Here is what I sent to the Temple Israel of Great Neck community two days after Election Day.
To the Entire Temple Israel of Great Neck Family:
We have completed a tense, divisive election season and a
new president, Donald Trump, has been chosen. The reactions in our congregational family run the gamut, our
own ideological and political diversity in many ways reflecting that of our
nation.
As American Jews, we strive to bring the noblest values of
two traditions to bear on how we influence and shape society – the American
commitment to democracy and freedom and the bedrock Jewish principal that all
human beings are equally precious by virtue of having been created in the image
of God.
We must continue to affirm our commitment to honor the
equal, inalienable rights of all of our nation’s inhabitants of all political
perspectives, religions, races, ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, gender
identities and sexual orientations.
We have made much progress in these areas and must continue to move
forward.
We must work harder to talk and especially to listen well to
one another, particularly when we disagree.
And we must continue to affirm our commitment as a synagogue
to be a place where everyone feels welcome to discover the power of Judaism to
bring blessing to our lives and to our world.
Abraham and Sarah, whose geographic and spiritual journey we
will be reading about this Shabbat, were charged by God to be a source of
blessing to all the families of the earth.
Let all of us in our beloved, passionate, diverse Temple
Israel community continue to channel the legacy of Abraham and Sarah, bringing
blessing to our community, our nation and our world.
Please join us at 8 pm this evening, Thursday, November 10,
for our daily evening service, which will include a prayer for our great nation
and its potential. Of course we
will also offer this prayer on Shabbat.
May God forever inspire us to honor God’s image in all human
beings and may God bless the United States of America.
November 10, 2016
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