PROCLAIM LIBERTY (AND 13) THROUGHOUT THE LAND.America is not defined by Racism. The fact is that the majority of hate crimes are anti-Semetic and I don't believe that America is defined as Anti-Semitic either. There will always be racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism but they do not define our nation. America is more diverse, open and tolerant than any country in the world.
I am certain that if either George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King Jr were able to observe the progress our nation has made in terms of equality they would be quite pleased. One exception would be Reverend King's disappointment in how little black lives matter to other blacks! I am certain King would shed tears if he saw his brothers & sisters destroying property and looting stores. Neither justice or Dr. King's "dream" are achieved by those actions. On the other hand, Dr. King would take great satisfaction and comfort in the fact that the police officer who murdered Floyd was immediately arrested.
Frankly, I think the phrase BLM itself is racist. Black lives matter NOT because they are black. They matter because they are human beings! Juries shouldn't see color and God certainly doesn't. The only color that matters is that we all bleed red.
Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream and it doesn't resemble the violent BLM riots we are seeing on today's streets. They remind me of the Obama years when BLM and Antifa protests were common and would often turn violent.
Judging people on the color of their skin is the opposite of what I believe Dr. King was dreaming about.
I do NOT believe it is coincidence that the American 13 cent stamp is minted to remember and commemorate the Liberty Bell.
Perhaps the most dramatic moment in the Torah revolves around the events of the Golden Calf. Furious at the idol-worship days after the giving of the Torah, God threatens the destruction of those who took part.
Moses, through heroic self-sacrifice and prayer, persuades God to not only renege on His threat, but to teach him the 13 Attributes of Mercy, through which the Jewish people can gain mercy at even the most perilous of times.
The number 13 has other significance in Judaism. There is the totality of the 12 Tribes plus the Levites; the age of barmitzvah.
Perhaps the most auspicious quality of 13 relates to the Gematria (numerical value) of words that equal 13. The world echad the Shema, which is he central pray of Judaism, has a vslue of 13. Echad is 'one’ but Echad is a special type of "one." It is a multi-part complex unit. 13 is also the gematria of the Hebrew word for "Love." So we have One Love
Believing that America is a racist nation is a self-fulfilling negative affirmation. I have a higher belief in America. We are a Nation under God that fought it's bloodiest war ever 160 years ago to abolish slavery.
The Liberty Bell with it's biblical expression "Proclaim Liberty throughout the land" is what defines America. The Liberty Bell is like America's Shofar. When the shofar (the ram's horn) is sounded we harken back to Sinai and when the world recieved the Tablets of Testimony, otherwise known as The Law. The trumpet is also blown on Judgment Day (Yom Kippur) to call out the start of the Jubilee year. A year when the Lands are restored.
For decades the Liberty Bell was sounded during a significant ceremony on President Washington's birthday. I believe we should rekindle the tradition of sounding and hearing the Liberty Bell with a grand national ceremony. During that ceremony we should hear great speeches which remind us of the character, sacrafice and accomplishments of our first President.
During this newly rekindled ceremony I envision prayer would play a central part. The theme for the ceremony could use the prayer from Leviticus that is forged into the Liberty Bell as the central theme for the occasion.
A key purpose of the ceremony would be to teach our citizenry the principles our nation was founded on. In particular, during the ceremony we should all take lessons from our Founding Father's Farewell Letter in which Washington warned us that Partisanship would destroy our Nation and is a greater threat than any external enemy. Washington warned Americans to never forget that we recieve our moral authority from God, not government and certainly not a political party.
Like the Children of Israel at Sinai, Americans have fashioned Political Parties into a Golden Calf. We have made Parties into false gods.
America needs to be restored! Let's ring the Liberty Bell and PROCLAIM LIBERTY AND ONE NATION UNDER GOD THROUGHOUT THE LAND. Surely this would please Washington, Lincoln, Dr. King and God.
Related post: Black Lives Don't Matter . . .