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.

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