Spontaneously delivered by Hon. Cory a. Booker mayor, city of Newark, NJ at the Rabbinical College of America national founder's dinner close to a 1000 attending (Powerful speech a must read)
It's always said, the best way to make G‑d laugh is to make plans for yourself. I did not ever imagine my life when I was 26 years old, that I would start a journey that has now lasted over 15 years; where I would become very close with the Lubavitch movement. I'd been head of the Chabad House in Oxford. I started with a great rabbi in Yale something called the Yale Chai Society. It just started with 5 or 6 guys around a Shabbat table and now we have half a city block.
My life was so deeply affected by the wisdom and kindness, the passion and love that are in Rabbi Herson. I have to tell you that Rabbi Herson saw something in me at a time when many people I don't think recognized what would happen in my life. He really was prophetic in what he said about what I would be doing in my upcoming years in the city of Newark.
If I could be so bold right now, to just speak from my heart about the Lubavitch movement, about RCA.
I grew up in a family who really seeded in me who I was, as a person. My parents really wanted their children to be deeply imbedded in their roots, in their culture, in their heritage. My parents made me read, and study, and learn all about the African American contributions to the United States of America from a wonderful book by a man named Carter G. Woodson. He is actually a listed founder of what was the Negro History League, what is now Black History Month and he wrote a book called the Mis-education of the Negro, about African Americans having continuously lost their way. He said that the primary cause of human suffering is forgetfulness; people who have forgotten who they are, forgotten their roots, forgotten their culture. My parents wanted me to be a man that would always stand up for who I was. I have to say that my life and my relationship with Lubavitch has helped to so cement the many issues that my parents seeded in me as a child.
When I began to get to know Lubavitch, I saw a community of people that were asserting over and over again the important mission of the Jewish people. The importance, not just as I heard was mentioned earlier, the survival of the Jewish people. That is afore what we should be shooting for. We should not be thinking about the Jewish people in terms of survival, that the Jews should survive. We should really be looking to have the Jewish people thrive. And why is that? Why do you have this Meshuganah Goy in front of you talking to you about why it is so important that the Jewish people thrive? Because I believe, through lots of sitting and studying with rabbis and exchanging literature of some of the more respected people in my life, that the Jewish people have such an important purpose on earth.
I look at some of the greatest philosophers of all times, like Maimonides, who really was the first pluralistic spectrum who saw the importance of universal values and ideals and praised them within many different peoples. I look at a person like Hillel, what he stood for and what he understood. "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?" If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, then when?" This understanding is the core of Judaism; that first and foremost you must study! You must know, you must never ever forget. You must push your roots down into the earth and connect the core principles that are Judaism.
Many people think that Jewishness is just a culture; it's about food; it's about music. That is so not true; especially when you look at the diversity of expression of Jewish people around the globe. The reality is what Judaism is about, it's about faith, it's about certain principles, it is about a relationship with the Divine, understanding that this is not about pie in the sky, salvation when you die! This is about re-making the earth and mixing your essence with what is in front of you.
Think about the father of the Jewish people. Think about Abraham. Here we are studying the Torah portions around this time of year that I love, because my anniversary of my first relationship with a Lubavitcher Rabbi happened on Simchas Torah, and then you begin the Torah portion that works through Genesis and you see this wonderful examination. It was actually something that confused me as a boy and I talked to many rabbis about it. When G‑d comes to the Garden of Eden, this Omnificent Being says: "Adam where are you?" And here is Adam hiding behind the bushes. Why would G‑d need to ask where Adam was? (G‑d knew where he was, so why did He have to ask?) I questioned. I remember one evening when we were discussing this part of the Torah late at night in Oxford, and one rabbi speaks up and says, "What G‑d was looking for was not the physical Adam. He was wondering where is this man that I created in My image, to stand up and be truly who he was with the mission in this world. Why is he playing small, shrinking from who he was when born to manifest the word of G‑d in this world?
Abraham Lincoln said that every man is born an original, but sadly most men die copies. We live in a world that the culture often tries to whitewash and paint us all over and make us all alike. We lose our divinity, our uniqueness.
So here we go from Genesis, working through the Torah portions to where we are now and the most profound moment to me in the Christian Bible and the Torah; it's this moment when G‑d calls on Abraham after he called on Adam, he was hiding behind the bushes, called on Noah. Noah said, "Oh, don't take me, take my brother. I am not worthy." Calls on the father of the Jewish people and He says: "Abraham, where are you?" He is calling on him to do the ultimate sacrifice of his son and Abraham stands up and says: "Hineni! – Behold, here I am!" And this model of a man of Abraham, who had the chutzpa, the audacity to argue with G‑d, "how can You destroy all the people of the city. You will not destroy them all; there must be good people there." It is almost as if G‑d is commanding us to be in this earth and no matter what is necessary, whether we have to wrestle with angels, which is the very name of Israel, we must be about bringing justice to this world.
So look at the great Jewish leaders who understood what Judaism was about. Look at a Golda Meir who said: "Jews together are strong. And we're yearning for that strength right now in our globe." But she also said: "Jews with other people are invincible." Look at what it says in Michael, "What o' L-rd do you want from Your people of Israel, to hate sin, to love G‑d and to do justice. We now, more than ever, when we have threats in this world we could not have imagined as children, when the peril that Israel faces on a daily basis, when the peril that America faces on a daily basis, with injustices in the world, the places like Darfur, more than ever we need organizations that are going to fuel the Jewish people with that mission-driven ideology with an understanding that they are here for a purpose. That we must manifest the Glory of G‑d, that we must have the courage to stand up and be who we are; to be Jewish in the fullest, the boldest, most courageous sense of the word.
Why do I love Rabbi Herson? It's because he's unapologetic about who he is and what his mission is. He knows that this world is desperately in need of a Divine message, and from a Sheliach. I feel like I'm the first Sheliach into City Hall. I'm the representative of Lubavitch in City Hall right now.
We desperately need globally the spirit of Divinity that is being generated, that's being instilled, that's being fueled through RCA. We have incredible, incredible challenges before us.
I want to thank you all for insuring that this great institution, which is seeding this world to Divine Spirit, which is insuring that as a people we'll not forget who we are, that we will push our roots deeply down, so that we will grow strong and firm and will not be blown away by the challenges that will strip our branches from the vine, and produce fruit that will create sustenance to the world and seeds for future generations.
I want to thank you all for supporting the RCA, for supporting this institution - for it truly is doing G‑d's work.
Thank you very much. Boruch Hashem!