Redemptive Action

The images this week of an openly emotional President Obama as he announced the executive actions on gun control were very moving. Whatever your political affiliation, I think many of us can agree that when leaders show uncensored emotion about an issue that is important to them, and it can resonate deeply with others, it is a moment that represents a kind of redemption.

No sooner had the press conference ended, however, did the cynical criticism begin that the President's tears couldn't possibly have been real. Pundits and politicians seemed to need to focus on something else since they obviously disagreed with the executive actions the President was taking. But such emotion is not common among public figures, and certainly not from presidents over time. The emotion, I imagine, was both about the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary, and about the feeling of impotence when you want to do something but experience tells you "it can't be done."

I imagine this is what Moses may have felt, when the Torah imagines his response to God's commands to go and free the Israelites from bondage, in this week's portion of Va'era. The text indicates that God commands Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that he let the people go. Moses responds: "The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech" (Ex. 6:12). The Hebrew for impeded speech is, aral sefatayim, literally translated as uncircumcised lips. Somehow, Moses believes that he wouldn't be able to communicate his demands to Pharaoh, because he had been unsuccessful in convincing the people, especially because their spirits were crushed by cruel bondage.

The Sefat Emet (Rabbi Yehuda Leib Alter of Ger, 19th c) teaches that if the Israelites refuse to listen to their leaders, their leaders cannot serve as their spokesmen, and they become of "uncircumcised lips." Only if there are those who are prepared to listen is it possible to speak because the leader's power is derived from the people. Had the Israelites listened to Moses, he would have felt the power necessary to speak to Pharaoh and influence him. Moses had, in a way become of "uncircumcised lips" and was feeling blocked to the role he was to play in the redemption of the people from slavery. He will ultimately overcome this insecurity, and will lead the people forth towards freedom.

We just passed the third anniversary since the Sandy Hook massacre, and with so many mass shootings since then, after each one there is always a clarion call to reform our gun laws. So much emotion, and yet, Congress has failed to reinstate an assault weapons ban, and background checks are still perceived to be a threat to the Second Amendment. Against all reason, the gun lobby and many political leaders continue to dissociate access to guns and gun violence. So no wonder, in a moment of action, the President's tears over the many unnecessary deaths, for the families who have begged for stricter gun laws in the aftermath of one mass shooting after another, and for all the efforts to reform the law, came forth.

These executive actions of the President are meant to increase safety, increase accountability, and ultimately protect more Americans. Let our leaders' spirits not be crushed by what has not yet been accomplished nor let their lips remain blocked from what they have not yet been able to say in the face of gun violence. The emotion of the moment should call forth our deepest commitment to what is actually within our ability to change, that is what working for redemption is all about.