I am sitting in my living room particularly troubled by yet another mass killing: at least 15 Jews murdered at Bondi Beach in Australia. This in concert with two more killings in the news cycle in the last couple of days: two dead at Brown University and Rob Reiner and his wife murdered. And there is the thwarted plot to plant pipe bombs on New Years Eve; how many would that have killed?
How have we strayed so far from,
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”
The Bondi Beach murders happened just seven years after 11 Jews were murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue. In those years (2018 through 2025) in the US alone, we have lost over 1,350,000 people.
- 745,000-765000 died from drug overdoses
- 385,000-395,000 died from suicide
- 160,000-170,000 died from murder or homicide
- 62,000-66,000 died from motor vehicle collisions with pedestrians and bicyclists
Our Declaration of Independence forms the basis of our secular society. Yet we seem to have raised so many other priorities above life. To state the obvious: you cannot pursue liberty or happiness or the American Dream when you are dead.
Going a level deeper, religious beliefs formed the basis of our Declaration of Independence. As a Jew, I believe that preserving human life is more important than any other obligation, right, or privilege I may have. Preserving your life is more important than my right to own a gun, my privilege to drive a car, or my choice to underplay mental health and social services.
This Chanukah, this Christmas, this Kwanza, this New Year may we all prioritize life so that we may all pursue liberty and happiness.
Amen. I cannot phrase your words any better, “…this New Year may we all prioritize life so that we may all pursue liberty and happiness.”