Thousands of railroad crossings dot our nation's landscape. Hundreds of millions of passengers travel billions of miles across our nation every year even as billions of dollars worth of goods are transported by freight train. We take for granted the reliable and safe conveyance of people and cargo. Sadly, due to the lack of gates, flashing lights and whistles at many crossings, we lost 264 Americans in 2014 and 244 Americans in 2015 (Federal Railroad Administration). FRA monitors our national rail system, sets safety protocols and inspects equipment. It employs over 1,500 staff and has a budget of $1.6 Billion. We could say that last year the FRA wasted money or we could say that the FRA saved incalculable American lives through regulations, procedures and inspections.
I mention the FRA to underscore the fact that many governmental agencies serve critical purposes of which we are unaware. We entrust Congress with the Herculean task of simultaneously funding and evaluating our federal programs; preserving those which are essential and curtailing those which are no longer necessary. Recently, four Congressmen (Matt Gaetz, Barry Loudermilk, Thomas Massie and Steven Palazzo) co-sponsored H.R. 861 seeking to eliminate the EPA, which is the primary watchdog agency entrusted with the awesome responsibility of safeguarding our air, water and land, ever since President Nixon established it in 1970.
It is their contention that the EPA wastes money and that state agencies are equipped to protect our national resources. This train of thought is deeply disconcerting. The very nature of pollution (gaseous waste, effluent, contamination of rivers etc.) transcends state boundaries. By definition, states are concerned with their own prurient interests and would not be inclined, especially in times of limited budgets, to expend money, time and effort to remediate problems which are spilling over into neighboring locales. Only a party which is capable of evaluating issues from a larger perspective would be effective in responding to concerns shared by adjoining states, let alone regions of our nation.
We can all agree that preserving our essentials for life must be maintained for ourselves and for our future generations. How we safeguard finite clean land, air and water while growing our economy and population is certainly a 'head-shaker ' of a question- all the more reason to keep an agency which focuses on preserving resources. Even as industry and consumers continue to pollute there needs to be some arbiter balancing future needs against current practices.
This week's Torah reading, Parshat Beshallach, also confronts current versus future needs. The Israelites, having fled Egypt and eluded Pharaoh and his army, cross the Sea of Reeds (not Red Sea- mistake in translation) and find themselves in a wilderness. How they are to provide food and water for themselves and the next generation even as they prepare to enter the Promised land and encounter hostile tribes while (hopefully) conducting daily life in a respectful manner are weighty ’head-shaker’ questions as compelling as those which confront us. For the first time in Israelite history they are responsible for themselves. Since they are no longer enslaved, Egyptian leaders are no longer establishing policy for them. Instead ,Israel has to make its own path through the wilderness, with God’s help and their own reserves of talent and innovation. Being in charge bears the huge responsibility of making the right choices.
Just as they are ‘crossing into a new frontier’ we too are ‘crossing into a new frontier’. May we hear God’s voice, a voice which calls us to live a life of justice and self-respect, humility and strength, compassion and determination and most importantly, menschlichkeit.
Shabbat shalom.
Rabbi Steve Silberman
