Allen G Johnson, Where White Privilege Comes From:
“I could say this history has nothing personally to do with me, that it was all a long time ago and done by someone else…But even if that is true, the only way to let it go at that is to ignore the fact that if someone was willing to take the time to follow the money, they would find that some portion of the house and land that we now call home can be traced directly back through my family history to the laws and practices that whites have collectively imposed through their government and other institutions. Back to the industrial revolution and the exploitation of people of color that made it possible.”
בְּלָמְדוֹ סֵֽפֶר מִפִּי מְשׁוּלֵי עֲרֵמַת. וְהֵבִין וְדִקְדֵּק בְּדַת רְשׁוּמַת.וּפָתַח בִּוְאֵֽלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים וְחָשַׁב מְזִמַּת. וְגוֹנֵב אִישׁ וּמְכָרוֹ וְנִמְצָא בְיָדוֹ מוֹת יוּמָת: גָּבַהּ לִבּוֹ בִּגְדוֹלִים. וְצִוָּה לְמַלֹּאת פְּלָטֵֽרוֹ נְעָלִים.וְקָרָא לַעֲשָׂרָה חֲכָמִים גְּדוֹלִים. מְבִינֵי דָת וּטְעָמֶֽיהָ בְּפִלְפּוּלִים:דִּֽינוּ מִשְׁפָּט זֶה לַאֲשֻׁרוֹ. וְאַל תְּעַוְּתֽוּהוּ בְּכָזָב לְאָמְרוֹ. כִּי אִם הוֹצִיאֽוּהוּ לַאֲמִתּוֹ וּלְאוֹרוֹ. כִּי יִמָּצֵא אִישׁ גּוֹנֵב נֶֽפֶשׁ מֵאֶחָיו מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהִתְעַמֶּר בּוֹ וּמְכָרוֹ: הֵם כְּעָֽנוּ לוֹ וּמֵת הַגַּנָּב הַהוּא. נָם אַיֵּה אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר אַחִיהֶם מְכָרֽוּהוּ. לְאֹרְחַת יִשְׁמְעֵאלִים סְחָרֽוּהוּ. וּבְעַד נַעֲלַֽיִם נְתָנֽוּהוּ: וְאַתֶּם קַבְּלוּ דִין שָׁמַֽיִם עֲלֵיכֶם.כִּי מִימֵי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם לֹא נִמְצָא כָּכֶם. וְאִם הָיוּ בַּחַיִּים הָיִֽיתִי דָנָם לִפְנֵיכֶם. וְאַתֶּם תִּשְׂאו עֲוֹן אֲבוֹתֵֽיכֶם: זְמַן תְּנָה לָֽנוּ שְׁלֽשֶׁת יָמִים. עַד שֶׁנֵּדַע אִם נִגְזַר הַדָּבָר מִמְּרוֹמִים. אִם אָֽנוּ חַיָּבִים וַאֲשֵׁמִים.נִסְבֹּל בִּגְזֵרַת מָלֵא רַחֲמִים:
Having learned the Written law from those who are compared to heaps of grain who understand how to examine the Written Law; He began to study “These are the Laws,” and with malicious intent, read the verse: “If one kidnaps a person and sells him, if he is found in his hands, he shall be put to death.” The head of the idolator swelled with malice and commanded to fill his palace with shoes197: “For shoes”: for money to buy shoes (Amos 2:6).
He summoned ten great scholars who understood the Law and all of its intricacies. [He ordered]: “decide this case objective and don't distort it with intentional trickery, but rather bring it out to its true light: If a man was found to have kidnapped one of his brothers, from among the Children of Yisrael; treating him as a slave and selling him.”
They answered him: “The kidnapper should be put to death.” He then exclaimed “Where are your fathers, who sold their brother and dealt him to a caravan of Ishmaelites for pairs of shoes.”200The source is the verse in Amos (2:6) “For you have sold a righteous man for money, and a pauper for shoes”; the Midrash Pirke De’Rabi Eliezer (38) explains that each brother took two silver coins to buy himself a pair of shoes.
You, therefore, must accept the law of God upon yourselves, for from the time of your fathers there has been none like yourselves For if they were still living, I would judge them before you, but now, you must bear the guilt of the sin of your fathers. They answered,“Give us time, three days until we can determine if this has been decreed from heaven. For if we are guilty then we will accept the decree of He who is all merciful.”
ובמה ישראל מכבדין את השבת, במאכל ובמשתה ובכסות נקיה, שמתחלה כך עשה הקב"ה, שנאמר ויעש (לו) [ה'] אלהים לאדם ולאשתו כתנות עור וילבשם (בראשית ג כא), מהו כתנות עור, [בגדי] כהונה גדולה שהלבישן הקב"ה שהיה בכבודו של עולם.
(ב) ועוד שנו רבותינו עד שלא הוקם המשכן היו הבמות מותרות והעבודה בבכורות, לכך הלביש הקב"ה לאדם בגדי כהונה גדולה שהיה בכורו של עולם, בא נח [ומסרן לשם, ושם] מסרן לאברהם, ואברהם מסרן ליצחק, ויצחק מסרן לעשו, שהיה בכורו, ועשו היה רואה את נשיו עובדות ע"ז והפקידן אצל אמו, כשעמד יעקב ולקח הבכורה מן עשו אמר רבקה הואיל שלקח יעקב את הבכורה מיד עשו, בדין הוא שילבש הבגדים הללו, שנאמר ותקח רבקה את בגדי עשו בנה הגדול החמודות (שם כז טו), נכנס יעקב אצל אביו והריח בו, שנאמר וירח את ריח בגדיו ויברכהו וגו', מה בירכו ממה שקראו בענין ויתן לך האלהים וגו'.
And in what way does Israel honor the Sabbath? Through eating, through drinking, and through clean clothes, because the Holy One did so from the beginning, as stated (in Gen. 3:21): THEN [THE LORD] GOD MADE TUNICS OF SKIN FOR ADAM AND HIS WIFE AND CLOTHED THEM. What were TUNICS OF SKIN? [Garments] of high priesthood, which the Holy One put on them, since he (Adam) was the glory of the world.
(2) Furthermore, our masters have also taught (in Zev. 14:4) BEFORE THE TABERNACLE WAS SET UP, THE HIGH PLACES WERE PERMITTED AND THE SACRIFICIAL SERVICE WAS PERFORMED BY THE FIRST-BORN.Therefore, the Holy One clothed Adam in garments of high priesthood, since he was the first-born of the world. Noah came [and passed them on to Shem; Shem] passed them on to Abraham; Abraham passed them on to Isaac; and Isaac passed them on to Esau, who was his first-born. Esau, however, saw his wives serving idols and deposited them (the clothes) with his mother. When Jacob arose and took the birthright of Esau, Rebekah said: Inasmuch as Jacob has taken the birthright from the hand of Esau, he has the right to put on these garments. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 27:15): THEN REBEKAH TOOK THE BEST GARMENTS OF HER OLDER SON ESAU, WHICH WERE WITH HER IN THE HOUSE, AND HAD HER YOUNGER SON JACOB PUT THEM ON >. Jacob came in to his father Isaac and emitted an aroma on him. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 27:27): THEN HE SMELLED THE ODOR OF HIS GARMENTS AND BLESSED HIM…. How did he bless him?
יש בידכם מתחילה ויש בידכם מסוף. בתחילה שנאמר (בראשית לז לא) וישחטו שעיר עזים, בסוף שנאמר (שמות לב ח) עשו להם עגל מסכה, יבא שעיר ויכפר על מעשה שעיר, יבא עגל ויכפר על מעשה עגל.
You have in your hands [a sin] from the beginning and you have in your hands [a sin] in the end. You have in your hands in the beginning: “They [Joseph’s brothers] slaughtered a goat and dipped the coat in blood” (Gen. 37:31), and you have in your hands in the end: “They have made themselves a molten calf” (Ex. 32:8): Let a goat come and atone for an action with a goat; let a calf come and atone for an action with a calf.
כתונת מכפרת על שפיכות דם שנאמר (בראשית לז, לא) וישחטו שעיר עזים
The tunic atones for bloodshed, as it is stated with regard to the brothers of Joseph after they plotted to kill him: “And they killed a goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood” (Genesis 37:31).
“Azkir Gevurot Eloha” (“I Shall Recount the Wonders of God”)
עלמות קומה\ימלא בכתונת\כפולה משובצת\על פסי יד
עון בית יעקב\יכפר בזאת\מוכרי צדיק\על כתונת פסים
“Azkir Gevurot Eloha” (“I Shall Recount the Wonders of God”),
His strong body
filled his tunic,
doubled and woven
as far as the sleeves.
The sin of the house of Jacob
was atoned by this—
those who sold the righteous one Joseph
over a sleeved tunic
Vincent Harding, In the Company of the Faithful
"Living in faith is knowing that even though our little work, our little seed, our little brick, our little block may not make the whole thing, the whole thing exists in the mind of God, and that whether or not we are there to see the whole thing is not the most important matter. The most important thing is whether we have entered into the process.”