To Boldly Go...

My older brother was 11 when Star Trek premiered on September 8, 1966. It was a perfect time, and it was the right age, for him to be swept up in the original series. As it debuted a few months before I arrived on the scene, you can say that I was born into a household already watching. Though it was already in syndication by the time I knew the difference, I too was enamored from an early point in its message: a positive, hopeful future for humanity exemplified by diversity in the crew, daring to address difficult social issues in a meaningful yet approachable way, and the idea that imagination, intelligence and compassion trump brute force, ignorance and bigotry every time. A righteous message from the turbulent ‘60s that rings even louder today.

On reaching its 50^th anniversary, others have also written about the impact that Star Trek has had on pop culture and technology – from Spock using the priestly benediction hand position from Jewish tradition as a gesture of greeting to the inspiration for flip phones & iPads. Two of my favorite legacies from the show (and its offspring series and big screen movies) are found in the narrative lore that has emerged. One is the *Prime Directive* by which the Federation cannot interfere in the internal affairs or history of another species or indigenous society it encounters. This honors self-determination – culturally, politically, socially. The other, which I recall I first found in one of the many ST novels I read between my teen years and college, is the Vulcan concept known as IDIC – Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. This cornerstone concept of Vulcan philosophy “celebrates the vast array of variables in the universe.” Though this novel (The IDIC Epidemic) was published in 1988, it is based on ideals that helped found the entire Star Trek enterprise (no pun intended; well, maybe). From the outset, it has been a champion of progress and progressive values.

So today, and most days, I get to geek out in marking this momentous anniversary. And in the long run – take a group of compelling characters, add some interesting aliens, throw in some very exotic locales, plot twists, and challenges, mix well with an all-time great theme song – voila! Science fiction masterpiece. May Star Trek continue inspiring us to boldly go where no one has gone for generations to come. 

Trump's hateful rhetoric

Last night’s remarks by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, which were promoted beforehand to be a “cogent presentation on immigration” left me feeling completely ill. I feel compelled to respond, as I shared immediately following he finished - if you are a decent human being with even a shred of common sense, you must join to defeat Trump, Trumpism & his riled-up insane supporters. We Americans know from our history that it is upon ALL of us to stand against such bullying and hate speech. His hateful and ignorant rhetoric has been unfortunately enabled by the ratings-hungry media; I truly feel that ANYONE in the press who suggests Trump's remarks were anything but an all-out hate speech should resign in shame. NOW.

The great 20^th century visionary and activist Abraham Joshua Heschel taught in great depth about the human condition and our responsibility toward one another. He said

Daily we should take account and ask: what have I done today to alleviate the anguish, to mitigate the evil, to prevent humiliation? Let there be a grain of profit in every human being! Our concern must be expressed not symbolically, but literally; not only publicly, but privately; not only occasionally, but regularly. What we need is the involvement of every one of us as individuals. What we need is restlessness, a constant awareness of the monstrosity of injustice.

Perhaps ironically it was only a few days ago that we commemorated the anniversary of the great March on Washington, at which MLK shared with us “I have a dream.” Here are the words of Rabbi Joachim Prinz, which introduced Dr. King. They are perhaps as profound at this moment as they were five decades ago. I urge you to consider them carefully

I speak to you as an American Jew.

As Americans we share the profound concern of millions of people about the shame and disgrace of inequality and injustice which make a mockery of the great American idea.

As Jews we bring to this great demonstration, in which thousands of us proudly participate, a two-fold experience -- one of the spirit and one of our history.

In the realm of the spirit, our fathers taught us thousands of years ago that when God created man, he created him as everybody's neighbor. Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept. It means our collective responsibility for the preservation of man's dignity and integrity.

From our Jewish historic experience of three and a half thousand years we say:

Our ancient history began with slavery and the yearning for freedom. During the Middle Ages my people lived for a thousand years in the ghettos of Europe . Our modern history begins with a proclamation  of emancipation.

It is for these reasons that it is not merely sympathy and compassion for the black people of America that motivates us. It is above all and beyond all such sympathies and emotions a sense of complete identification and solidarity born of our own painful historic experience.

When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things. The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not '.the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.

A great people which had created a great civilization had become a nation of silent onlookers. They remained silent in the face of hate, in the face of brutality and in the face of mass murder.

America must not become a nation of onlookers. America must not remain silent. Not merely black America , but all of America . It must speak up and act,. from the President down to the humblest of us, and not for the sake of the Negro, not for the sake of the black community but for the sake of the image, the idea and the aspiration of America itself.

Our children, yours and mine in every school across the land, each morning pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the republic for which it stands. They, the children, speak fervently and innocently of this land as the land of "liberty and justice for all."

The time, I believe, has come to work together - for it is not enough to hope together, and it is not enough to pray together, to work together that this children's oath, pronounced every morning from Maine to California, from North to South, may become. a glorious, unshakeable reality in a morally renewed and united America.

My own takeaway regarding the Republican candidate - to rephrase tradition: there is no room for anyone else with someone so completely full of himself. Trump must be stopped.