We Will All Go - Bo 5772

It is yet another of my favorite movie moments. In their efforts to reunite their amazing rhythm and blues band of yesteryear, Jake and Elwood Blues, played of course by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, have invaded the posh Chicago restaurant, Chez Paul, where the former “Mr. Fabulous” now serves as maitre d’. The brothers proceed to be as crude and offensive as possible, a sort of twisted blackmail attempt to have Mr. Fabulous come back to the band, enjoying shrimp cocktail by tossing it into each other’s mouths, refusing to remove their sunglasses, and filling the restaurant with their rancid B.O. Kicking it up to an entirely other level, Belushi’s Jake sidles up awkwardly to a well-dressed family of a man, his wife, and their three daughters, and says, in a horrible French accent:

“How much for the little girl? The women? How much for the women?” Incredulous, all the man can muster is, “What?” to which Jake responds, “Your women, I want to buy your women. Your little girl. Your daughters. I want to buy them. Sell them to me!”

Which is funny. At least, I think. The scene always cracks me up, no matter how many times I’ve seen it. Because we know the character doesn’t mean it. We know that this is part of a ruse merely to get the undivided attention of the former band member.

But here’s the problem: there are really people who feel this way. There are really people who think that women are second-class citizens. There are really people who feel that women are owned by men, who thus reserve the right to make unilateral decisions on their behalf. And this week, as we mark the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case ensuring women the legal right and access to safe abortion procedures, there are still so many people fighting to overturn it, people for whom their personal religious conviction is a trump card, held up over a woman’s right to govern her own body and what happens to it. This, even in a country filled with diverse, often directly conflicting religious convictions, where none is given any priority over any other. This, even though the separation of church and state explicitly prohibits a faith-based argument to impact legislation at any level of government.

This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Bo, which is the conclusion of the Moses-Pharaoh-Ten Plagues saga. After the seventh plague of thunder and fiery hail, when Moses once again says those famous words, “Let my people go that they may worship the Eternal,” Pharaoh asks, Mi va-mi ha-holchim? “Who will be the ones to go?” And Moses answers immediately, “We will all go. Young and old, men and women, our sons and our daughters.”

We will all go. Every single one of us. So what does that mean?

It means we need to take action. It means we need to get involved, to ensure the ongoing existence of women’s reproductive health care rights. It means we need to speak out and make sure our voices are heard, so that any and all attempts at eroding these rights are soundly defeated. And I put forth to you this evening that there is no better organization or vehicle through which to achieve these goals than Planned Parenthood.

For more than 90 years, Planned Parenthood has been among the leading reproductive health care providers in New York City, offering accessible, quality, and affordable care to nearly 50,000 New Yorkers a year. Just some of the many services provided by Planned Parenthood include lifesaving breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, pregnancy testing and options counseling, surgical and medication abortion, STD testing and treatment, HIV testing and counseling, and help in obtaining public health insurance. In addition, they serve as tireless advocates for women’s health and reproductive freedom, reaching another 20,000 New Yorkers through their Education, Training, and Outreach programs, and working with policymakers and like-minded organizations to advance reproductive health and rights within a social justice framework. And we are proud to have with us as our guests this evening Rachel Strauber and Stephanie Demmons from Planned Parenthood of New York City.

So what can you do? Speak with Rachel and Stephanie at our oneg upstairs in the Davis Auditorium following the service. Take the color handout on PPNYC’s mission and legislative agenda at the local, state, and federal levels. Educate yourself and stay up to date on what’s going by putting your e-mail on the sign-up sheet that will be upstairs, checking out ppnyc.org, or, of course, finding them on Facebook and Twitter. Become a member of the Activist Council to get more in-depth information about current issues and get more involved in Planned Parenthood’s advocacy work. Join their workgroups such as the Sex Ed Advocacy Group, the Political Action Group, Boot Camp Trainers, Health Center Escorts, or the Fundraising Group. And you can take action today by signing a postcard encouraging your state representatives to protect women’s health and pass the Reproductive Health Act this legislative session.
So many ways to get involved, and I really hope that you will. Because silence is not a viable option. Martin Luther King, whose 83rd birthday we marked just two weeks ago, once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” The modern-day Pharaohs of the world are coming to ask us, Mi va-mi ha-holchim? “Who will be the ones to go?” And when they do, we will answer like Moses, with one accord, in one unified voice, “We will all go. Our young and our old, our sons and our daughters, our men and our women.”

All of us.

AMEN.