Pittsburgh Terrorism: Weeping with the Rabbi, and other responses





Of course I was compelled by my heart and mind this morning to stop by the home of my friend Rabbi Michael Shefrin.  He lives nearby with his wife Shayna and their very young son Jacob.  I took a pot of gorgeous golden chrysanthemums to make up for my stammering tongue.

 Just as I arrived at their home Rabbi Michael was getting into his car.  The "mums" spoke for themselves.  No words were needed. The Rabbi and I simply held onto each other and wept.

 I did it for humanity  -  no that's pretentious.  

 I did it for Jacob. 

 Seventy five years ago a wee lad of his age (about eighteen months)  would have been fodder for a death camp.

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 This terrorism took place in Pittsburgh, PA.  Yesterday the Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh published these words, far more profound than any political clap-trap I have seen.
From Dorsey W.M. McConnell, Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh


"The newscasts, sickeningly, are referring again and again to this horror as a “tragedy.” It is no such thing. A tragedy is inevitable. This was not. It was murder, murder of a particularly vile and poisonous kind. Human beings have moral agency. Someone chose to hate, and chose to kill. And now we are faced with a choice as well— to do nothing, or to reject this hatred in the strongest possible words and actions, and to refute in every way, in every forum, the philosophical foundations of anti-Semitism wherever they have gained a foothold in our churches and our society."

 (I knew Dorsey (not very well)  when he served a parish in Chestnut Hill, MA and I was serving a parish in Cambridge, MA)
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My good friend Cindy Wasdyke put this choral music on her Face Book page.   It is new to me.   Such beauty.  Such truth. So timely. Thank you Cindy.

https://youtu.be/XZ99qPFlJX0

"Hymn to the Eternal Flame" from the oratorio "To Be Certain of the Dawn" (2005) by Stephen Paulus, text by Michael Dennis Browne. Sung by The Singers: Minnesota Choral Artists. The text describes the 'fire' of the 'eternal flame' at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem... "Every face is in you, every voice, every sorrow in you. Every pity, every love, every memory, woven into fire. Every breath is in you, every cry, every longing in you. Every singing, every hope, every healing, woven into fire. Every heart is in you, every tongue, every trembling in you, Every blessing, every soul, every shining, woven into fire."
- © Michael Dennis Browne

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