Friends.
That is what and who we call upon when desperate and in need, friends.
We may be separated by distance, but we are still one family. We celebrate and weep together. Even if we do not know every face or name we know that we are inextricably connected.
We mourn the more than 100,000 deaths in our country today. We have been attacked by a microscopic enemy that is wily and chooses as its victims the weak. It is an insidious enemy we continue to combat.
Today we reflect and mourn for the many lives that have been claimed by the Covid-19. The loss is great and our hearts grieve for the families who never got that last kiss of farewell.
Now as we reach for air, we find there is none. “I can’t breathe” has become more than the last words of a dying young man. It has become our gasping for the air of equality, the eradication of hatred, the hope that America can become the beacon of light to the world and an end to bigotry, quenching the fires of hatred that burn in our cities and country tonight.
Enshrined on the Statute of Liberty are the words, “Give me your tired, your wretched refuse yearning to breathe….” This is what we need to relearn; that the breath of every human being is invaluable. Regardless of skin hue or color of uniform our breath cannot return to us until we learn to reclaim it through justice. Justice for all.
Quoting the prophet Micah, Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
It is past time to speak out against wrongs, demonizations and prejudice. Micah spoke those words almost three thousand years ago.
Heschel went on to say, “An act of injustice is condemned, not because the law is broken, but because a person has been hurt. What is the image of a person? A person is a being whose anguish may reach the heart of God.”
The anguish we feel pains God. I ask every member of our congregation tonight to pray for the dead and work for the living. Give a moment to say kaddish for the 100,000 and then speak up against prejudice. It is evil. And the only way it will die is if we refuse to be silent when it speaks.
There is much work to be done but if we are truly one family, we can make it happen. Don't lose hope. Lose fear.
