We gather today to remember, to honor, and to affirm life in the face of loss. On this World AIDS Day, we come together as a community to hold sacred the memories of those we have loved and lost to AIDS, to stand in solidarity with those living with HIV, and to renew our commitment to compassion, justice, and healing.
In the tradition of our people, we know that memory is sacred work. To remember is to resist forgetting. To speak names aloud is to keep love alive. To gather in community is to declare that no one suffers alone.
Lighting of Candles
Participants are invited to light candles in memory of loved ones
Leader:
We light these candles as we have lit candles for generations—to mark sacred time, to honour memory, to kindle hope in darkness. Each flame represents a life, a story, a beloved soul.
As we light these candles, we say:
All:
We kindle these lights in memory and in hope. Each flame honours a human life, a unique spirit that illuminated our world.
Remembrance and Naming
Leader:
In Jewish tradition, memory is sacred work. We are the ones who carry forward memory, who speak the names, who keep the stories alive. When we remember, we honour. When we speak names aloud, we declare that these lives mattered.
Participants are invited to speak names of those they wish to remember. After each name or group of names, the community responds:
All:
זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה
Zichronam livrakha
May their memory be a blessing.
Reading: From Our Sacred Inheritance
Reader 1:
From Deuteronomy we hear:
הַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ, הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה; וּבָחַרְתָּ, בַּחַיִּים–לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה, אַתָּה וְזַרְעֶךָ.
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.”
We choose life. We choose to remember those who lived with courage, who loved with fullness, who faced stigma with dignity. We choose to honour their humanity.
Reader 2:
From Ecclesiastes:
טוֹבִים הַשְּׁנַיִם, מִן-הָאֶחָד: אֲשֶׁר יֵשׁ-לָהֶם שָׂכָר טוֹב, בַּעֲמָלָם
“Two are better than one… For if they fall, one will lift up the other.”
We have lifted each other up. Through plague and panic, through fear and grief, through silence and shame, our communities have held each other. Lovers and friends, activists and artists, strangers who became family—all have embodied the sacred work of presence.
Reader 3:
Mishnah Sanhedrim teaches:
כָּל הַמְקַיֵּם נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת, מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ קִיֵּם עוֹלָם מָלֵא
“Whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved an entire world.”
We honor the caregivers, the researchers, the activists who fought for treatment and dignity. We honor those who transformed their grief into action, their rage into resistance, their mourning into movement.
Meditation on Loss and Love
Leader:
Let us sit for a moment in silence, holding in our hearts the weight of this loss—the artists whose work was never created, the children never born, the elders who should have taught another generation, the ordinary precious days never lived.
Silence
And let us also hold the love—the love that nursed the sick, that stormed the barricades, that refused to look away, that said “you are not alone,” that organized funerals and quilts and vigils, that spoke truth to power, that demanded that the world care.
Silence
Poem: “We Were Here”
Reader:
We were here.
In the rooms where breath grew shallow,
holding hands that grew cold,
we were here.
In the streets, demanding action,
our voices hoarse with rage and grief,
we were here.
In the long night of a nation’s indifference,
when leaders would not speak the word,
when families turned away,
when fear bred cruelty,
we were here.
We bathed fevered bodies.
We told the dying they were loved.
We buried them with dignity.
We said Kaddish when synagogues closed their doors.
We created new rituals when old ones failed us.
We were here.
And we are still here.
And their memory lives in us.
Memorial Prayer
Please rise in body or spirit for our memorial prayer.
All:
יְהֵא נָא זִכְרוֹן טוֹב וְחֶסֶד וְרַחֲמִים וְאַהֲבָה מִכָּל הָעוֹלָם לִכְבוֹד אֲהוּבֵינוּ שֶׁאֵינָם עוֹד עִמָּנוּ מִפְּנֵי מַחֲלַת הָאֵיידְס.הָבָה נִנְצֹר בְּלִבֵּנוּ אֶת שֵׁמוֹתֵיהֶם הַטּוֹבִים, וְנוֹקִירֵם בְּמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים. זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה. אָמֵן.
Yehé na zichrón tov veḥésed veraḥamím ve’ahavá mikól ha’olám lichvód ahuvéinu she’einám od imánu mipné maḥalát ha-Eyds. Hava nintsor belibeinu et shemotehem hatovim, venokirem bemaasim tovim. Zichronam livracha. Amen.
May there be good memory, kindness, compassion, and love from all the world in honour of our beloved ones who are no longer with us due to the disease of AIDS. Let us preserve in our hearts their good names, and honour them with good deeds. May their memory be a blessing. Amen.
Affirmation of Life and Progress
Leader:
We remember the darkness of those early years—when there was no treatment, no hope, only fear and loss. Today, we also celebrate the light of scientific progress and human determination.
Reader 1:
We celebrate the introduction of PrEP—pre-exposure prophylaxis—a powerful tool that can prevent HIV transmission. We honour the researchers, activists, and communities who made this breakthrough possible. We affirm that access to PrEP and all preventative measures must be universal. No one should be denied protection because of who they are, where they live, or their ability to pay. Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege.
All:
We commit to health equity for all.
Reader 2:
We honor and affirm those living with HIV who are undetectable. Undetectable equals untransmittable. The remarkable achievements of medical science in this area have meant liberation for hundreds of thousands from fear and stigma. We declare that people living with HIV deserve to live free from shame, discrimination, and judgment. They are our friends, our family, our community members—whole, valued, and loved.
All:
We commit to ending stigma in all its forms.
Reader 3:
We recognise that fear thrives in silence and ignorance. We commit to comprehensive sexual health awareness and education—information that is honest, affirming, and accessible to all people.When people have knowledge, they can make informed choices. When people have access to prevention and care, they can protect themselves and their partners. When people live without stigma, they can seek testing and treatment without shame.
Reader 4:
We reject and denounce the hateful lie that HIV and AIDS are punishment for who people love or how they live. This bigoted trope has caused immeasurable harm and death. HIV does not discriminate—it affects people of all genders, sexualities, and backgrounds. But homophobia, transphobia, and stigma do discriminate. They prevent people from seeking care, accessing prevention, and living with dignity.
All:
We reject hatred in all its forms. We affirm that love is never wrong, and that every person deserves health, dignity, and care.
Leader:
We honor the LGBTQ+ communities and their allies who transformed grief into activism, who cared for the dying when others turned away, who demanded that the world see their humanity. Their courage saved lives and changed history.
All:
We choose knowledge over fear. We choose compassion over judgment. We choose a future where no one need be afraid.
Closing Words
Leader:
The Shema invites us to listen to the call that arises from within and between us. It affirms our peoplehood whilst speaking to our connections across families, communities, and the world. It reminds us that while our lives are different, our shared goal is to make life more just, compassionate, and meaningful.
We affirm that change is in our hands. We don’t wait for miracles—we become the miracle, through kindness, action, and solidarity.
This is our sacred task: To listen. To unite. To build a better world—together.
Let us pause as we close our eyes and listen to the world around us. What is it telling us? What do we notice?
Silence
All:
שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כֻּלָּנוּ אֶחָ֥ד וְיִּיעוּדֵנוּ אֶחָֽד
Shem’á Yisra’él Kulánu Eḥád Veyi’udénu Eḥád
Hear O Yisra’el, We are all One, and our Purpose is One.
הָבָה נַעֲבוֹד לְתַקֵּן אֶת הָעוֹלָם הָזֶּה
Havá na’avód letakén et ha’olám hazé
Come let us work together to improve this world.
וְנאֹהַב֔ אֶת֭ הַחַיִּ֣ים בְּכׇל־לְבָבֵנוּ֥ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשֵׁנוּ֭ וּבְכׇל-מְאֹדֵֽנוּ׃ וְיִהְי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה עַל-לְבָבֵֽנוּ: וְשִׁנַּנּוּ לְבָנֵ֔נוּ וּנְדַבֶּ֭ר בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתֵּנוּ֚ בְּבֵיתֵ֨נוּ֨ וּבְלֶכְתֵּנוּ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשׇׁכְבֵּנוּ֭ וּבְקוּמֵֽנוּ׃ וּקְשַׁרְנוּם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֵנוּ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֵֽנוּ׃ וּכְתַבְנוּם עַל־מְזֻז֥וֹת בֵּיתֵ֭֭נוּ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽינוּ׃
Venoháv et haḥayím bechól-levavénu, uvechól-nafshénu uvechól-me’odénu. Veyihyú hadevarím ha’éle ‘al levavénu. Veshinánu levanénu unedabér bam beshivténu beveténu uvelechténu vadérech uveshachbénu uvkuménu. Uksharnúm le’ot al-yadénu vehayú letotafot ben enénu. Uchtavnúm al-mezuzót beténu uvish’arénu.
And we will love life with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might. And these words will be upon our heart. We will learn them with our children. We will speak of them when we are at home and when we are away, when we lie down and when we rise up. We will bind them as a sign upon our hands and we will let them be symbols between our eyes. We will write them on the doorposts of our homes and on our gates.
Leader:
We leave this service carrying our grief and our love, our memories and our commitments. We go forward knowing that we are links in an unbroken chain of remembrance, resistance, and resilience.
May we live in ways that honor those we have lost.
May we love with the fierce urgency they taught us.
May we build the just world they deserved to see.
All: Amen.
