Last night, as I emerged from a three day celebration of Shabbat and Shavuot, I entered back into the day to day world only to discover the horrific events that unfolded in Orlando just days ago. Once again, nearly one year after the Charleston church shooting- terror, bigotry, and gun violence took center stage as nearly 50 individuals were killed at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. There are no words as we are confronted, yet again, with these scenes of hatred, terror, and senseless violence. Below is a prayer, and a poem that you might want to read and/or recite today as we continue to process this terrible tragedy. May the memories of all of the victims of this tragedy be for a blessing, and may their families find strength and comfort during such a dark and difficult time.
In addition to reciting these prayers, you may also want to consider giving blood this week in honor of those who lost their lives.
Click here to find out more.
**I will be on vacation for the next few weeks. Look for your next Tuesday Morning Torah towards the end of July.
A prayer for the victims of the Orlando shooting:- Rabbi Ben Goldstein
Our God and God of our ancestors
We wake up every morning as a blessing of renewal, hoping to increase your presence in this world. We wake up with our hearts full of love and hope.
We wake up ready and willing to partner in making this world a better place.
Too often we wake up to news of death and destruction.
Too often we are bombarded by fear and anger.
Too often we lay our heads on our pillows with images of hatred and violence running through our minds.
Help us to continue our mission of spreading your love and your vision. Help us to overcome the rage that threatens to consume us. When evil comes to eclipse us, help us to continue to see the goodness in people.
Send comfort to those are hurting. Remind them that they are not alone, remind them that they are loved. Remind us all to keep you close as we hug our loved ones. Help us to overcome hatred and anger and to always l keep goodness and kindness as our companions. Let love guide us as we go through our days; as partners, as hopers, and as those dedicated to the work of goodness.
Amen.
A Poem
We counted
Each of us counted
Old and young
We. Counted.
Each of us
Each of us counted
We counted each sunrise
Each of us counted
We counted each day
Fifty of them
From Exodus to Revelation
From Passover to Shavuot
The gift would come
On the 50th day
The gift of our Path
The gift of our Story
The gift of our Light
The gift of our Giving
The gift of our Receiving
We did not know that on one Shavuot,
Thousands of years from
The time when we counted
That we would count fifty dead
We would count each of them
Each one created in G-d’s image
We will need to count each sunrise they witnessed
We will need to count each day they lived
We will need to count each sunset arrived too soon
We will remember each gift:
The gift of his path
The gift of her story
The gift of their light
We count each of them
Fifty of them
They count
And we count them
Their exodus from life
Their journey
Their final revelation
They count
—————————-
Written in memory of those murdered in Orlando
By Jennifer R. Zunikoff on June 15, 2016, two days after the mass shooting there
