Be our companion as we champion freedom - Daily Minyan - March 27, 2025

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The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah

Original reading

March 27, 2025

Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, 

Guardian of our very lives, 

You have given us the ability 

To expand our minds,

To add to our knowledge,

And to deepen our skills 

As we explore new avenues 

for expressing ourselves

And helping each other. 

Be our companion 

as we champion freedom,

As we seek to preserve this wondrous world,

And as we work to improve pathways to healing.

Lead us to approach all people

With empathy and compassion 

With generosity and respect

So that we will share in our pride

Not only for the miracle of our achievements

But for the hope that we will continue to thrive

As neighbors and friends

As we bask in the joy of Your Oneness 

And as we shine within the light 

of Your enduring presence. 

For the persistence of words - March 22, 2025

For the persistence of words

I still hope for a world

Without injustice, 

With decency and fairness. 

What could be wrong 

If we still recognized 

The strength in our diversity, 

The need for equality?

Banning inclusion, 

Overlooking oppression 

Will not conceal 

Unavoidable truths past and present. 

Some words may be silenced.

Some work may be devalued. 

Some place before their eyes

A narrow, clouded lens 

through which to see

Identity and history. 

Praising exclusion,

Rejecting pluralism, 

Promoting salvation of only a chosen few

Will not engender respect

Or cause peace to descend upon us.  

There are perspectives 

That have risen to the surface,

Undermining understanding,

Diminishing decency, 

Reducing respect, 

that have undone 

Past achievements,  

Now-fleeting accomplishments. 

Nevertheless….

I won’t let go 

of love that I believe in. 

I won’t stop 

building the world 

I want to live in. 

I won’t lose hope 

to feel that I belong

And that unity remains

Within our reach.

The embodiment of the Divine - Daily Minyan Reading - March 18, 2025

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The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah

Original reading

March 18, 2025

Eternal One,
Creator and Sustainer of us all, 

May Your all-encompassing Presence

Teach every person 

To speak and act 

As if the individuals in front of him or her

Are the embodiment of the Divine. 

Open our minds to recognize You

In the eyes of others 

In the world around us

So that, in our disagreements,

In the midst of conflict, 

We will remember that our supposed foes

Have a sacred touch of You in them 

And may our seemingly sworn enemies

Be overcome with a revelation 

That we are also graced with being a holy aspect

Of Your eternal existence.

Would it happen that peace would descend

If all people acknowledged their place within
Your everlasting Oneness? 

Perhaps. 

Until then, we pray to You, 

Who has fashioned us within a unity

That spans time and space. 

My home left me - March 7, 2025

I didn’t leave my home.

My home left me. 

It was once a place of warmth and connection.

Now it presents, at best, a cool reception

It used to care about welcoming strangers.

Now, it has closed its doors to anyone seeking refuge. 

It used to be a place where neighbors knew more than each other’s names. 

Now, it is barely possible to see faces of others as they rush through their lives, eyes trained on handheld devices, focusing on their next stop in their intricately-planned daily schedule. 

It used to be a place where people talked to and with each other, even about issues that mattered. 

Now, discussions steer away from most topics, as the pendulum of communal speech, which sometimes seeks the extremes, and not the middle, prohibits engaging in productive and meaningful conversation. 

It used to be a place where, to some extent, it was possible to share feelings, even self-doubt. 

Now, we hear that only certain people are always right, and others are always wrong, where ‘rightness” may not even be based on established facts, where doubt is forbidden, and where feelings are a sign of weakness. 

It used to be a place where people could choose a path for their vocation and find an appropriate position that brought them challenge and fulfillment. 

Now, there are leaders ready to take away those positions as they misunderstand or denigrate their value for our knowledge, our health, and for the safety of food and other  products that we use every day. 

It used to be a place where freedom meant that we could pursue relationships and interests inside and outside our occupations that offer a sense of contentment, acceptance, and joy. 

Now, it is a place where bullying and ridicule set the parameters for what is appropriate behavior and who can be seen as having a role in society. 

It used to be a place where allies in distant places participated in a mutual sharing of wisdom and culture that enriched all people. 

Now, walls are being raised to prevent new ideas from “contaminating” a perceived greatness that defines cultural value in narrow terms. 

I didn’t leave my home. 

My home left me.   

And I won’t give up until I find a peaceful, yet forthright, way get it back.

Creator, Sustainer, Companion, Hope - Daily Minyan Reading - February 27, 2025

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The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah 

Original Reading

February 27, 2025

Creator, Sustainer, Companion, Hope

As we move through each day 

And encounter our world

We discover that impersonality is often

Too easy a path for some human beings to take 

As they make decisions about the lives of others. 

You call upon us to hold every person as unique and precious

And to understand that You have fashioned 

every corner of this planet

Hiding within it treasures that we will only recognize 

If we take the time to search with our minds and hearts. 

In these days, Healer and Protector, 

Enliven us to provide comfort and support 

For all who are in need

And to activate our abilities and energies

To enhance what You, in Your wisdom, have created. 

May all that we do add to the holiness around us

And may we step forward, always, into the realm 

Of Your presence and Your Oneness 

Shedding light, along with You, 

upon sacred times and places 

So that we will find a reflection of Your loving face 

in the eyes of of all people. 

You know our minds and hearts - Daily Minyan Reading - February 24, 2025

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The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah 

Original Reading

February 24, 2025

Creator and Sustainer of us all, 

You know our minds and hearts. 

You have provided us with possibilities

For growth and progress 

If only we would see the paths that will lead

In that direction. 

Sometimes people choose power over principle

Leaving their fellow human beings 

In dire straits 

Facing war, hunger, oppression 

And other challenges 

that were unnecessary from the start. 

Where there is war, may we work towards just and lasting peace. 

Where there is hunger, may we find new ways 

to share our resources so that no one is deprived 

of life-sustaining nourishment. 

Where there is real and persistent oppression, 

May we uncover the causes of prejudice and hatred

That lead to discrimination 

And provide support, protection, security and comfort 

That will uphold time-honored teachings of 

Decency, honesty, respect and love. 

Open our minds and hearts to Your wisdom and vision 

So that we will experience the blessing 

of Your everlasting Oneness. 

A diary of commentary on our current predicament - February, 2025

2025

February 22

Dear Efficiency Department Agents,

The American people require a weekly report on your work in the following areas:

1) Reasons for termination of every employee

2) Impact statement of the consequences of the firings regarding services that will no longer be provided by those terminated 

3) assurances that all lost services will be restored with a detailed list of target dates, including a guarantee that newly hired replacements will be fully qualified for their positions. 

4) a report about the possible Constitutional limits to your work. 

5) Mandatory listening to online testimony from employees you have terminated, followed by an apology note to each person.  Please provide a detailed list of notes composed and sent. 

Thank you.

February 22

Hey, folks in charge, why do you think that every woman or person of color in a leadership position is a DEI hire?  Maybe they were the best qualified people, a result of meritocracy!  Stop firing them!

February 19

The attack that began this war and all that ensued is a human tragedy.  Taking this family and others on 10/7/2023 was unnecessary and has led us down a road that did not need to be traversed in the midst of this decades-long conflict (centuries, perhaps).  May their memories be for blessing, and may peace, somehow, still be a reachable destination.

February 19

Frauds looking for fraud will claim that there is fraud where there isn’t fraud to try to prove that they aren’t frauds or to try to impress their fellow frauds.

February 19

(I HAD VERY LITTLE FUN WRITING THIS, EXCEPT THAT IT REINFORCES MY BELIEF IN THE ORIGINAL TEXT)

A revised translation of Exodus 23:1-9 for diabolical authoritarian leaders, whose bible took a somewhat expected turn. (See the original below) 

1) Spread falsehoods and play fast and loose with the truth, and while you are at it, join with your fellow felons or potential felons to skew testimony in court with evil intentions. 

2) Persuade your followers to side with you because of your power and influence, and encourage them and your allies, as well as your attorneys, to fashion testimony and arguments before a judge that will favor lies over truth. 

3) Always show favor in treatment and in court to the more powerful person. 

4 and 5) Show no respect or consideration to your enemy, whether from the “enemy within,” reporters from the media outlets you despise, or people with whom you disagree, who deserve no mercy from you, only retribution. 

6). There are no poor people, just undeserving individuals who aren’t as lucky as you.  Treat them without respect, and that includes people whom you have dismissed from jobs en masse. 

7)  Don’t worry if you have been accused of fraud; your fixer will get you out of it.  And if someone else takes the blame for you, whether or not they were involved, make that false charge stick, even if it destroy’s that person’s life and livelihood without reason or evidence. 

8 ) Offer as many bribes as you can to get your way, and zero in on recipients who will allow you to do exactly what you want, even if it violates a law. 

9)  There are no strangers, only people who came here illegally and don’t belong here. Even if your parents or grandparents were immigrants, it doesn’t matter.  In fact, cover up that part of your story. And treat people whom you consider different with as much derision as possible.   

THE REAL THING - THAT SOME OF US STLL BELIEVE 

Exodus 23:1-9

1] You must not carry false rumors; you shall not join hands with the guilty to act as a malicious witness: [2] You shall neither side with the mighty to do wrong - you shall not give perverse testimony in a dispute so as to pervert it in favor of the mighty, [3] nor shall you show deference to a poor man in his dispute. [4] When you encounter your enemy's ox or donkey wandering, you must take it back to him. [5] When you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden and would refrain from raising it, you must nevertheless raise it with him. [6] You shall not subvert the rights of your needy in their disputes.   [7] Keep far from a false charge; do not bring death on the innocent and the righteous, for I will not acquit the wrongdoer.  [8] Do not take bribes, for bribes blind the clear-sighted and upset the pleas of the just. [9] You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.

February 15

Visiting a concentration camp one day does not excuse meeting with the head of a Neo-Nazi party soon after.   The latter shows that the former taught not one lesson to the American political leader in question.