'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
