Last week, we had a chance to meet and interview Rabbi Meeka Simerly. She is sincere, heartfelt, and passionate. When we interviewed her, we saw a strong woman approaching life with much energy, creativity and enthusiasm; a leader without any vanity.

Rabbi/cantor Meeka Simerly is a Reform Rabbi at Temple Beth Tikvah Wayne, NJ, who is dedicated to her job. She is a woman who devoted herself to love and peace.

She was born in Haifa, Israel and migrated to the United States 22 years ago to run after her dream. For those days she says “Was it always wonderful and easy? Did I come and start to eat with a gold spoon? No. Was it like, at the drop of hat? No. It took years.”

Over time she has become determined to strengthen her commitment to engage in an enormously overwhelming project called Tikkun Olam, Repairing the World. Her mission is to restore peace on Earth.

A commandment from the Torah was carved into her soul in early childhood:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

And next, this question shaped her life;  “How can I love my God, if I don’t love, respect, and honor all of God’s creation?”

She shared her feelings with us. She didn’t hesitate to support and encourage us; yet, our mission. She made us very happy by saying  “I am with you guys” It is so felicific that Rabbi Meeka is with us, shoulder to shoulder, to restore the peace.

Thank you, Rabbi Meeka, for sharing your time with us.

Do Not Hate Team

Rabbi Meeka. We appreciate that you gave your time to us even while you are doing preparations for your Israel trip and being busy with Shabbat.

You have no idea how much I appreciate what is it that you do. I’m so sincere about this. And yes the timing is a little bit challenging because of the trip but what you do is so important to me personally. This is one of the important things that I wanted to do before I go to Israel trip. I appreciate you and I honor you and what it is that you’re trying to do so much. That’s one of the things I really wanted to invest a big amount of time. It’s heartwarming. I want to see you succeed. I want to see you take this word of non-hate and spread it. I’m here with you guys.

Thank you so much. Our main purpose of reaching out to you was because you are an advocate against hate. We read your articles and found them to be very inspiring, we found that we share the same ideas.  

Rabbi Meeka,  what inspired you or what motivated you to stand up against hate?

So let’s just say- and I have to say this before anything else- I don’t use hate in my vocabulary, because the word hate is so charged, it’s powerful in a negative way. I really tend to eliminate it from my own speech, and as much as possible even though I am not always successful from my writings.

When I hear the word hate, Right away scenes of war and scenes of fear and scenes of Terror come to mind. We have all watched gazillions of movies and documentaries about all the violence and hate in the world. And so you would hardly ever hear me say, “ohh I hate doing such and such!  I hate being blah blah blah!” so if there is a way for me to re-word the word hate, I would say this: what inspired me or motivated me to stand up against fear, against acts of violence, against violent Behavior.

And so what motivated me and will always motivate me is because I know in most cases People really dislike the other when they don’t get to know them. When they are afraid of the other. Guess what a lot of it so ingrained in our DNA just like I wrote in my article It’s ingrained in My DNA to fear the other, to fear someone that for example, I used to fear people with beards- okay, because what I saw I couldn’t see the whole face I would just see a part of the face Which would be covered by a beard, and that used to scare me, because it would take me right away to fundamentals of Mentalists. So the more I educated myself, and let’s say this again and again and again education means really learning about the other education is so important! and because I’ve been educated and you know whether I want to or not as an adult for almost 15 years of my life to get to where I am today. okay! thanks to going to school mingling with other people mingling with gays and lesbians and and Bisexuals and transgenders and Muslims and Christians of different branches Mormons and so many people of other backgrounds than me got me to understand that this can be different okay and it hurts me personally to see that other people don’t take that important step to educate themselves and get over the fear!

We are all Americans and we share the same experiences in school and out of school us likes the same things and share the same Hobbies when you look at it from that point of view you realize that there’s barely any difference between us. And that’s one of the things that really motivated us to start this!

again I am blown away by this kind of awareness- can I ask you how old you are?

16-17

To have this level of awareness at your age, you know it’s heartwarming for me and it can bring me to tears literally. I will also say that my own nephew came out as a gay man, and for me it was almost like closing a circle and opening a new one because with my own nephew coming out, it wasn’t just something that is only written in the papers for my own family in Israel, it is something that is actually a part of our family which really makes me so proud of his courage. He is a little bit older than you he’s 19.

So, you were talking about how your nephew recently came out as gay, Which also ties in to the next question we have. In the last couple years the LGBT community has got more rights, more freedoms, and have been getting protected more and more, but in some parts of the country there are still issues, a lot of bias, hate crimes, and incidents that are really horrible. What do you think about this, do you see hope.

“I am hopeful”. I am very positive that changes will happen. I am very hopeful and encouraged because I know that any fundamental change, especially social. I takes time, and I feel very blessed. Even though I wasn’t born and raised here, but growing up in the 60’s in Israel, I can tell you that my generation is extremely blessed to be a witness to such amazing social changes. I’m referring to the marriage between blacks and whites. Do you understand that back in the 50’s and 40’s in this country blacks and whites would not marry each other? I mean can you comprehend, in the timeline of history it was such a short amount of time. And then picture that women, like myself, are now serving as clergy and rabbi. Hillary Clinton did not win, you know she did not, that’s debatable, ok she did not become president, but a female made it all the up to being a candidate. Females are now getting high level petitions and the world of, basically everything that they want. This is our generation guys, are you getting this? In our generation, gays and lesbians now all over America are getting married. I have a picture, I married a gay couple, I officiated at their wedding.

So guys, so many changes in a small amount of time, Its awesome!

And you guys are getting to be part of this historical change.

Does it take time, hell yes. Does it take energy, OMG! Does it take people like us marching in the streets and shouting to support the LGBTQ, yes.  I did this in Sacramento, California. I have pictures. So yes, I am hopeful.

What should our reaction be when we face a bias incident or a hate crime and What can we do to prevent the spread of hate-motivated behavior?

 I have a very short answer to that. Keep on doing what you are doing. That’s my answer. Keep on doing what it is that you have being doing. Continue to spread this beautiful message of yours. Continue approach clergy and youth of other faith.  Continue to dedicate your time and your energy to DoNotHate.org. Seriously, that’s what you can continue to do. Patience, persistence, don’t give up. If you fall get up, and continue to march.

We also write blogs in our web site as well as invite and encourage our peers to write for it. What would you advise us to do in our writings?

It is very simple.  The personal story is what I’m after in my blogs, the personal example. By using my own personal stories. When you’re writing about your blogs, don’t just write about the history or etc. but you should write about your personal experiences because you want people to relate to you from a personal place. This is my advice to you: Whatever personal touch you can put into your blogs, into your website will make it better.

Be personal.

We would like to ask you about your thoughts on the future, do you believe in a utopian future? A future without Hate, A future full of love?  

No. There is no such a thing. It cannot be. There is no such a thing as a utopian future. The whole essence of being a -human being- is to have the struggles between the spirit and the physical, always. You get to the utopian place after your soul leaves your body but that is a topic for another conversation. But as long as we are human beings in other words flesh, bones and blood. As long as we grow. As long as we have to wear cloths. As long as we have beards As long as we have to wear glasses. As long as we have to do all these things. There is never going to be a utopia, a collective future. It’s impossible. What can happen is  that each one of us can make  decisions, a choice on how to live our lives. What you guys are doing, you are making a beautiful choice. To live a life of goodness, of peace. So utopian no, peace on earth on cards in christmas but there can definitely be peace in our heart, peace in our heart. And continue to want to do goodness just like what you are doing.

Recently we started a campaign against bullying.  We just want to get some of your views on bullying and how it relates to hate. What are your views on bullying and how does bullying relate or lead to hate?

I was bullied when I was a little bit younger than you. I was bullied severely, actually more than once. It was probably one of the most hateful, hurtful experiences in my life so far and we’re talking like 40 years ago. I have to say though that I bullied too.

So my answer is there is no black or white in bullying. Many times those who bully are being abused or bullied themselves and they find the easiest target to take their anger on. I look at bullying as an opportunity for growth. I look at bullying as an opportunity to share experiences. Because we always have to remember that someone who bullies is very possibly hurt on the inside and how they choose consciously or subconsciously to express their hurt as by bullying someone else. They simply are victims who victimize the other.

So I would say this, the most important in the most important thing to remember about bullying is that there is never either or, it’s not black or white, there has to be a support system among the students to support those who are being bullied while allowing the bullies to speak up as well. You cannot shun someone who bullied, except if they continue to bully they are a danger to someone else, in this case you would have to protect yourself. In any type of school setting or a social setting, it is very important to create a loving environment for those who are being bullied but if those who bully express remorse to open the door for them to come forward and educate.

So if you’re creating a club against bullying make sure that you mention we are welcoming of those who bully and ask for help.

 

 

Tags: do not bully, do not hate, high schoolers, meeka simerly, rabbi interview

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