Clinging to this mantra this week: “We are beautiful. We are beloved. We are worthy of life.” Ahavah Rabbah Ahavtanu אהבה רבה אהבתנו. Chanting for our children, our ancestors, our living and our dead. Singing for all those who have ever been told by the cruel voices of anti-Semitism, racism, white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ageism or ableism that we are not worthy of love and life, that we are not beautiful. The truth is that we are loved by an unending love and we are filled with beauty beyond measure. May the souls of Vickie Jones, Maurice Stallard, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Irving Younger, Melvin Wax, Daniel Stein and Rose Mallinger be embraced in love and life. May their loved ones be comforted. May we bring blessing to their memories.
My people –
We are beautiful.
We are beloved.
We are worthy of life.
May the souls of our eleven
brothers and sisters from Pittsburgh
be held in life and love
in this world and the next.
May those who are injured be healed.
May we love ourselves
and one another fiercely –
as we mourn,
as we remember,
as we choose life.
