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A Message from Our Clergy In this Time of Uncertainty and Anxiety

November 1, 2020

This week’s Parashah, Lekh-Lekha, tells the story of Abraham and Sarah leaving their homeland in search of a new future in the Land of Israel. The Torah calls him Avram ha-Ivri, “the one who passes through.” Like our ancestors, we are passing through a time of profound uncertainty and fear.

In this time of heartbreak, we mourn the senseless death of Walter Wallace, Jr., a Black father, son and twin who was killed by police in West Philadelphia on Monday afternoon, at twenty-seven years old, in front of his home, before his mother’s eyes after his family had called for help in the midst of a mental health crisis. We stand with our Black siblings and insist together: Black Lives Matter.

This week, we lifted up the memory of eleven Jewish siblings lost in the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh two years ago. The forces of hatred, of white supremacy, racism and anti-Semitism are lethal. Our fates are linked; we must do all in our power to work for justice and for a world where each human is treated as an image of the Divine.

We look ahead to Election Day on Tuesday. Many members of our community have been working to get out the vote and to ensure that we have a free and fair election. We are committed to standing beside neighboring faith communities to insist that every ballot be opened and every vote counted in our state and throughout the country. We hope and pray that things will be peaceful.

It is likely that the election will not yield a definite result on Tuesday, and the uncertainty and anxiety we currently feel will extend for some time into the future. We pray that we can support one another as we ensure that the democratic process plays out. We are also concerned about scenarios that may arise after the election and the role that Pennsylvania and Philadelphia may play as a central battleground for control of our nation.

Like Sarah and Abraham, our life circumstances call us to dig deep for the courage to face and pass through the tests of our generation. And just as Abraham and Sarah journeyed with a full complement of fellow-travelers, we face these times of sorrow and fear together with our BZBI community, the broader Jewish community, and good people of all faiths throughout Philadelphia. We must work together to root out hatred, to stand for justice and to pour love into our community.

In the days to come, we encourage you to join us for morning minyan, evening minyan, and Shabbat services Friday and Saturday using the regular Zoom services link to offer prayers for peace and safety in our city, to help share our feelings, and be there to support one another.

If you want to get involved in supporting free and fair elections for all this year, and participating in other social justice opportunities along with other members of our BZBI community, please sign up for BZBI’s Tikkun Olam Action Alerts WhatsApp group using this link.

For those in the BZBI and wider Jewish communities who would like to connect and prepare together for the time period after Election day, our BZBI community members, Rachel Beck and Rabbi Yosef Goldman are holding a gathering on Sunday 11/1 from 7-8:30 pm. If you would like to attend or if you would like to stay connected with this group for future conversations and trainings, RSVP at this link.

As we move through the days and weeks ahead, may we stand together, learn together, pray together, hope together and support one another. As Abraham steps with courage out of his comfort zone and into the unknown, God promises him that he and his descendants will be a blessing. May we be for our world and for one another, a blessing.

Rabbi Abe Friedman
Senior Rabbi

Rabbi Annie Lewis
Associate Rabbi

Rabbi Ira Stone
Rabbi Emeritus

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