We met as the world around us gets more fragile, more endangered, more overwhelming. Insisting on our right to celebrate the joy of the beauty of spring, we all carried with us our worry, our fear, and our fury.
Our theme was “spring,” and our liturgy was full of images of flowers, leaves, and the generous glory of trees. For Torah study, we looked at the mind-fuckery of current bills about “anti-Semitism” in front of Congress. This follows so many conversations we’ve had over the years about the implications of different definitions of “anti-Semitism,” proving right all of our fears about about using the IHRA definition. We also said a special blessing for the release of Rumeysa Ozturk and Mohsen Mahdawi.
And also, of course, our pain and grief and outrage about the people of Gaza being intentionally starved was with us throughout the morning. Always.
Articles quoted in Torah study include:
Jewish Faculty Members Decry Republican Panel Members
Bill That Would Punish Americans Boycotting Israel Pulled from Congress
US Senate panel amends bill to state that criticism of Israeli government is not anti-Semitism
For the second time we used a new-to-us-song by Lia Rose called “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” You can a video from a live performance at a Bernie campaign rally here.
