Category: America

In order to form a more perfect union, the work must continue

 

We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

 

חזק ועמץ   Strength and Courage

Shabbat Shalom and a Happy New Year

As 2021 comes to a close this Shabbat, 2022 begins. I share Amanda Gorman’s extraordinary poem, New Day’s Lyric.  As we leave the old year behind, may we be open to the possibilities that the new year can bring. Shabbat Shalom and Happy New Year.

 

 

“New Day’s Lyric”

May this be the day
We come together.
Mourning, we come to mend,
Withered, we come to weather,
Torn, we come to tend,
Battered, we come to better.
Tethered by this year of yearning,
We are learning
That though we weren’t ready for this,
We have been readied by it.
We steadily vow that no matter
How we are weighed down,
We must always pave a way forward.

This hope is our door, our portal.
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take the first steps.
So let us not return to what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.

What was cursed, we will cure.
What was plagued, we will prove pure.
Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,
Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,
Where we weren’t aware, we’re now awake;
Those moments we missed
Are now these moments we make,
The moments we meet,
And our hearts, once all together beaten,
Now all together beat.

Come, look up with kindness yet,
For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.
We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,
But to take on tomorrow.

We heed this old spirit,
In a new day’s lyric,
In our hearts, we hear it:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
Be bold, sang Time this year,
Be bold, sang Time,
For when you honor yesterday,
Tomorrow ye will find.
Know what we’ve fought
Need not be forgot nor for none.
It defines us, binds us as one,
Come over, join this day just begun.
For wherever we come together,
We will forever overcome.

Happy Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving thought~

It is easy to focus on how far we’ve yet to go and forget how far we’ve come.  I am reminded of the classic family vacation/car trip.  No sooner are we in the car before someone cries from the back seat, “Are we there yet?” which is drowned out by “I need the potty!”  The finish line never seemed so far away.

But for those familiar with the experience, the fact that we got everything packed into the car and started the trip (without leaving any children behind) is quite an accomplishment.

So, by way of silly segue and flawed metaphor, let us find grace and thanks on this Thanksgiving.  Our journey is far from over, and the aspirations for a free and just society are far from realized.  But we have many blessings for which to be profoundly grateful. So, find the space in your heart to embrace these and share them with others.  They become the wellspring from which to draw strength in all of the work we have yet to do.  For no my sweet child, we are not there yet, but we are on the way!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Shabbat Shalom

I share the wonderful rendition of Amazing Grace performed by Garth Brooks at the Inauguration.

This beautiful song is for all of us.  There was a time when Jews avoided this piece because of historic frictions.   But if we are brave enough, we can embrace the power, beauty, and majesty of the music as we march forward with all our brothers and sisters in love.

Shabbat Shalom