A Newtown El Malei: Two Years Later
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
in memory of Charlotte Bacon, Daniel
Barden, Rachel Davino, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Ana M. Marquez-Greene,
Dylan Hockley, Dawn Hochsprung, Madeleine F. Hsu, Catherine V. Hubbard, Chase
Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Anne Marie Murphy,
Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos,
Avielle Richman, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Victoria Soto, Benjamin
Wheeler, Allison N. Wyatt - may their memories be a blessing.
El Malei Rachamim, God,
full of compassion, Who inhabits the Heavens, do You find comfort in the divine
expanse? We, your children, have found precious little on earth this year.
We've had pure, holy souls torn from us, 26 of whom we remember
today, two painful years and nearly 100 school shootings later. Your
firmament may now be illuminated by their light, but we do not feel blessing in
the increased heavenly glow. They were meant to shine in this world for much,
much longer, held by friends and family, teachers, students, nurses...
children.20 precious, young children.
Oh, how our hearts continue to break, tears unceasingly flow,
as deaths far beyond those 26 have ravaged our nation, multiples of 26 every
day. We are all Newtown, Adonai, because Newtown has happened in
America every day since.
Today we remember the earth soaked with the blood of 26 slain
people amplified by the anguish of tens of thousands more unremembered
souls who have died since Dec. 14, 2012. Their names are not
recited, nor their deaths adequately felt by their neighbors, their
communities, nor their government.
Dear God, Justice feels dreadfully far. Even memory seems
near impossible. We so willingly forget, avert our glance, click another link,
ignore the consequence of our own neglect.
And that is why we call to You today, God. You alone understand,
because You are comprised of all that pain. Holy Tears of loss stream down Your
hidden face, which is of necessity Infinite, as our crying - and
therefore Yours - is without end.
So we pray to You, Heavenly Mother, Our Father our King,
Protector, Peace-bringer, Judge, God of Peace, Comforter, Ruler - we call out
to You today using every name we know: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, take
the blinders from our eyes, so that we might learn to cry Your Holy Tears.
Only when we let Your Sacred Pain into our human guts, writhe
as it purifies our hearts, and then finally turn our acursed weapons into
plowshares with our bare hands, only then will we deserve to have been made in
Your Image.
We know that day will only come when we ourselves make our world a
place where black children and white children are all remembered by their
children and their children's children - after having lived long, blessed
lives. When we remember the children behind bars, the children beneath the
ground, and see each and every one as the child we are commanded to love. Only
then, God... only then.
Adonai, do not bind us by death into Your Eternal Bond of
Life. We have far too much living to do first.
God, grant us the courage, wisdom and endurance to change our
world into a safer, saner place, the world You dreamt of, a world where Your
Portion is one we extend each other through unending, unfailing,
unconditional human concern.
Amen.
