Written during the T’ruah delegation to the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, January 26-28, 2020
Rabbi Nina H. Mandel
Bo
Bo el Par’oh
Come after the oppressor
Join the trouble
Muster your strength
Gird your loins
Mobilize your anger
Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt
Watch for bias
Cry out for truth
Soften your hardened heart
Embrace your neighbor
Persist, persist, persist
Ad matai? Until when?
Until there is no longer fear of justice;
Race is no longer predictive of wrongful conviction;
Poverty is no longer criminalized;
Children no longer receive life sentences.
Recommit, recommit, recommit
Until the institutions built by oppression are dismantled;
White supremacists no longer fuel antisemitism and racism;
Our diversity is embraced, not feared.
Until, until, until
May our eyes and hearts remain open as they are today,
Fired by the sights and stories of injustice.
And may this holy community continue to be a source of support and wisdom,
As we kumu, tze’u
Get up and go out to face the oppressor.
Bo.