The wilderness ahead blurs into an unknowable future
while we
are here
on Rosh Hodesh Nisan.
while we
are here
on Rosh Hodesh Nisan.
Here in the
210 years years of Egyptian enslavement
Assyrian and Babylonian and Greek and Roman destruction and exile
Slaughter of Arab Jewish tribes
Forced baptism of Byzantine Jews
Expulsion from France
First Crusade
Expulsion from England
300 years of Spanish Inquisition and
Expulsion from Spain
Lithuania
Portugal
Provence
Napoli
Germany
Milan
Slaughter in Ukraine and Iran
Pogroms in Russia
Morocco
Ethiopia
Blood Libel
Kristallnacht
Final Solution
210 years years of Egyptian enslavement
Assyrian and Babylonian and Greek and Roman destruction and exile
Slaughter of Arab Jewish tribes
Forced baptism of Byzantine Jews
Expulsion from France
First Crusade
Expulsion from England
300 years of Spanish Inquisition and
Expulsion from Spain
Lithuania
Portugal
Provence
Napoli
Germany
Milan
Slaughter in Ukraine and Iran
Pogroms in Russia
Morocco
Ethiopia
Blood Libel
Kristallnacht
Final Solution
We are here at the Nova Festival where
the dancing came . . .
first.
the dancing came . . .
first.
Our young children, who may not feel this history in their bones yet, proclaim:
“Horse and rider should never be thrown into the sea.”
“The plagues should have only hurt Pharaoh. He made all the decisions.”
“The Egyptian people probably didn’t agree with his decrees, or his slavery. . .
even if they didn’t do anything about it.”
“We should bring them out with us.”
“Horse and rider should never be thrown into the sea.”
“The plagues should have only hurt Pharaoh. He made all the decisions.”
“The Egyptian people probably didn’t agree with his decrees, or his slavery. . .
even if they didn’t do anything about it.”
“We should bring them out with us.”
and . . .
we are also with our siblings still in captivity, and
we are here in Masafer Yatta, too, and
with our loved ones in bomb shelters in Israel, and
also in Gaza with the protestors, and
in immigrant detention centers around our country, and
where there are bans on affirmative care, and
in cars where pregnancy is turning into sepsis, and
and
and
staying determined to see one another while
the wilderness ahead blurs into an unknowable future.
we are also with our siblings still in captivity, and
we are here in Masafer Yatta, too, and
with our loved ones in bomb shelters in Israel, and
also in Gaza with the protestors, and
in immigrant detention centers around our country, and
where there are bans on affirmative care, and
in cars where pregnancy is turning into sepsis, and
and
and
staying determined to see one another while
the wilderness ahead blurs into an unknowable future.
There is a lot of narrowness as we welcome this Nisan.
And still . . .
we have to know there is a wilderness ahead of us,
a community to keep building,
and, God willing soon and in our time,
a Promised Land.
we have to know there is a wilderness ahead of us,
a community to keep building,
and, God willing soon and in our time,
a Promised Land.
Let’s hold tightly onto our timbrels,
and sing for that day.
and sing for that day.
