This is a newsletter from a female Rabbi. She is simply a wonderful person. Her letter applies to all people from my point of view. The point is, in case it is not obvious to some, this is where the Jewish community is today.
Dear Friends,
I feel so torn at this moment of writing. I have so many things to share with you, all the makings of a vibrant Jewish community and yet, this cloud of sadness lingers heavily around the periphery of life. It takes your breath away and swallows the oxygen from the air. Evil unleashed is terrifying, yet when it comes so close to home, it is devastating.
And yet, this reality, the fine line between joy and sorrow, this tightrope is what makes for a REAL life. Being able to see, at once, the good as well as the bad, and then choosing to stay firmly on the side of goodness. This is the road we should all strive to walk upon. No, it is not easy but it is vital.
This past Rosh Hashanah I wrote a sermon entitled the Two Wolves. I began that sermon talking about Mr. Rogers and his impeccable devotion to the highest moral values. I stated that no, Mr. Rogers wasn’t Jewish, but his values certainly were. Mr. Rogers neighborhood was the Squirrel Hill community of Pittsburg.
The thesis of my sermon was that, the passage through time of our deepest and most precious Jewish values, to see God in every human soul, to love one’s neighbor as one loves oneself. To never judge another before you have stood in their shoes. To feed the vulnerable before you feed yourself, to reach out for the poor, the lost, the forgotten, the marginalized. To uphold the rights of the refugee because we once were those very same refugees. To welcome those who have no home. To fix the brokenness of the world with kindness and generosity of spirit, that it is these foundational Jewish values that keep the Jewish people vital and vibrant. We are nothing if we aren’t these values.
Our challenge today in light of this massacre, is to hold on even tighter to these values than we did before. 11 human souls had their precious lives stolen from them and I suspect, in my deepest heart that if we could ask them how we should proceed now, they would say, stay strong and guided by the values that have made our people a light of morality. Make that light shine even brighter. I believe this is what each one of them would tell us. I believe.
-Joyce Fienberg, 75, of Oakland, City of Pittsburgh
-Richard Gottfried, 65, of Ross Township
-Rose Mallinger, 97, of Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh
-Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, of Edgewood Borough
-Cecil Rosenthal, 59, of Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh
-David Rosenthal, 54, (brother of Cecil), of Squirrel Hill
-Bernice Simon, 84, of Wilkinsburg
-Sylvan Simon, 86, (husband of Bernice), of Wilkinsburg
-Daniel Stein, 71, of Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh
-Melvin Wax, 88, of Squirrel Hill, City of Pittsburgh
-Irving Younger, 69, of Mt. Washington, City of Pittsburgh
