"30 Seconds" or "A Kavannah for Standing as a Jew before the President of the United States"

"30 Seconds" or "A Kavannah for Standing as a Jew before the President of the United States"

(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

To stand in the presence of a symbol,

who is also flesh and blood.

To stand as a Jew,

who is also flesh and blood.

How to fill those 30 seconds which are so short,

and also reach back and forward into infinity?

Words?  Tears?

Words?!

A recognition 

that my People 

and his People

are just People

who have suffered and longed

for peace and safety for so long.

A dream yet-unfulfilled

lives in those 30 seconds

and forever.

But for those 30 seconds

maybe it will feel like we've arrived.

---
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti  ||  ShefaNetwork.org 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

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