Sep 29, 2016
Sep 22, 2016
To Kneel [a #Poem]
To Kneel
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
for Landingham & Kaepernick, our angels in the wings
Sometimes, it isn't about nuance.
Sometimes it just comes down to facing the storm,
calling God out,
standing at the center of a whirlwind
holding your ground.
No cathedral is immune to agony,
no soul impervious to life itself
Sometimes it just comes down to facing the storm,
calling God out,
standing at the center of a whirlwind
holding your ground.
No cathedral is immune to agony,
no soul impervious to life itself
no nation purely noble.
If it were any other way,
there would be no need for cathedrals
in the first place.
Kneel,
If it were any other way,
there would be no need for cathedrals
in the first place.
Kneel,
stand,
sit,
rise up.
To kneel is
to submit
To kneel is
to submit
to lower oneself
Speak your truth,
God damn it.
That's what God wants most of all.
to step down
to pause.
To kneel is to call attention
to touch the Earth's face
to listen to those
whose blood saturates
the very roots of our story.
To kneel is to step aside
to step outside
to invite others to come closer
to remember.
To kneel is not to stand
not to stand
not to stand idly by.
Speak your truth,
God damn it.
That's what God wants most of all.
Sep 21, 2016
We Will Do Our Best [a #poem]
We Will Do Our Best
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
for Eileen Soffer, National Coordinator of Rabbis Against Gun Violence
Everybody's got guns
and we're doing our best.
But that's not good enough.
It is,
unfortunately
simultaneously
not good enough and true
that everybody's got guns
that we're doing our best,
When will our best be good enough?
When will the Messiah arrive?
Though
the Good Enough
and the Messiah
may tarry...
...still
we will do our best.
Sep 12, 2016
I wish, Okay? [a #poem]
I wish, Okay?
(c) Menachem Creditor
(c) Menachem Creditor
I wish...
I wish Syrians would stop killing each other.
I wish ice cream were good for me.
I wish 9/11 never happened.
I wish Josiah Bartlet were real.
I wish laughter were louder.
I wish flowers could stop us when we pass them by.
I wish painful lessons could be a little less painful.
I wish we would turn golf courses into free public housing.
I wish Sesame Street were still on PBS.
I wish Syrians would stop killing each other.
I wish ice cream were good for me.
I wish 9/11 never happened.
I wish Josiah Bartlet were real.
I wish laughter were louder.
I wish flowers could stop us when we pass them by.
I wish painful lessons could be a little less painful.
I wish we would turn golf courses into free public housing.
I wish Sesame Street were still on PBS.
(Did I mention that thing about Bartlet? Okay.)
I wish for one wish.
Per person.
(Okay?)
Per person.
(Okay?)
Sep 2, 2016
To the One: Gratitude
To the One: Gratitude
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Who witnesses life
Scheduling Inquiries: ra@netivotshalom.org or (510) 549-9447 x103
Who is Life
Who feels our joys and sorrows,
Who is our Tears and Laughter
To the One
Who touches us from the inside
Who knows the world we dream about
Who is the Dream we will one day realize
To the One
Who waits in the quiet hour
Who vibrates in joyous noise
Who fills every moment with the potential of Presence
To the One
Infinite One
Source of Life
You
Thank You.
............................
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Rabbi, Congregation Netivot Shalom
Chair, Rabbis Against Gun VIolence (#RAGV)
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Sep 1, 2016
A Moment of Awareness
A Moment of Awareness
An awareness that my beat-up shoes were in need of replacement and that I can afford a new pair; an awareness that I can also control my own time to go buy a new pair of shoes; an awareness that I'm now wearing shoes that help renew my sense of sure-footedness in the world; an awareness that I'm so privileged in all these ways, and finally:
an awareness that inherited privilege must be earned and shared, until no person's need exceeds another's.
Please make a gift to My New Red Shoes, a Bay Area non-profit founded in 2006 to boost the self-confidence, educational experience and quality of life of our community's homeless and low-income children. This year, our goal is to provide 10,000 impoverished children with a new pair of shoes and the opportunity to shop for new school clothing for the 2016 back-to-school season.