I think I must say the Kaddish
A plea
Blessed Hopeful Mystery,
'There are three notes on the shofar-
Tekiah, “Awake!”, Teruah ,”Open your heart!”, Shevarim, “Sob with all who suffer!”
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
1. Tekiah/Awake
“There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen
The light gets in and
Our values are a prism
Separating light into different colors of truth.
Using the tools of ritual and prayer,
We see what there is to be seen.
What wrongs have we done or not done?
Broken by suffering,
How do we see it without despair?
We don’t.
There is so much starvation and death,
Rape and repression.
Hate and cruelty.
We pray:
Look at this.
Who can forgive this?
Shut the blinds but the light insists on itself.
So open your eyes! Listen to the shofar!
Tekiah! Wake up!!
2. Open Your Heart/ Teruah
“Joy doesn’t betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine initial act of insurrection. “
Rebecca Solnit
No one understands our fury and our hurt,
We’re naked with alienation.
How can we explain it without screaming?
We can’t.
If we’re screaming, can we hear ourselves think?
If we’re screaming, can we do anything else?
So stop. Sit in silence. Listen.
The liturgy tells us that where there is justice
There must also be mercy.
In this holy time that is Yom Kippur,
We look for redemption and forgiveness,
Freedom and love and
Joy.
It is fun to change the world!
For this we will need a very big minyan
And all the voices of our lives.
(Don’t forget the bagels and lox).
T’ruah. Open your heart.
3. Sob With All Who Suffer/Shevarim
“There is nothing so whole as a broken heart.”
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
Hearts are broken, then
Everything that was hidden comes oozing out.
First comes horror, and then anger, and then vengeance
And then the grief.
And just when we think it’s over, it’s not.
Let us breathe for all those who no longer can.
Even as we count the injured and dying,
Even as we face the fascists and the haters,
We are also counting the helpers and the resistors.
Pouring out all our need for connection,
We beat our chests to atone
And promise to fix it all.
Blessed Mystery, Breath of the Universe, giving us
Tefillah for our holy conversations,
Teshuvah, to return to our true selves and
Tzedukah so we may save the world.
May our hearts be broken open and ready for
When it is time to act.
We will sob with all who suffer and
Then feed them and heal them,
Shelter them and love them,
Save them and ourselves.
Shevarim.
4. Tekiyah Gadola
”Yeah I’ve tried shutting up. Doesn’t work for me. “
Anonymous Facebook meme
Today we don’t pray for God’s help,
Because we know it’s our turn,
And we know what to do:
Agitate, organize, shout,
Write, call, send money,
Rally, march, vote.
We will make lots of noise.
Happy New Year!
TEKIAH!
Amen
Bless these workers:
The ones who feed us,
The ones who keep us safe,
The ones who make our things,
The ones who heal us,
The ones who entertain us,
The ones who listen to us,
The ones who do our dirty work
And the ones who put themselves in danger,
whether out of choice or out of necessity.
Bless these workers:
May they be paid fairly for their labor,
May they find pleasure in their work,
May they be appreciated for their sacrifices,
May they have room to recover themselves,
May they not be sickened or injured in their jobs,
May they organize themselves successfully in unions,
May they have time for spiritual exploration
And may they all get enough of what they need,
whatever that looks like for each one of them.
Amen.
Consider the animals.
We must return and do teshuvah,But it’s not enough to apologize.We must promise to try to save our home, our planet,And the future for everybody.
Blessed One-ness,
Nuance is abandoned
In this era of existential threats.
Perhaps it was always a middle class luxury.
Now everybody seems to think
The survival of who they are
Is on the line.
But we miss it
And mourn our loss
And pray for its return
Empathy is superfluous
In this time of extreme right and wrong
Perhaps it was just a pretense.
Isn’t it fun to be cruel?
Anyone else’s feelings
Are a bore.
But we miss it
And mourn our loss
And pray for its return
Kindness is for suckers
In this new time of trolls and happy attackers.
Perhaps we just awaited the internet
To show our creepiest sides.
When no one knows your name,
Why care?
But we miss it
And mourn our loss
And pray for its return
Grief is the outcome
So let us sit on the ground
In this time of sanctioned sorrow
And pound the passive floor.
Let us be angry
At the unnecessary pain.
We do miss who we thought we were.
We shall mourn all the murdered.
We must pray we improve.
Amen
In this holy space that is Independence Day
We can pause our pain
And look for compassion
And then for truth
Before we decide upon
Our response.
In this holy space that is Independence Day
We can pray to observe others’ anger
With tenderness
And understanding
Before we choose
Our reaction.
In this holy space that is Independence Day
We can stop and note,
With honest respect,
All ambient sounds and feelings
And then decide for freedom
And hope.