Rabbi David offered clarion-call words of blessing at the Interfaith Council's "Longest Night" memorial tribute, honoring the homeless and unseen who died on our local streets in the year 2023.
The Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut unites faith leaders and faith communities in common cause on matters of spirit-infused care and advocacy.
The Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut unites faith leaders and faith communities in common cause on matters of spirit-infused care and advocacy.
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My namesake, David of Jerusalem, was said to write these words of Psalm 147:
Healer of the broken hearted – הרופא לשבורי לב
Binder of their wounds – ומחבש לעצבותם
Counter of the stars' number – מונה מספר לכוכבים
Calling them each by name – לכולם שמות יקרא
On this longest night, the blessing we most need is not for the dead that they should be remembered. The One we call God well remembers Serina and Benjamin, Jose and Sean, Jada and Thomas, Rosemary and James, Michelle and Noreen, Judith and Carla, Bruce and Gaspard, El-Sayed and Richard, Joseph and Matthew, Modesto and Leonard and Joanne – our sisters and brothers who died this year on our streets, on our watch.
No, that's not the blessing we need on this longest night.
The blessing we need is to heal our vision, because we never saw them at all, in plain sight.
The blessing we need is to heal our collective vision, the vision of our communities and our society, that would tolerate and even take comfort in our willful blindness.
The blessing we need is to rivet our vision, to see deeply the torn fabric of lives in the shadows of abundance tearing at the shared social fabric garbing our own shoulders, which we clutch and take for granted as our birthrights.
The blessing we need is that our own blindness and inaction must be intolerable. Intolerable. Intolerable to us whatever our creed or none at all.
That is the blessing we need on this longest night.
In the merit of the unseen – and in the merit of our human values that this longest night rivets us to fulfill at last by the works of our own hands – please bow your heads with me:
Holy One of Blessing, משברך אבותינו ואמותינו / May the One who blessed our foremothers and forefathers bless us by rousing us to a rightful vision in our midst. Rivet our vision on the unseen, the unhoused, the unloved and the forgotten. Make it impossible for us ever again to turn a blind eye and walk on by. Soften our hearts to strengthen our resolve to act.
May our hands fulfill our words of this longest night, each day and every day. We ask this in Your name.
And let us say, Amen.
Healer of the broken hearted – הרופא לשבורי לב
Binder of their wounds – ומחבש לעצבותם
Counter of the stars' number – מונה מספר לכוכבים
Calling them each by name – לכולם שמות יקרא
On this longest night, the blessing we most need is not for the dead that they should be remembered. The One we call God well remembers Serina and Benjamin, Jose and Sean, Jada and Thomas, Rosemary and James, Michelle and Noreen, Judith and Carla, Bruce and Gaspard, El-Sayed and Richard, Joseph and Matthew, Modesto and Leonard and Joanne – our sisters and brothers who died this year on our streets, on our watch.
No, that's not the blessing we need on this longest night.
The blessing we need is to heal our vision, because we never saw them at all, in plain sight.
The blessing we need is to heal our collective vision, the vision of our communities and our society, that would tolerate and even take comfort in our willful blindness.
The blessing we need is to rivet our vision, to see deeply the torn fabric of lives in the shadows of abundance tearing at the shared social fabric garbing our own shoulders, which we clutch and take for granted as our birthrights.
The blessing we need is that our own blindness and inaction must be intolerable. Intolerable. Intolerable to us whatever our creed or none at all.
That is the blessing we need on this longest night.
In the merit of the unseen – and in the merit of our human values that this longest night rivets us to fulfill at last by the works of our own hands – please bow your heads with me:
Holy One of Blessing, משברך אבותינו ואמותינו / May the One who blessed our foremothers and forefathers bless us by rousing us to a rightful vision in our midst. Rivet our vision on the unseen, the unhoused, the unloved and the forgotten. Make it impossible for us ever again to turn a blind eye and walk on by. Soften our hearts to strengthen our resolve to act.
May our hands fulfill our words of this longest night, each day and every day. We ask this in Your name.
And let us say, Amen.
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