The Pursuit of Peace
שׁוּבָה ה’, עַד־מָתָי, וְהִנָּחֵם עַל־עֲבָדֶֽיךָ, “Return, Adonai – how long?! – and have compassion for your servants.”[1]
How long? How long must we live in a world lacking compassion?
Even as I say שבת שלום, wishing people a peaceful Shabbat, I can’t help but ask: where is the peace for Alton Sterling, 37, shot to death in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while police held him to the ground? Where is the peace for Philando Castile, 32, shot to death in his car by police outside St. Paul, Minnesota, while his girlfriend and her daughter looked on in horror? Where is the peace for Brent Thompson, 43; Patrick Zamarripa, 32; Michael Krol, 40; Lorne Ahrens; and Michael Smith, the police officers in Dallas, Texas shot in cold blood by a sniper while protecting peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters?
How long?
Hillel teaches that we must learn from the High Priest, Aaron, whom he describes as אוֹהֵב שָׁלוֹם וְרוֹדֵף שָׁלוֹם, a lover of peace and a pursuer of peace.[2] His choice of words here is striking: whereas we use “pursue” generally to indicate any kind of quest or desire, in Rabbinic Hebrew the term רוֹדֵף, “pursuer,” has a very specific meaning. Appearing hundreds of times in Rabbinic Literature, רוֹדֵף always indicates someone who chases after another person with such overwhelming murderous intent that the Torah authorizes lethal force to stop him.[3] Hillel’s turn of phrase here, רוֹדֵף שָׁלוֹם, advances a powerful claim: those of us who profess to love peace, אוֹהֵב שָׁלוֹם, must pursue peace with a passion so strong, so intense, so committed that we would stake our lives on it.
How long?
At times like this my heart returns to the words of Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai:
אֵל מְלֵא רַחֲמִים…
אֲנִי, שֶׁמֻּכְרָח לִפְתּוֹר חִידוֹת בְּעַל כָּרְחִי
יוֹדֵעַ כִּי אִלְמָלֵא הָאֵל מְלֵא רַחֲמִים
הָיוּ הָרַחֲמִים בָּעוֹלָם
וְלֹא רַק בּוֹ.
God, full of compassion…
I, who must solve riddles against my will
Know that if God were not full of compassion
The compassion would be in the world
And not only in Him.[4]
If there is to be compassion in the world, we must bring it out. If there is to be justice in America, we must demand it. If there is to be peace on our streets,we must be the pursuers.
How long? That will also depend on us.
[1] Psalm 90:13.
[2] Pirkei Avot 1:12.
[3] See, e.g., Mishnah, Sanhedrin 8.7; the term applies the same to dangerous animals (Mishnah, Bava Kamma 3.11). Cf. the use in Proverbs 21:21.
[4] Yehuda Amichai, “God, Full of Compassion” (״אל מלא רחמים״).
