“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.” Epictetus, Greek Philosopher.
The horror that, thank God, we mostly experience in nightmares struck Overland Park Jewry on April 13th, 2014. In the midst of a sunny, family-time Sunday spring afternoon in prosperous Johnson County, my phone’s ring broke the reverie with a worried friend’s voice declaring, “Rabbi, there’s been shootings at the Jewish Community Center and Village Shalom. I just heard it on the police radio.”
A terrorist attack! Against Jews, I thought. Against us! What to do? How to react?
I drove to The J and found it surrounded by police at all the entrances. They said, “No admission.” I drove to Village Shalom and found a way in. A staff member asked if I might speak to some staff and residents.
We imagined many things: Jews had been murdered in places where Jews congregate. Holocaust memories flooded to my mind.
But several Village Shalom staff remarked on different concerns. They worried about their residents, whom they cared for and actually loved. They worried for their families and what this might mean for coming to work. I heard personal concerns. I heard communal concerns. But from everyone I heard, “What does this mean?”
Then, the picture dramatically shifted. A neo-Nazi came to murder Jews, but miscalculated and murdered religious Christians. Reat Underwood, headed to an audition for The J’s KC SuperStar singing competition; his grandfather, Dr. William Corporon, waiting to drive Reat home; and Terri LaManno, visiting her mother at Village Shalom, all murdered in cold blood. He came in hatred for us, and murdered god-fearing Christians. Hate overflows like a flooding river, overwhelming banks and boundaries.
The Torah, in many places, declares all humans are God’s image. (e.g.-Genesis 5:1) When the Mishnah says the same (Avot 3:14) , commentator Ikar Tosaphot Yom Tov writes, “… the Children of Noah, not just the Children of Israel.” In other words, many revered traditional commentators recognize our common humanity.
Mindy Corporon, sandwiched between her father, William Corporon, and her son, Reat Underwood, was figuratively stabbed twice in the heart. But she did not walk away; she walked toward. She did not flee the disaster; she imagined the solution. Mindy Corporon transformed unimaginable pain for her into blessing for us. She did not ask, “Why did this disaster happen to me,” but “What do I do to make sure this disaster ends with me?”
Mindy created the Faith Always Wins Foundation, and the SevenDays experience, which this year will cover 14 days online (April 13-25)rather than in person, because of Covid.
We just observed Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. What would we Jews have wanted from the Christian world during The Holocaust? We would have wanted what we are privileged to have in Overland Park, Mindy Corporon. In seven activities over 14 days, Faith Always Wins will celebrate our common humanity in very specific ways.
But as an example, I must highlight one particular activity featuring a conversation with Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish. This renowned Palestinian physician was the first Palestinian doctor from Gaza to treat all Israelis, of whatever background, in Israeli hospitals. Three daughters and a niece were killed by an Israeli tank shell in 2009. Yet, Dr. Abuelaish continues to work toward humane understanding and peace. That’s on Thursday, April 22; and the annual walk, this year virtual, will be Onward Day, Sunday, April 25.
We Jews know the reality of blind hatred violently attacking innocent people. But what’s our reaction?
Elie Wiesel, in his life-long suffering from the murder of his family, wrote: “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.” Join Mindy Corporon, Faith Always Wins Foundation, and SevenDays. What you do is who you are. Be the solution.
Rabbi Mark H. Levin is the founding rabbi of Congregation Beth Torah
