Here We Are (a High Holyday Invocation)

Baruch HaShleimut/Blessed Holy Completion 

Giving us this time of Beyn Adam LaChavereh 

To remember our obligations to each other:

 

During Elul we apologize for our sins against people

Then on Yom Kippur we beat our chest for our sins against God.

The former is personal, the latter  more cosmic

But the cosmic affects us deeply 

And the personal ripples into the universe.

Insult your cousin on Thanksgiving or

Dig oil wells in the Alaskan wilderness, these are

Different in scale but similar in intent, and 

Both break connection to the One-ness. 

 

So this year instead of sin

Let’s speak of responsibility to each other

And our connections to all life. 

The hurts and horrors we impose on people

Hurt and horrify God

And anything that breaks the Holy Wholeness 

Alienates us from our history,

The world as it really is and

The world as it might become. 

 

To do teshuvah is to return to our true selves as

We review our neglected obligations of kindness and service.

Blessing all who are in pain and who cause pain,

Invoking compassion for ourselves and others,

We acknowledge our mistakes and apologize, and

Vow to make reparations and never do them again. 

Thus teshuvah turns our doubts 

About our capacity for change

Into possibilities for hope.

  

Blessed Holy Wholeness,

Together this sacred community declares,

Hinenu! We are here!  

Where all hands are needed

And doubt can be an act of faith.

May this world know all our voices

On our holy days

In our holy conversations as we call out,

We shall do and we shall hear.  

 

Amen

The Time For Truth

 

It is the time of our year

To admit truth

To see the pain we cause

To take responsibility 

To stop what we can stop

To repair what can be repaired 

To promise to change

To change. 

Truth is often unpleasant but

We must give thanks for this difficult gift. 

Amen

The Silver

There is a silver plated pitcher next to my laptop.

I dug it out of the bottom of a cabinet

It’s at least 77 years old,

Part of the silver service my mother got for her wedding,

At least I think it is, it has a big F engraved on it,

Her maiden name was Fisher but

Her married name started with an A.

I played with this silver service when I was a kid

I particularly loved the top of the sugar bowl,

It looked like a big busty lady with a voluminous skirt,

I called her Cinderella.

My sister wants us to collect the set and sell it.

Outside on the front stoop,

Neighbors are threatening to beat up my crazy landlord

But I’m thinking of Cinderella

While the world burns.

Dance, Cinderella, dance!

It’s almost midnight.

 

A Prayer for the Troops

 

If the troops are sent to my town

I will pray

That the soldiers declare,

“This is our city

This is our state

And we say

No to bullies

No to liars

No to racists

No to corruption 

No to billionaires 

No to fascism

We are not yours to order!

We belong to our communities,

They are us and

We will not herd them

We will not arrest them 

We will not shoot them. 

We are free

And we say NO. “

This will be my prayer ,

May we all be safe. 

May it be so. 

Amen

My Trees

Trees are wonderful!

I love trees!

When I was a kid and had a birthday

Or did well in Hebrew School,

What did get?  A tree!

A tree was planted in Israel in my name,

What could be better?

What could be more ecological?

In the empty Negev,

They planted your Jewish tree. 

Screw the Nazis and plant a tree!

And you got a certificate

And imagined that someday when you went to Israel

You would look up your tree

And it would have your name on it.

But I grew up and

God forbid any of these trees

Planted on top of stolen Bedouin villages

In the not at all empty Negev

Have my name on them. 

These killer trees,

Planted in an ecology 

Where they don't belong,

Stealing water they shouldn't have

On land that isn't theirs.

I want my trees back!

I want to sell them

To buy some food for Gaza. 

And don’t shoot anyone 

When they try to pick it up.  

Amen

A Prayer That Insists on Hope

 

Blessed One-ness,

We hope. 

We struggle

And try to survive the onslaught 

Of the selfish and angry ones, 

Survive and look for ways to help. 

 

We hope that the despair lifts

And the objects of the bulllies

Outlast the cruelty, 

Survive and are repaired

As best we can. 

The fear is everywhere. 

Clearly the plan is

To wear us down

But this we know—

As individuals we will hurt. 

And we may suffer

And our hearts may break

And we may die, but

As a holy whole

We go on. 

Upon this we insist 

Always and forever:

We have hope. 

And we give thanks. 

Amen

A Prayer For The Pursuit of Happiness

As you enter Prospect Park  

On a hot summer’s day

There should be the usual 

Hazy wall of meaty smoke and music

From barbecues and parties

Annoying the gentry

As families without back yards

Party with their grills and birthday banners,

Feliz Cumpleanos!

But this year if you are brown,

Instead of the park

There is the Alligator Alcatraz 

And other money making concentration camps—

No beds, little food

No doctors, no hope. 

Renting out slaves

Destroying families,

Destroying fun.  

Death and Detention 

And the destruction of hope

Are offered in the place of

Life and Liberty 

And The Pursuit of Happiness. 

Shame upon us all.  

We must pray for the strength to defy evil,

It is this holiday’s tradition.

Happy Fourth of July!

Amen

Good Things (Benching Gomel)

 

I have a knowing

Of HaShleimut,

The holy Wholeness, 

Of which I am a part. 

I am always in  this connection 

And even when I am afraid

I can remember I am not alone

So I survive. 

Though I was sick

Now I am well. 

Though I was weak

Now I am strong. 

Though I was in danger

Now I am safe. 

Though I was afraid

Now I am secure.

Bless the Holy Wholeness 

That encompasses all good things!

I give thanks,

I give love.

Amen

It’s Here

 It’s here

It’s time

It’s now

Sorry but it is

No choice

Get ready 

Be smart

Prepare

Be safe

Protect the innocent

Defy the violence

Hurt no one

Take pictures 

Use your privilege 

Truth to power

Know your rights

Gird your loins 

Because it’s here. 

Amen

What We Witness

 

Blessed One-ness,

We are appalled and brokenhearted

At the horrors before us. 

Help us see it all without flinching:

Racist white supremacists 

Importing more of the same 

While sending brown people to concentration camps,

Banning books, 

Cutting off aid to the poor and elderly,

Firing anyone with expertise, 

Suppressing artists,

Hating honesty,

Punishing those who see the stupid,

Legislating women into baby making machines 

Not allowed to speak in public 

Without their botulin shots,  

Taking obvious payoffs,

Corrupting government without shame,

Exploiting the gullible,

Terrorizing trans people, 

Bullying the defenseless,

Forcing their religion on everyone else,

Using antisemitism to manipulate Jewish fear

And destroy free speech 

While raising the Nazi salute,

Ignoring due process, 

Despising the Constitution,

Imposing a police state. 

And what about the violence?

Who will die from neglect

And who from torture?

Blessed One-ness,

Bitterly, we weep in the night. 

The horrors go on and on,

It is so tempting to look away but

We are the witnesses and

It is upon us to face the horrors,

To say what we see,

Then to speak of the truth, 

For goodness, for grief, 

For justice, for tomorrow. 

So let us say,

Amen

The World Is On Fire

 

“To those who do not know the world is on fire, I have nothing to say. “ —Bertolt Brecht

How can I pray for peace?

The world is on fire. 

The vulgar new rulers,

Outraged at being told 

to share power with

The not white, the not Christian, 

The not men and the not rich,

Attack us all

With lies and no mercy

And revel in destruction and revenge.

Like five-year-old boys

And thirteen-year-old girls,

Wanting everyone else’s toys

And breaking them if they can’t,

Rejecting science,

Torturing the innocent,

Predictable and very boring

In their greed and corruption. 

I hate these guys, and

The heart boggles. 

I fight off despair, and wonder

How did we let this happen?

Surely it cannot be that

We must pray for peace with these mobsters,

I won’t!

Don’t be stupid. 

The world is on fire and

We must put it out.  

Amen