Carol Gendel D'Var Torah

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David Shanes - Men's Club Shabbat Service D'var Torah - April 16, 2010
Samantha Stegman Bat Mitzvah D'var Torah - October 24, 2009
Keith Liker's Blessing for Noah on the Occasion of Noah's Bar Mitzvah - May 2, 2009
Anita Szawielenko D'var Torah - July 24, 2009
David Shanes - Men's Club Shabbat Service D'var Torah - April 17, 2009
Carol Gendel D'Var Torah - March 2009
Marty Teal D'Var Torah Men's Club Shabbat Service - April, 2008
Phyllis Savin D'Var Torah - March, 2008
Keith Liker D'Var Torah - February, 2008
Matthew Shugart Conversion Speech - May 23, 2007
Freda Heller D'Var Torah - June 9, 2007
Natalie Diamond D'Var Torah - February 2007
Keith Liker D'Var Torah - January 2007
Karina Liker's Bat Mitzvah Speech on Mezuzot
Mary Lou Criqui's Conversion Speech
Mary Klein Conversion Speech - April 1, 2006

D'var Torah by Carol Gendel - March 28, 2009

Over these past several weeks I received from two different people an email petition to be sent to the President of the United States. This petition urged the President to veto a bill that the Senate had ostensibly just passed that would give illegal immigrants Social Security benefits. There were some other anti-immigrant statements as well but the gist was that a majority of the Senate, and by extension, the House of Representatives, had approved letting those horrible illegals get their hands on our diminishing Social Security trust fund.

I know that undocumented immigration is a complex and volatile issue, but there are several problems with this petition; one of the main issues being there was no such bill. There was a bill back in 2006 that attempted to allow immigrants who had entered the country illegally, but had since become legal, to access their own Social Security accounts that they had been contributing to even while they had been illegal, but that bill was withdrawn back in 2006. (Yes, it is a documented fact that many undocumented workers do have Social Security taxes deducted from their wages and put into the Social Security fund, which they cannot collect as long as they are illegal. That means you and I are the beneficiaries of their labor.)

Additionally, this kind of email petition is not very effective as there is no verification or validation process to ensure that completed copies were actually signed by the persons listed, rather than having their names added by someone else. If one person breaks the chain all the collected signatures on that chain are lost. And by the way, forwarding the message with all the names on it multiplies your chances of getting lots of spam and junk emails because spammers are very talented at culling email addresses from these kinds of messages.

But why was I so upset about these spurious emails? After all, don't we all get dozens of email petitions every week? I was upset because, as a Jew, I believe that we have a special obligation to refute false rumors - not just to not spread them. It took me all of two entries on Google to find the information that identified the message as false, which I then sent back to the message senders. There are several sites that specialize in debunking internet hoaxes and urban legends. Any of the hundreds of people on the petition could have done the same, and for all I know, there are other people who did check and did not forward it. But the fact that two intelligent acquaintances of mine did not is disappointing.

During last year's elections there were multiple emails circulating that accused candidate Obama of being anti-Israel; of being a secret Muslim, and claiming that if he were elected he would take the oath of office with his hand on the Q'uran (and so what if he did?). No matter what he or his supporters said, there were, and still are people who believe these internet hoaxes.

As Jews, we know the power of the big lie - you know the one that circulates especially at this time of year, that we make our Passover Matzoh with the blood of Christian children. No matter what we do, no matter who disputes it, there are some people who want to believe this lie. This time it was a screed against Illegal immigrants, last year it was false stories about a presidential candidate, and always there are false accusations against Israel and the Jews. At Yom Kippur, as part of the Vidui, we ask forgiveness as a community for spreading falsehoods and engaging in gossip. The internet is a powerful tool and we should make sure we are not responsible for using it to spread lies and innuendo.