Ted Kennedy: a Life of Teshuva

This week we read the parsha Ki Tetzei, with rules of war and with more commandments than any other parsha, many of which have to do with family relationships. The laws of divorce, the case of the disobedient son, the laws concerning taking the wife of a defeated enemy - we read them all.

At the same time, we are in the final push towards the High Holidays, the month of Elul. Elul is a month of taking stock, of remembering our resolutions from last year, of looking at our lives and looking inward so that we can truly repent and return.

And today we mourn the loss of a great man whose life was determined by the stringencies of a remarkable family, and whose greatness can be seen as a shining example of teshuva.

Edward Kennedy was the youngest child in a family remarkable for its priviledge, its dedication to service, and its series of tragedies. As a child he lost a brother and sister who died during the Second World War. He grew up with a sister who was mentally retarded, and eventually had to be institutionalized after his father had subjected her to an unsuccessful brain surgery.

A spoiled youngest child, he saw his three older brothers die violently by the time he was in his mid-thirties. All the men in his family were dedicated to service, yet all had serious character flaws. Sexual fidelity was unknown among them, and alcohol abuse was the accepted norm.

The determining event of his life happened at the juncture of all these factors.

The death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick Bridge on Cape Cod still has many unknowns, and we may never know what really happened to her that night. But we do know what happened to him afterwards.

By rights he should have become a footnote to history. Instead he added her death to the others whose burdens he had to shoulder. He was the brother allowed to grow up in mediocrity; nobody would have thought he would be the brother to achieve greatness.

So today we remember him as the Lion of the Senate, as the champion of the poor, the worker, the sick - as the Senator who remained steadfast to liberal principles when the political atmosphere shifted far to the right after Reagan. And especially, as the champion of healthcare available to all Americans in need of it.

So rest in peace Teddy. Your life has shown what a life of repentence can achieve for others. May our repentence be as sincere and may it produce good in the world around us.

Amen