In 2018, following the shooting at Congregation Tree of Life in Pittsburg, I created this video with the words you see below.
Today, how tragic that we add yet another act of senseless hate to this list of violence. The school shooting in Uvalde, Texas leaves us grief-stricken.
But it can not relegate us to paralysis.
We live in one of the most educated times in history. And yet we continue to allow guns to get into the hands of people with nefarious intentions. Please, take a moment in time to hold close those you love. Hold them extra close.
And take an additional moment in time to write…. Write to your elected officials. Write to your newspapers. Let them know that enough is enough. “We will not stand by idly while our neighbors bleed” (Lev. 19:16).
”We Are”
by Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro, 2018. Updated in 2022
We are Parkland.
We are Newtown.
We are Orlando.
We are Las Vegas.
We are Charlie Hedbo.
We are Virginia Tech
We are Charleston
We are San Bernadino
We are Laramee
We are Oklahoma City
We are Columbine
We are the Congregation Tree of Life in Pittsburgh
We are Thousand Oaks
We are Chistchurch
We are Sri Lanka
We are Poway
We are Atlanta
We are Boulder
We are Buffalo
We are Uvalde, Texas
We are
We are all these places where violence and hate crimes have inflicted terror on humanity.
And today WE are Culver City, and we bring a message of SHALOM
We are Jews
We are Christians
We are Muslims
We are Hindus, Shiks, and Bhuddists. We are Bahai
We are atheists and agnostics.
We pray to God, to Adonai, to Allah.
We love our children.
We are black, we are white, we are Latino. We are Asian. We are LGBTQ.
We are Democrats. We are Republicans.
We are immigrants. We are native.
We are survivors.
We are redeemers.
We are.
We are and we love and we dream and we hope.
We are.
We pray and we listen. We embrace and we care.
We are.
We march toward truth. We replace darkness with light.
We are.
We pursue justice. We march for peace. We gather with unity.
We fight the evils of antisemitism, a disease that has plagued Judaism – and all who care about humanity – for 3500 years.
We inherit the right to be safe in our schools, our houses of worship, and our places of recreation.
We inherit the responsibility to demand more of our community when that safety is compromised.
We are.
And we always will be.
As the prophet, Amos taught, “Let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
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Emma’s diary represents testimony of an America, and an American Jewish community, torn asunder during America’s strenuous effort to manifest its founding ideal of the equality of all people who were created in the image of God.
On Yom HaShoah, we speak of six million who were murdered. But I also remember the nine million who lived. Nine million Jews who got up every morning, took their children to school, and strove every day to survive, because they believed in life.
Gratitude is greatly emphasized in much of Jewish observance, from blessings before and after meals, the celebration of holidays such as Passover, a festival that celebrates liberation from slavery, and in the psalms.
The seder table itself is a model of radical welcome: we are told explicitly to invite the stranger, to make room for those who ask questions and for those who do not yet know how to ask.
The playground in Jerusalem didn’t stop antisemitism, and renovating playgrounds in New York City is not likely to stop it there, either — because antisemitism in America today is not rooted in a lack of slides or swings.
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