This whole week, I have been moved by the many tributes to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, z”l. Of course, she was incredibly accomplished and made tremendous impacts on our country. As I said on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Justice Ginsburg served as an example for countless women, breaking down barriers and advocating for women to experience full freedom and equality in our country.
I watched the first ceremony honoring her life in the Supreme Court building. If you have not yet watched Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt memorialize her, I encourage you to do so. I found it especially moving to hear the traditional Jewish liturgical elements of a funeral - Psalm 23, El Maleh Rachamim, etc - chanted in the Supreme Court.
I’ve been thinking about the sense of righteousness and justice that she embodied. Psalm 118 holds the line “pitchu li sha’arei tzedek - Open the gates of justice for me, that I may enter them and praise God. Ze ha’sha’ar lAdonai, tzadikim yavo uvo - This is the gateway to God, the righteous shall enter through it. (Psalm 118:19-20).
Justice Ginsburg was someone who opened up gates of justice. She changed the course of American law, and she showed many of us that justice is a path towards holiness. Justice opens gateways for people. She opened gates for herself when they were closed, and she opened gates for others now and those gates will continue to open for many generations. As Rabbi Holtzblatt eulogized her this morning at the Capital, the Justice was also famous for her dissents. Part of the reason she was so compelled to articulate meaningful and thoughtful dissents was because years down the line, they often become normative law. Justice Ginsburg knew that even if certain gates weren’t opened right now, she had the power to affect our country and individuals beyond the span of her lifetime.
But the message that I take from her life today, two days before Yom Kippur, is one for every person, not just those of us in positions to make such large-scale change. The Justice was especially known for her character, not just her professional accolades. She was known to have treated her many law clerks like family, bringing them a cake on their birthdays or checking in on them if they had a kid home sick from school. Justice Ginsburg was a mensch. In the moments after learning of her death during erev Rosh Hashanah services, her rabbis spoke and shared stories about her. One of them struck me in particular: at the unveiling of her portrait in the great hall of the Court, the Justice stood up and thanked her colleagues and her clerks and her family. But she made special mention of two people, her assistants Lauren and Kim, and her housekeeper, who she said, “helped her every day to serve this country.” The Justice was, in no uncertain terms, a champion of American law and made indelible impacts on our country. But she also embodied humanity at its finest and in the smallest of interactions. To treat all people with care and kindness, regardless of your relationship to them - this, too, is an act of justice. This, too, opens up the gates for others.
On Wednesday evening of next week, we’ll be holding a community evening of Shiva. I invite you to join us to say kaddish and share our own impressions of what her life meant to us and the American people. As Yom Kippur approaches, as we stand at gates of a different sort and contemplate our lives, I pray that her legacy be a blessing for each of us.
Shabbat Shalom and G’mar Chatimah Tovah, Rabbi Sarit
Please note: Yizkor will be on Sunday morning at 11AM on Zoom. password: yizkor
Join us for davening throughout Yom Kippur at www.BSholom.org Kol Nidrei, Sunday, September 27th, 6:15PM Yom Kippur Morning, Monday, September 28th, 9:30AM Mincha/Neila, Monday, September 28th, 5:45PM Havdalah/Shofar on Zoom, 7:37PM passowrd: shofar
