An American Lament (on the Impeachment Hearings) - February 11, 2021

An American lament

How sad are the halls and hallways that were violated 

Attacked

Occupied 

And then cleaned 

So that some leaders could conveniently forget 

What had happened

In hallowed halls

And chambers of decision

Leaders who were more than willing to have 

Workers whom they see as subservient 

Clean up the results of the chaos 

That some of them had encouraged and championed

While others remained silent 

For fear of losing their elected position 

To one who might be more 

Or less

Conservative

How sad are the minds that are closed to examples 

And testimonies 

of wrongdoing

That threatened the very foundations of a nation

Content to point fingers at others 

Noting that protests are protests 

No matter their reason

Woe to a nation that decries injustice perpetrated 

Due to skin color 

And declares that those who decried those tragic incidents

Based on actual events

were much worse and more serious 

Than a mob that found its way into our legislative center

Not because of truth

But due to lies that had been spread by a leader

and his associates

Who cared more about their power 

than the nation which they said should be “first.”

In fact, they tried to convince people that their leader 

Was the embodiment of the nation

And that all who did his bidding 

Would get all they ever wanted 

In terms of status and freedom to speak their minds

And spread their hatred

And commit violence about which they had only dreamed before. 

It is time to make a turn 

To understand, 

to hold accountable 

liars, bullies, 

and opponents of freedom 

And deniers of facts and actual truth

And, after that, without persisting excuses

To present and propose policies

To enhance our national well-being

To agree to disagree

To compromise

To set aside suspicion and mistrust

And to remember

What has held us together before

That could hold us together once again

If we believe in 

Justice

Mercy 

And humility.

People Can, Should Move from Hate to Love - Column - Las Cruces Bulletin - February 5, 2021

In sermons delivered in 1957, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about love and about hate.  

    He said:  “Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys one’s sense of values and one’s objectivity. It causes people to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.”

    In another sermon, he concluded: “It is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction....Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate....And you do that by love.”

     In one of my original songs is this lyric: “I have looked into eyes filled with hatred.” 

     It was during my years as rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom in Topeka, Kansas that I saw those hate-filled eyes.  

     In 1991, the the Westboro Baptist Church, a small, mostly family-based church led by the Rev. Fred Phelps, Sr., began its picketing campaign based in their belief that they alone were “God’s elect.”  The initial messages on their signs and in fax/fliers they published were directed against the LGBTQ community.  It didn’t take long for racism and antisemitism to enter into their hate-filled declarations.   

    Their daily pickets throughout the city challenged anyone who spoke out against them, reflected in their appearance near my congregation before our weekly Sabbath services.  Eventually, they picketed events in distant locations, appearing at funerals of members of the armed services, claiming that those who had died represented a nation mired in what their church considered to be ungodliness. 

    They attended city council meetings en masse to speak out against anti-discrimination ordinances. I was among those who offered public comment in favor of the proposals at hand. 

    Over the last few years, two of the Phelps grandchildren have written accounts of their departure from the church and association with the family.  Libby Phelps, in Girl on a Wire, and Megan Phelps-Roper, in Unfollow, told their stories about being members of the church and about how they exited a family/church system that came to oppress them.  

     In an interview by Riley Robinson in The Christian Science Monitor on October 10, 2019, Megan described how her presence on Twitter began to facilitate a change in her soul:  “100% of people who came to my page were angry and hostile. But people could tell I was sincere about what I believed [then]. They started asking questions, and that changed the dynamics. Then I started asking them questions and they’d say something about their day or their pets or their children. On Twitter there was time and space to develop that rapport. It enabled me to empathize with the perspectives of other people. That was a huge part of my ability to challenge what I had been taught and then eventually walk away from it.”

    She added: “If you can see...people [who harbor hateful views] ... as human beings and capable of change, there is hope. We should be willing to reach out...There’s so much power in seeing the possibility of change.”

     Having seen these young women on the picket line, and then reading their personal stories, I was encouraged at their willingness to honestly recount their experiences and  what made them change.  

     It truly gave me hope, and still does, that hatred can give way to connection, and even love.   May it ever be so.

The sound of your victory - January 28, 2021

What is the sound of your victory? 

Songs of rejoicing? 

Shouts of superiority? 

Voices reaching out in camaraderie? 

Cries of anger and hatred at opponents deemed unworthy? 

Calls for unity, despite lingering animosity? 

A lyric reflecting respect? 

Psalms of Peace? 

What marks your lament of defeat? 

Poetry offering a hopeful hand of cooperation? 

Proclamations of grievance? 

Declarations of resolve in deeply held values and beliefs? 

False claims of unfairness? 

Acceptance and retooling? 

Internal waves of outrage manifested in unbridled revolution? 

Psalms promising peaceful return? 

What is our anthem of reunion? 

A remembrance of honest history

A refrain of hard-won equality 

A chant of thoughtful justice 

An expression of wonder at enduring coexistence

A prayer for a cessation of violence 

A meditation that emerges as mutual love 

A commitment to contentment and conciliation. 

What is the Creator’s wish for us? 

One.

Facing and Standing against hatred 02012021

He was minding his store.  

One of his regular customers came in, 

Wide-eyed, 

As if he knew something he didn’t know before. 

But his expression bore scorn and contempt

To this person he had known for some time. 

“You killed my Father!”  He said.  And left. 

Yes, he - my grandfather - was Jewish. 

The “Father” was Jesus.  

My grandfather had left Lithuania to join a landsmann

In South Africa, 

Where he was working at the store

Where this sad event occurred.

So he escaped from under the thumb of the Czars

For that? 

So it seemed. 

He made his way to the United States

Joining family in America’s heartland...

Only to have a son 

Who seems to have been passed over 

For a promotion 

In his government job

Because of his Jewish identity

And a grandson 

Who became a target due to his position 

Enough that there was a phone message 

Left on the answering machine of his congregation

As the first Gulf War began, saying

“I’m gonna kill me a rabbi” 

And, later, a local group of equal-opportunity haters

Put his last name on a picket sign  

With a three letter word preceding it 

Which he and a local minister decided meant

“Faithful And Godly” Karol. 

Perhaps the direct targeting has stopped 

But it doesn’t feel like it. 

If you find yourself hesitating to condemn 

A member of Congress 

For spreading

Antisemitic conspiracy theories 

Which perpetuate 

What seems to be 

A never-ending hatred

I have a message for you:

It’s time to speak up. 

That goes for 

People of all ages, wherever they may be

Leaders of government at all levels

Leaders and members of faith communities. 

Four years ago, 

I stood with other community leaders

At the local Islamic center

And, several days later, at a Catholic parish

To decry the Muslim Immigration ban 

Proclaimed by the administration. 

That prejudice still lives and thrives all too much. 

If we are going to truly love our neighbors as ourselves, 

We have to have each other’s backs

Or this experiment in democracy 

Is just not going to work.