There have been no resolutions of condemnation by the United Nations Security Council. You know for sure that if China had been Israel and the Tibetans the Palestinians, a resolution would already have been drafted. But China is surely not Israel and the Tibetan people are surely not the Palestinians.
It is fair to say that the Tibetan people are in a far worse situation than the Palestinians. Many have fled their own country of Tibet and live in exile in a place called Darsalama India. There, their spiritual and political leader, the Dalai Lama leads these good people with a commitment to non-violent protest. Indeed, the Tibetans are not the Palestinians. There is no denying that the Palestinians have valid grievances but they consider no act against Israelis too heinous to achieve their nationalistic goals.
The Dalai Lama has made it clear that if the Tibetan people resort to violence, he will resign as the head of the government in exile.
The Dalai Lama, the internationally respected leader of Tibetan Buddhism has a great affinity for the Jewish people. In the past decades he has met with various Rabbis and other Jewish leaders. There has been a mutual interest in learning from each other. Part of his interest is to discover the secret of our survival during two thousand years of exile. He would employ that secret during his own people's struggle for survival during their exile today.
We Jews should feel a kinship with the Tibetan people. We should feel an even deeper concern on this day of Purim. Today, we celebrate our survival at a time in history when a diabolical leader had all but sealed our doom. China would be happy to seal the doom of the Tibetan people from ever returning to their homeland of Tibet and having any sense of self rule over their lives and spiritual practices. The Dalai Lama has called China's repression acts of cultural genocide.
How does the world respond to the Chinese attack on Tibet and the Tibetan people still living there? Tibetans have been killed in recent days. Buildings have been destroyed. Tourists have been evicted. All foreign journalists have been expelled. Now the Chinese will be able to use even more brutal force and the world will have no proof. We can imagine however what is happening. The United Nations however will be silent. Who will speak out?
The real politick of this situation is terribly complex. At this time of economic weakness how many options do we have in America? With China as a major trading partner and a major investor in the US what leverage do we have?
Without China, from where will we import our lead based toys or our tainted food? It is indefensible that we do nothing. It is indefensible that the free world do nothing. It is indefensible that the free world send its athletes to Beijing this summer but send no strong stance of condemnation.
Last year, the Dalai Lama was welcomed openly by the President and was given the Congressional Gold Medal. Those were important acts knowing China's strong opposition to our recognition of this great spiritual leader. This past week Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited the Dalai Lama in Darsalama and said " "If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world," The question remains, what is the next step after speaking out. To learn more, I recommend the web site www. savetibet.org.
The Olympics are scheduled to be held in Beijing this summer. I heard someone this week argue in defense of the Olympic games proceeding as usual this summer because even the 1936 games hosted by Nazi Germany were not interrupted. Isn't that a great argument! Because the world was not sufficiently repulsed by Hitler in 1936 we should find a precedent in this. Within the next decade we were sending thousands and thousands more of our best young people to Germany. Too many of them never came home. China is not Nazi Germany but it is enough to warrant our protest.
Purim has become a holiday of fun, carnivals, costumes and craziness. Our Purim Shpiel "Hairspritz" written and directed by our Aleph teacher and Pre-School Administrative Assistant Rhonda Pearson was one of our best ever. Purim however has a serious message. Those who are different and powerless can be singled out for persecution and pogroms. Miraculously, we had friends in high positions with Esther as queen pleading on behalf of her people, our people. Who are the friends of the Tibetan's in high places who will speak out on their behalf? Perhaps we are those friends and we have access to friends in even higher places. Purim is the time for us to make noise.
In a website devoted to a daily quote of the Dahli Lama, today's teaching is "On my part, I remain committed to contribute my efforts for the welfare of all human beings, and in particular the poor and the weak to the best of my ability without any distinction based on national boundaries." If someone read this to me, I might have guessed that this was said by the prophet Isaiah. The world needs this teaching even more than it needs cheap toys, and we need to find a way to respond to the ongoing tragedy taking place.
Shabbat
Shalom
