Dear Friends,
June 24, 2022 will be remembered in modern history as a watershed moment when regressive misuse of power won the day. Though we knew it was coming, the deep sadness and disbelief that so many of us feel now that "the possible" is "real" must be acknowledged and processed. After Shabbes, we must roll up our sleeves and get to work.
At this moment, I turn to the wisdom of Psalm 30, said every morning (and for good reason) because it is so hard to feel the presence of God when we are bereft:
"Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.”
Lord, when you favored me, you made me a mountain of strength;
but when you hid your face, I was terrified."
Our psalmist teaches that nothing, including and especially not our freedoms, can or should be taken for granted. We must work everyday to keep the Face of God in our sight lines.
I encourage you to read this statement issued by the Rabbinical Assembly of America in response to the Supreme Court's heartbreaking example of judicial malpractice.
Psalm 30 cautions us against allowing the course of events to paralyze us with fear. Today's decision will repeal the rights advanced more than fifty years ago by Roe vs. Wade. This did not just happen overnight: it is the culmination of a process that has been underway for three decades. Now we must face the hard reality of this major setback.
By the same token, a person of faith knows first hand that "joy can come with the dawn." Let us work together wisely to hasten the light of justice, goodness and truth.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Marcia Tilchin