Prayer For The Young And The Old

It is our current inclination to despair:

  For the young

  It is maddening to be left with a future

  Of environmental degradation 

  And fascist cults.  

  And for the old

  It is grievous to see lifelong struggles 

  Take too many backwards steps

  From what were happy endings.

It is our current obligation to hope:

  For the young

  It is exciting to plan the fights ahead,

  The anger and the camaraderie 

  And the eventual celebrations. 

  And for the old 

  It is amusing how life comes in waves—

  Inevitably the bad guys will go too far

  And they will fall, some day. We know this. 

Blessed Holy Wholeness:

  It is true,

  Fear tramples freedom. 

  Rights are won then lost,

  There is oppression. 

  There will be more pain. 

And we give up on dreams. 

Or, young and old,

Don’t. 

Dream together. 

Amen

The Empty Chair

(Inspired by a painting by Mike Cockrill)

Look at this painting 

Of a simple chair,

The only object in a vast open space. 

The watercolor, 

Serene and soothing,

Shows an amber-colored director's chair

Surrounded by summer light. 

And it is something to hang

In your home,

Something to look at every day. 

It is beautiful. 

But this week we notice that

The chair is empty. 

And we are reminded of what we don’t have. 

Poor innocent chair,

Minding its own business

As we think of recent deaths

And anticipated losses,

Of sabotaged goodness

And sure things made uncertain. 

Look, the chair is alone,

In mourning. Like us. 

But look again and breathe. 

One mustn’t forget that, surrounded by light,

Any empty seat anticipates a sitter. 

 

We Are So Tired

 

We are so tired in our hearts. 

There is too much to mourn,

Too much to regret, all

That anger that poisons everything

And then it kills. 

And then it kills the killers. 

Sometimes 

It takes too much energy to remember 

That we know how to flourish. 

There is Holy Wholeness

There is True Connection 

But we are so tired in our hearts. 

Help us rest, all of us. 

Then, 

Please

Help us wake up. 

Amen.

Yahrzeit 2021

Glorious and holy are the possibilities of God. 

We’re getting used to the losses

But that’s not the same

As being okay.   



Things are different now.  

We want to go back to normal 

But normal is gone. 

Many died,

We sat shiva  

And now it’s time for yahrzeit. 

So pour a shot of whiskey 

For each member of the minyan. 

L’chaim!

And let us say, amen. 

It’s almost simple:

Democracy is threatened,

The planet is in danger. 

Mourning must end,

We can’t stay in grief

We must act now. 

We are afraid that

There is not enough goodness,

There is not enough hope. 

Blessed One-ness. 

Now is the time for teshuvah, 

returning 

to our true and brave selves.

Now is the time for  tefillah,

imagining 

the future through holy conversations.

Now is the time for tzedukah, 

fighting 

for the survival of all our communities.

Holy Wholeness,

For all the living and in memory of the dead,

For all the possibilities of God,

Let us say Amen

The First Two Years: A Yizkor Kavannah

I. The First Day

What?

Wait...what?

No.

How?  When?

Why?

No.

What?

No.

No no no.

II.  Shiva

Thank you for coming

Thank you for coming

Mmm, bagesl and lox, thank you so much.

You know you meant a lot to us.

Thank you for coming

Thank you for coming

Mmm, casserole, thank you so much.

You know you meant a lot to us.

Thank you for coming

Thank you for coming

Mmm, white fish salad, thank you so much.

It means a lot.

Yitgadal v'Yitkadash.

Thank you everyone, please go away now.

Go away.

Go away.

Thank you,

Amen.

III.  Sheloshim

Everyone went away.

Especially you.

One month later

And I don't know how to be.

Stop it.

IV.  Eleven Months Later

Today I brought a bottle of Scotch to shul

And many little plastic cups.

And just before the Mourner's Kaddish

I stood up and announced the unveiling.

Eleven months since you died.

I told a funny story

And poured out a drink for anyone who wanted one.

It was nice,

We toasted your life.

But you're still dead anyway.

You're still dead.

And I think I"m a little drunk.

V.  Two Years Later

It's Yizkor on Yom Kippur

And while the rabbi reads off the names

I'm going to tell you an embarrassing secret.

Sometimes when I'm watching TV

And an older couple comes on

In one of those commercials for Social Security supplemental health insurance.

And even though the dialogue is hokey

And the situation is contrived,

They are so warm and familiar with each other,

And you know they have been together for a long time

And plan to be together for a long time to come

And I can't help it,

It reminds me of you.

I know, right?

But I can't help it,

It makes me cry.

Only a little.

After all,

It's silly,

It's only a commercial for Social Security supplemental health insurance.

Oh, the rabbi just got to you.

It's good to hear her say your name again.

We remember you, together.  

Amen.

We Must Pray and We Must Do: A Prayer for Lighting Candles

We give thanks for the ones who offer prayers.

We give thanks for the ones who take action.

We cannot heal the world without both,

We must pray AND we must do.

When so many people

Have vanished into the darkness

We light these candles 

And say the blessings

And pray for those who have been injured or killed or raped.

And pray for those who are worried and homeless and hungry.

And pray for those who are lost to themselves.

May we all be joined in yearning holy conversation

And pray when prayer is needed.

We must pray AND we must do.

When so many people

Have vanished into the darkness

We light these candles

And bless those who are working so hard to make things better.

May we join with the stubborn 

Of all places and religions and races and gender and sexual orientations,

Who, when times are hard,

Refuse to disappear,

Those who fight so hard for their communities

With food and advice and shelter and organizing and work and love and insistence and resistence.

May we all be joined in holy struggle

And act when action is needed. 

We must pray AND we must do.

We give thanks for the ones who offer prayers.

We give thanks for the ones who take action.

We cannot heal the world without both,

Blessed is the Source of Light!

We are holy with the obligation to speak goodness and do good

As we light these Shabbat/Mourning/Hanukkah candles

We will pray and we will do.

Amen