Rest Will Come Later: A Faithful American Intention
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
this new reality threatens
a great undoing
abandonment
descent
but
our faiths
our country
our families
our values
our neighbors
they all call
so
no time
for hopelessness
so
instead
we will
stand
choose
commit
hope
we will choose to hope,
as did those before us:
We will remember
that “the sovereign power
of all civil authority
is founded in the consent
of the people.
(Roger Williams)”
We will “hold
God and people
in one thought at one time,
at all times,
suffer harm done to others,
make compassion our greatest passion,
and make our greatest strengths
love and defiance of despair.
(Abraham Joshua Heschel, adapted)”
We will be “a nation
that extends care, compassion, and concern
to those who are locked up and locked out
or headed for prison
before they are old enough to vote.
(Michelle Alexander) ”
We will be “dedicated
to the great task remaining before us
…that this nation, under God,
shall have a new birth of freedom –
and that government
of the people,
by the people,
for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
(Abraham Lincoln, adapted)”
We will choose to hope.
We will be with each other.
We will not be silent.
We will not be resigned.
We will call out hate.
We will do more than endure.
We will resist.
We will overcome.
We will build this world from love.
(And, yes, child,
when this brutal test is done,
there will be time for crying.
But, for now, no more weeping and wailing.
We must get to work,
building up a Beloved Community
faster than it can be torn down.
Rest will come later.)
May God and each of us bless the United States of America, and all who look to her for hope, until every person "shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree. (Micah 4:4)"
May the Source of Life grant sufficient wisdom and strength for the work ahead.
Amen.
............................
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Rabbi, Congregation Netivot Shalom
Chair, Rabbis Against Gun Violence (#RAGV)
Scheduling Inquiries: ra@netivotshalom.org or (510) 549-9447 x103