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Divrei
Rabbi Jerry
Rabbi
Jerry Seidler
TempleSinai
A Prayer for Redemption in Darfur
Rabbi Seidler wrote the following prayer in honor of the "Never Again" Shabbat sponsored by the Social Action Committee on April 28. The prayer, which has been published by the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, was also shared at Reconstructionist congregations Shir Shamayim in Milwaukee and Dorshei Derekh in Philadelphia during services on April 29 in advance of the April 30 Save Dafur rallies in Washington, DC, and throughout the country. Rabbi Seidler is very proud of the Social Action Committee for their efforts, and hopes that Temple Sinai will be at the vanguard of leading Buffalo area Jews to act out Judaism through deeds of compassion, justice and goodness.
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Wellspring of Compassion, spread the shelter over the suffering children, women and men of Darfur, that beleaguered region of the Sudan. May your love and tender mercies sustain the shattered lives of those residing in Darfur. May these people not lose hope or their will to be, and may we be moved to action by empathizing with their plight.
Genocide is happening, and we must say, Never Again!
You have commanded us not to stand idly by the blood of any fellow human being, for we regard ourselves as having once been enslaved so bitterly in ancient days. Our ancestors were liberated by the strength you granted them to overcome powerful oppression. It is the Jewish mission to be a light to the nations: a light of freedom and not of constriction, a light of liberation and not of conquest, a light of courage and not of cowardice, a light of hope and not of despair.
Genocide is happening, and we must say, Never Again!
Over the centuries, we have been the object of attack, torment, torture and slaughter merely because we are Jews. The Holocaust was the most recent and most catastrophic of them all. We Jews are still here despite the callousness of a world that did nothing to prevent the rise of Nazi Germany, that did nothing to stop the genocide of Jewish millions. We know that the world intervened not to save us, but to save themselves and their possessions from the maniacal lusts of the fascist nations. We did not survive to emulate their smug indifference to the agony and distress of others. We survive as human agents of your Torah of peace.
Genocide is happening, and we must say, Never Again!
Inspire us, God of peace, to care enough about the people of Darfur to defeat the evil that is destroying them. The Sudan poses no existential threat to us, and so it would be easy to do nothing, just as the world did nothing for us but three generations ago. Gevalt if we would fall into such a trap of cold heartedness. Rather, we must reach out to the people of Darfur for their sake and for the sake of our souls. It is our responsibility to support charitable organizations to help these people, and yes, to petition our Government in an effort to mobilize its diplomatic and military might to pursue justice in Darfur. We cannot be truly at peace so long as human beings are the victims of cruel, violent and hateful lordship by others.
Genocide is happening, and we must say, Never Again!
Reconstructionist Judaism Makes
the Heart Joyful, Sharpens the
Mind, Brings Peace to the World.
A Teaching from Rabbi Jerry
Blessings,
Rabbi
Jerry
Rabbi
Jerry H. Seidler
Temple
Sinai
50 Alberta Drive
Amherst
, NY
14221
(716) 834-0708
www.jrf.org/templesinai
Updated:
Thursday, May 25, 2006
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