The parsha for this week, Ki Tetze, reads like a long to-do, not-to-do list as Moshe addresses everyone with directions for life in the Promised Land after the long wandering. Among the many instructions on family relations and moral propriety are examples that hark from another time, including judgements on POWs, rape and pillaging, floggings, divorce, slavery, LGBTQ discrimination, and forbidden pairings-which sounds disturbingly like newsfeed content from today. Notably, several directives remind us to help the stranger, the most repeated principle in the Torah. The admonition to treat the ger (stranger, foreigner, immigrant) as we would treat ourselves is repeated 35 times-for we, too, were once strangers in Egypt.
My husband Henry came to New Mexico in 1977 to work as a teacher in Shiprock. That year, some folks he met at a school event thought to help the stranger (him) by inviting him to their home very near Four Corners. He kept showing up at their place over the years he was in Shiprock and coming back after he moved to Albuquerque. Thus strangers became family as he was called "brother". Since that time, our families have spent many Thanksgivings and other celebrations together, and some of them have been with us for our son's Bar Mitzvah and Passover seders. One family member from up there helped to build the adobe wall in Nahalat Shalom's courtyard. We have greeted new babies, watched a new generation grow up, and attended weddings, graduations, and memorial services.
When the pandemic was growing in the spring, the Navajo Nation was hit hard by COVID and unprepared to fend it off. There are few stores, little inventory, and long distances to drive to get simple supplies. Many households are without basics like running water, and internet connections, now so essential, are often weak or nonexistent. Working with our brother, we started organizing a carload at a time, asking friends to donate PPE supplies we would drive up to our family on the Rez to sort and distribute. The response has been enthusiastic, and most of it has come from the Nahalat Shalom community. We are a small family operation which has supplied three carloads so far, bringing hand sanitizer, disinfectant, cleaning supplies, homemade cloth masks, and other needed items for many households of appreciative people. Our family "team" has wanted to express that appreciation to everyone who has contributed. Our niece always has some masks and hand sanitizer with her so when her husband is shopping and she's waiting in the car, she can give them to elders and families she sees who need them. Our brother texted in late July: "Hello, I just heard news the virus is going down on the Rez. Thank you all out there for helping, I wish I could thank everyone in person. You guys are saving lives out here."
As COVID rates have gone down, our collection efforts have slowed as well. However, we will continue to collect PPE supplies as we know the virus is still around and could surge again. There are many grassroots organizations working to provide support on the vast Navajo Nation, and there are many needs. How I wish we could deliver strong reliable internet connections and a clean, dependable water supply, for example! Thanks again to the Nahalat Shalom community and others who have generously donated in-kind supplies to our efforts and also donated to the Navajo Relief Fund and others providing support.