"5775" Tagged Sermons

The burdens of memory

Friends, there is just too much to share for one moment, even this moment. Yes, I say that every year, but this year I really do mean it more. So many have gathered tonight, across the world, some because they feel an irrational tribal pull, some because they fervently believe, some despite what they fervently believe. We are holy and non-conforming people in a holy and unconventional Jewish community. We are women and men, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight, republican, democrat, independent (and other), we are single, we are married, we are old, we are young, our skin comes in many shades, we struggle with mental illness and we are caregivers, we are divorced, we are single parents, we do not have children, we are Jewish and we are not. We are all this and more. And in this crowded room we are all equal, all family, and all home.

Ferguson/Fargesn

Do you remember? The crowd was much larger than the police expected. The funeral procession snaked through the bustling downtown district, picking up mourners at each stop. The death brought the community together in ways nobody would have imagined. He wasn’t the man some would have hoped for. But he was theirs. And they would…