As All Human Beings Meet Their End
When the Adriana sank off the coast of Greece it was carrying hundreds of passengers, perhaps as many as 750 but more likely closer to 500 men, women and children from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. At this moment the actual numbers, origins and nationalities of everyone who had been on the Adriana are unknown, let alone their names, their faces and their individual stories. Only a fraction are accounted for so far, one hundred rescued and less than that recovered, but with reports that many were locked in the hold or in decks below, the numbers of those eventually confirmed dead will be calamitous.The fate of Adriana is even more heartrending because it is only one of many ongoing incidents of migrants losing their lives en route to European shores. As I write this I see a headline that another boat has capsized and doomed dozens of its hapless passengers to drown in the waters off of the Spanish Canary Islands.
Ironically, the plight of five people whose names and faces along with salient details of their lives are widely known, alerted many to the earlier disaster of the Adriana precisely because of how little attention was paid to the mostly failed attempt to rescue so many people from their own doom in the deep waters off the Greek coast. These five people undertook an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic in a submersible meant to withstand the intense pressure miles below the surface. On board were a French diver, a British aircraft magnate and amateur adventurer, a Pakistani businessman and his son, and the CEO of Oceangate, the company on whose submersible they were. We now know that their vehicle failed catastrophically, likely causing an implosion and a quick death for those onboard. Before ascertaining these circumstances,however, there had been several days of attempted rescue during which the passengers were thought to be undergoing the horror of asphyxiation by means of a slow loss of oxygen and experiencing a conscious descent into death. Either way, a heart wrenching time of suffering for them and their families playing out in a very public way.
A single life holds within it an entire universe and the loss of one life wipes that universe away; another way of saying that each of us is created in the divine image regardless of circumstances, status, or identity. Yet it is human nature to see different lives through the lens of their stories or, more accurately, the stories we tell about them.
There are stories to tell here for sure. The impossible to miss irony of traveling to the wreck of the ship synonymous with a cautionary tale only to become such a cautionary tale oneself. And at the same time a cruel reminder that for those escaping famine and war, the danger of the seas may not be a choice but a deadly necessity. How, if at all, can we relate to these stories and still treat every human life as G*d’s cherished creation?
Insight into the depth of these considerations can be found in the Torah read this week.
The story of Korach begins as one of rebellion and rabble rousing against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. In the end as Korach and his band of co-conspirators are thwarted, Moses relays from G*d the certainty that they will now perish.
The Torah uses a strange turn of phrase in emphasizing how the death of Korach and his compatriots will be extraordinary. Moses turns to the vanquished rebels and says that the proof of the righteousness of his cause will be the way these transgressors die. If they “meet their end as all human beings do” then Moses was not the messenger of G*d. Indeed they do not; the ground bursts open and swallows them alive.
Why does the text mention the commonality of death for each other person as well as the special and horrifying punishment of Korach and his people. A strange lesson to intimate in a story about G*d meting out a unique divine punishment for a particularly egregious sin. Shouldn’t the emphasis be on how the wicked get what they deserve and not on the achingly inevitable truth that suffering and loss will come to all?
And in the question is the semblance of an answer: The Torah is subtly but effectively reminding us that while every single human life is irreplaceable and without measure, every single human life will also end. As the saying goes “No one gets out of life alive”
We should never lose sight of the fragility and preciousness of life, even in a case so extreme as Korach which is explicitly presented as otherworldly and unique.
How much more so for every other circumstance every time that death comes in the manner of all deaths. Whether of people whose faces are unknown to us and whose circumstances threaten our complacency or of people whose faces are known to us and their circumstances lend themselves to caricature and morality plays. Whether we must fight through indifference or even enmity. All of these situations are implicated in the phrase “meet their end as all human beings do” and the death of any person leaves us with no choice but empathy and a call to find more ways to relate rather than disassociate ourselves from their plight.
May each who lost their lives be remembered for a blessing and each who survived find shelter and recovery. May there be comfort for the bereft and a healing that brings wholeness to all.