Owensby: Violence
“The sorrow and horror I feel at yesterday’s murders at the Living Tree Synagogue in Pittsburgh have left me disoriented and inarticulate. But those events have also strengthened my resolve to act for justice and peace in our land and beyond.
I urge you to join me in resisting hate, prejudice, injustice, and violence in the voting booth, on social media and in our ordinary speech. Speak love. Join the struggle for equality, respect, and freedom for all. Strive for peace and insist on respect for the dignity of every human being.” Jake Owensby, Bishop of Western Louisiana, “ Prayers for a Start, “ Looking for God in Messy Places, jakeowensby.com, October 28, 2018.
Plachte-Zuieback Art Glass. Jewish Tree of Life
Like so many of you, I am grieving for the congregation of the Living Tree Synagogue in Pittsburg after the mass murder during their Saturday services. Jake Owensby seemed to say what I want to express. There are not words, but we are called to certain actions.
Our Interfaith groups in Little Rock have been invited to a prayer service Monday at the Temple B’nai Israel at 6 pm. The is where my heart leads me. I remember after the shooting at Bethel AME church in Charleston in January, 2017, we went to services to sit with our friends at Bethel AME in Little Rock.
We say prayers, but we also want to say prayers with our feet. Jake Owensby is also reminding us to say prayers in the voting booth, on social media, and how we speak to each other.
Each of us has inherited prejudice of some form, some very subtle. As the song in South Pacific goes, “we have been carefully taught.” Our friends, our community also shape our prejudices. Our social economic situation shapes our prejudices.
Family systems studies tell us that part of our job is to stop the prejudices that have come down through our generations. We owe this to our children and grandchildren. I know we can do this by being with communities of diversity, listening to the stories of others so different from us, appreciating what we learn from other cultures.
Treating and loving our neighbor as we would want to be treated and loved is a start.
Praying for the members of the Tree of Life Synagogue, those who have died and their families in a start. Those who have died are
Daniel Stein
Joyce Feinberg
Richard Gottfried
Rose Mallinger
Jerry Rabinowitz
Cecil Rosenthal
David Rosenthal
Bernice Simon
Sylvan Simon
Melvin Wax
Irving Younger
Joanna joannaseibert.com