this unique country.

Our country has also lost the vision of the founders and thus lost it’s moral way. The day we elected “Tea Party” candidates who advocated a Christian agenda from their personal perspective, is the day our Constitution was violated. Abortion is not a high priority when we have The Bill of Rights which guarantees freedom of religion for all people be they Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus and even those who practice Wicket. Forty Six million people are in poverty and 48.1 million peoples in America will suffer “food insecurity” or a euphemism for Hunger. Shouldn’t we be worrying about the people who are hungry rather than the unborn. Paul Ryan went home for his summer vacation without having Congress address the Zika virus and ensuring funds to protect against the virus. Protection to avoid the spread of Zika and the birth defects secondary to the virus. Families are going to abort when they learn the results of the blood tests that records their infection with Zika and Paul Ryan will be responsible in part for those abortions.

Time to put our house in order. Black Lives Matter, Chidrens' Lives Matter, the Hungry Matter, and until we work on Community needs rather than tax breaks for billionaires we can expect our city’s to suffer and efforts to get attention will go eyry.

Our children will look back on our generation beginning with the boomers and describe them as be selfish and self centered. Turning this Country around begins with every citizen.