Creating Order in Systems Amidst the Chaos & Vayikra

With the news coming fast and furious, there’s a power that feels too big to control that’s overtaking us as our governmental system is being dismantled before our very eyes.

The chaos feels like Purim, when up is down, and down is up.

Instead of Purim, though, we’re approaching Passover, the “Season of Our Liberation.” President Trump declared yesterday that April 2nd will forever be remembered as “Liberation Day” due to his tariffs.

Hmmm. I especially don’t like that because it was my first daughter’s birthday. The other one was born on April Fool’s Day. Maybe they go hand in hand?

Also, liberation feels very much out of reach at the moment.

There are those who believe that what Trump is doing is good: dismantling the government and starting from scratch; making America “Great Again” by imposing tariffs all over the world and thus making Americans rich (again?); putting women back in their “proper place”; controlling what universities can teach (cuz what a mess they are, and who needs science and education anyway?); going back to a time when there were only two sexes by removing any transgender person who proudly and equally serves in the military, even those with medals (because “it isn’t real”); detaining, shackling, and deporting people without due process, even a white Canadian actress with proper paperwork applying for a work visa (talk about falling in lockstep without questioning orders! There's not even any racism involved, you know what I mean?). What do we need our governmental and court systems for, anyway? Along with civil rights, they are useless—as are air traffic controllers. (Who knew?)

But there’s also been some really uplifting news…

First, on This American Life: There’s a Judge Reyes who challenged the Trump Administration to prove that transgenderism is not real. The judge gave this lawyer a science lesson on the chromosomal system that can produce xxx, xxy, xyy, xxyy chromosomes, to name a few. And how people can be born with both male and female sex organs…She was amazing. This lawyer on the stand couldn’t answer any of her questions. The judge would not back down, and, boy, did she get called names afterwards (not okay!).

Then I heard about all the Bernie Sanders Fighting Oligarchy rallies that are drawing all kinds of people in bigger and bigger numbers, even in Trump-voting areas.

And also the huge defeat of Elon Musk’s money against the Wisconsin Federal Court. (Turns out a lot of people do still care about access to abortion and stuff, even if they want us to believe it’s not an “issue” anymore.)

The Book of Leviticus begins with the word, “VaYikra,” meaning “And he called.”

This is where God begins his specific commands for Moses to relay the sacrificial system of the Temple, introduced in detail with the chopping up animals into parts, lots of blood, fire, smoke, ashes…If you imagine yourself there, it might be scary in its messiness, but it also feels very powerful.

It’s a lot of chaos within a very ordered system.

But to quote from Rabbi Shai Held in The Heart of Torah, “To read Leviticus…is to enter a different kind of world, a small pocket of reality in which [Divine] will is heeded and perfectly executed, in which chaos and disorder are kept at bay…even as the realities outside fall painfully short of [our] longed-for dream.” (Vol. 2, p.8)

The American “system” is also very ordered, and it has been thrown into chaos by people with huge and very scary personal political agendas.

Yet, there are people fighting back, trying to create order amidst the chaos, not backing down, even if what we have as an American system falls painfully short of our longed-for dreams.

The question is, how is each of us called to act in this moment, not in a sacrificial system, but within the far-from-perfect political system we have right now. Can we join the brave souls who are pushing back in huge numbers?

And maybe part of what we are called to do is to create—and be—the order and calm within the chaos while we’re raising our voices and bringing our bodies to participate.

I know I keep saying this, but I think we need to keep hearing it; we have more power than we think.

And say Amen.