Organizers often focus in action on getting a large number of people in the room to confront someone in authority, the assumption that only a show of great numbers will convince someone in authority (say an elected official) that the group has the power to lead the authority to do what the group wants.

In this week’s Torah portion, we have the story of Judah approaching his brother Joseph, a great authority in Egypt.  In looking at this story (of someone without power approaching someone with great power), some rabbis explain that HOW he approaches him matters.  So I reflect that HOW we approach someone in power matters.  If we do it in a way that is “prayerful,” honest, and connected with our truth, we might be in a better position to gain what we and our community want.

We are praying to some omnipotent God who may or may not grant our wish, like some magic fairy.  We are recognizing our own power and our own truth and speaking it out loud.  Only in speaking it out loud can we learn and then know what the truth is.  Telling our story out loud is part of that process.  When we say in public what is in our hearts, then might connect with a power way beyond our numbers.  This may be what Abraham Joshua Heschel meant when he said, during a civil rights march that he was “praying with his feet.”  In the action, in the march, we find ...   more »