No doubt you know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States died on Friday, September 18. May the “Notorious RBG” now rest in peace after her years of loving labours fighting for justice for all.
What is it with Fridays? They keep tripping me up. Here where I am, we first went into lockdown on Friday, 13 March. RBG died last Friday, just as our Jewish neighbours were ushering in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. As of Friday 24 September we are once again back in lockdown.
My latest lockdown is of little significance compared to the significance of the phenomenal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying on Rosh Hashanah. Immediately after her death, “A number of prominent Twitter users began to circulate the notion that, when a Jew dies on the holiday, it is testimony to the fact that he or she is a zaddik [or a zaddika] a righteous person.” (washingtonpost.com)
““All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:2) ”
I started these scribbles on Tuesday, and it so happened the Scripture reading from the Old Testament that day was from Proverbs, “All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:2 NRSV) This verse, in a nutshell, describes what the righteous RBG did all her life. From all we have learned this week about this incredible, tiny wisp of a Jewish woman, I would say she can easily be summed up in these few words: she lived and breathed justice and equality for all. “Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, who leads the Adas Israel Congregation [where the late RBG worshiped], eulogized Ginsburg at a ceremony in the Capitol's Statuary Hall where the late justice became the first woman and first Jewish person to lie in state.” Among other things that the Rabbi said about her was, "Justice did not arrive like a lightning bolt, but rather, through dogged persistence, all the days of her life. Real change, she said, enduring change, happens one step at a time." (thehill.com)
I would say this phenomenal, living legend of a woman personified the human being the great Abraham Joshua Heschel describes in his words, “…God is absent, invisible, and the task of a human being is to represent the Divine, to be a reminder of the presence of God.” Tiny, polite, with a soft-spoken voice belying a steely mind, she was a reminder of the presence of God. Was she ruthless in her work for justice throughout her many years as a Justice? Certainly, but never without compassion. Ruth is a perfect example of the power of small. Small as she was, she is a huge inspiration, a hero to many, especially to women of all ages. Women may now feel “Ruthless” but undoubtedly many are inspired to take up the torch from her.
-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps