These are very unpalatable words for us, Americans. We want what we want, when we want it, and we believe that we should have everything we want. Limitations are just obstacles that we need to overcome. Yet boundaries are important if we want to live in society. Our tradition thinks of boundaries as a gift. In the Torah we are given boundaries on what we can eat, on who we can marry, on property, and on usage of natural resources, for example (these insights can be found on, but are not limited to, Leviticus 11, Leviticus 18, Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 20). The Talmudic rabbis expand on these concepts by creating a system of positive and negative mitzvot, commandments, designed to limit what we can have. In the kabbalah, the world could only be created because the Ayin Sof, the Eternal, entered a process of tzimtzum, withdrawal, and made space for the world to happen.
As Americans and as Jews, we must find the balance between the belief that we can have what we want and that we must limit ourselves for the good of the society.
This past Friday began Wear Orange Weekend, an initiative created by the parents of Hadyia Pendleton, a young woman who lost her life to gun violence in January 2015. Gun violence in America is a complex issue that can be seen from many angles, and today I will explore it from this balance between rights and responsibilities that is a part of the American–Jewish internal conversation.
I am tired of hearing the same arguments against and in favor of gun ownership. There is a feeling of tedious sameness when I listen to the same words from news outlets and political parties, an endless loop of words that entrench people in their own point of view and never sways an opposing view. The same old lines, the same entrenched points of view, reactions and opinions that are repeated when another mass shooting happens. This is not an issue solved only by pointing out that “there are too many guns in this country” nor by affirming that gun violence is solely a “mental health issue.” Gun violence in this country is a complex and entangled issue, requiring an equally complex and multi-lateral solution. To find a way out of this problem will take a concerted effort, a common-sense approach, and a willingness to balance individual desires and freedoms with the responsibilities that we all have to safeguard our community.
In our tradition the correct way to have a discussion is to do tzimtzum, to retract from our certainties and make space to listen to other ideas.
I think that the amount of guns in this country is troubling, and there are too many semi-automatic guns in the hands of civilians for anyone’s good. Others may think that people have an inalienable right to have a gun. I agree that one might have the right to have a gun, and on the other hand I believe that restrictions on gun ownership are in order. I understand that driving a car is not a right in the constitution, and therefore can be more heavily regulated than owning a gun (which some people interpret as a right that every American has, based on the second amendment). Yet for the good of the community, in these delicate times, we could open up the space in the conversation for limitations on the amount of guns owned by an individual, and a true process of licensing before one could buy and use a gun. Gun violence is also a mental health issue. No one in their right mind is going to go into a primary school and shoot kindergarteners. Or 4th graders. Or high schoolers. Or university students. Or teachers. For this reason, part of the solution is to have good quality affordable and accessible mental health options for the whole population. I believe that we can find a way to ensure that