Our Heart

Following the tragic murder of Capt. Robert Melton today in Kansas City and the shocking news that the murderer of the Baton Rouge police officers was from Kansas City it is time for a serious introspection.

 

Yesterday I was talking with my good friend, a black man Ed Sonnier from St. Louis.

 

I met Ed at Heartland Creamery where I supervise kosher cheese manufacturing.

 

Heartland is a remarkable place, as it welcomes all people, particularly from prison, many with former drug abuse histories, and offers them a safe environment where they can both work in their businesses, as well as develop a personal spirituality.

 

“I never knew how stressed out I was….” Ed told me – a former gang boss, he continued, “I lived with three guns and would always triple lock my doors.”

 

“The other day I accidentally ran over a squirrel and it tugged at my heart” – having witnessed horrific violence, he was surprised.

 

Ed called his grandmother and told her, “I am going soft.”

 

“No, my son” she said, “that is G-d softening hearts.”

 

When Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai asked his five illustrious disciples to seek a proper path, Elazar Ben Arach came back and said, he found it is having “a Good Heart” and Rabbi Yochanan replied – “Your words are the finest, for the other proper paths discovered (such as “seeing the good,” “a good friend,” “a good neighbor” etc.) all stem from this.”

 

Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

 

I just looked up the exact quote, but I remember it as, “Not by the color of their skin but the color of their heart.”

 

In order to overcome prejudice we must understand what it means to have a “good colored heart”?!

 

To understand this, let us go to one of the wisest of all Jewish sages, Reb Menachem Mendel of Kotzk who said, “What is the difference between one who loves love, or hates hate?! – ‘The former will love, the latter, unfortunately, hate.’”

 

It is this fundamental subconscious difference – between holding onto anger or finding what is beautiful – between allowing voices calling for “justice,” disguising resentment (such as “Black lives matter” which seems to not care about black police) in contradistinction to “Love your friend as yourself” without judging.

 

This subtle but all important difference must be taught, explained and integrated.

 

Having lived for over a decade in South Africa, there is a fundamental distinction between black leaders like Nelson Mandela who rightfully (with much help from the Chabad community in South Africa) called for an end to prejudice, but himself exhibited none; to others, like Robert Mugabe who managed to oust the whites but embarked on a continuous libelous campaign (resulting in a complete economic collapse.)

 

We must always live with the founding motto of Chassidism, heard from the Holy Baal Shem Tov, “Fear no-one but your heavenly father – Love everyone non-judgmentally” – for it is this simple telltale sign, “Are we judging?”… whether it is G-d-forbid black vs. white or vise-versa, that demonstrates if we are not loving.