I took language from and was inspired by the call in Psalms, where we’re told “ Champion the weak and the orphan; uphold the downtrodden and destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; save them from the grip of the wicked.”
Al Cheyt - For the sins of falling short as a community, and as a nation
Sheridan Gayer ed. Sue Ellen Dodell
For the sins our community has committed:
For forgetting our obligation to champion the weak, the orphan, and the stranger
For forgetting that our people also arrived seeking asylum
For not having shown up for asylum seekers
For forgetting that our people also arrived seeking asylum
For ignoring the downtrodden and destitute
For thinking: “Someone else will show up and show support.”
For tuning out more often than tuning in
For forgetting to ask: “How can I help?”
For hearing calls from souls broken, injured, or in harm's way and leaving them unanswered
For sitting idly by while children suffer and die in detention camps
For allowing hate to be stirred, fomented, and spread
For allowing cement floors to be beds
For categorizing new immigrants as fruit-pickers and dishwashers, not as community leaders and business owners
For not doing our part to lift up NYCs small businesses which are nearly 50% immigrant-owned
May we learn to stand when we once sat
May we learn to speak up when we once were silent.
May we learn to march in the streets when we once restrained ourselves to social media posts
May we learn to reach out to our leaders to protect the immigrant, for we were once immigrants, in this generation and in all the generations which came before us
May we continue to plead until our prayers are heard: let us raise our voices to our government and demand that our leaders defund hate.
Because we know hatred only breeds more hatred.
May the Source that makes forgiveness possible, forgive us, pardon us, and make atonement possible.
Eldridge Street Synagogue's Rose Window (June 8, 2014)
