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An ad for Snopes made me laugh today. It reads:
“BREAKING NEWS: Disinformation is Spreading Faster Than Ever!”
The people at Snopes make their living checking facts. This is one fact I am certain they do not need to check.
Of course it’s true. We have so many ways to communicate, and one person can reach countless people with a single, well-placed message. We can do it with amazing speed, without even a second thought. Or, most likely, even a first thought.
Which leads me straight to the Bible.
Because this week we read the story of Noah. God gave Noah an assignment, and Noah spent 100 years building the ark. Not spreading a message.
Did no one wonder? Did no one ask him why he was building a gigantic gopher-wood boat in his backyard?
People love to look at big things. You can visit the world’s largest ball of twine (there are four). The world’s largest frying pan. The world’s largest rocking chair (56 feet high; couples have been known to get married beneath it). People drive for hours to gaze at these wonders.
I have to believe that Noah’s boat was known far and wide. And I imagine that people asked him about it.
His answer? Perhaps he quoted God:
“God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth… But with you will I establish my covenant; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” (Genesis 6:13, 18)
We don’t know what Noah said. But the biblical text gives us no indication that he urged people to change their ways. It is easy to imagine that the people around him went on with their lives without hearing a message about repentance, repair, or returning to God.
Perhaps the moral of Noah’s story is about individual responsibility in difficult communal times.
In other words, what is my responsibility when I see the world around me going crazy?
We each have a choice. We can build our own arks. We can do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves and our families.
Or we can step outside our safe spaces and join with others to make the world a better place for everyone.
It sounds like a simple choice. But it is not.
It is far easier to stay home, to tsk-tsk about the world’s woes, and go about our own lives. To believe — or hope — that we will be safe and protected.
But sometimes the choice really is easy.
Today, leaving the grocery store, I saw a pile of small objects scattered in the roadway. Several credit cards, a Social Security card, and a driver’s license. I stopped traffic, gathered them up, and returned to the store.
And discovered that someone else had already brought in the wallet to which they belonged. It contained cash and medical ID cards.
“Someone is going to be very happy!” one clerk exclaimed. “And relieved!” said the other.
I know, it was easy. Almost too easy. I get to feel good about doing something pretty minor, all things considered.
But I think it’s the easy things we should aim for. That’s the trick to engaging children and adults in making the world a better place.
My simple prescription: Keep doing the simplest, kindest things. Make a moral choice every day. Find ways to help your neighbors and classmates. Keep your eyes open to possibilities.
Noah, at least as the Torah tells his story, did not engage with his neighbors. He built an ark to save himself and his family (and a bunch of animals).
Today, in a world seemingly drowning in disinformation and rampant individualism, I want us to do something different.
I want us to stand up for each other.
I want us to be brave and kind. I want us — all of us, even the Noahs of this world — to look out for one another.
Will it be enough? I don’t know.
But I want us to try.
Please.
PS. Did you know that I now teach very cool Jewish classes online? There are new classes coming up at the Jewish Open Tent. Check it out!
