The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Healing our nation
The country is stunned by the invasion and shameful desecration of our nation’s capital. It reminds me of the invasion and desecration of Jerusalem’s Holy Temple in the days of the Maccabees. After the invaders were expelled and the sanctuary was purified, it was rededicated to its sacred purpose through kindling the lights of the menorah. Do we need a “Hanukah” ceremony to rededicate our capital and seat of government? Can clergy throughout the country come together and create our unique dedication service that can heal the heart of America?
As clergy, let us dig deeply into our collective reservoir of creative spirit. The country hobbles on at daybreak, but there is a sense that we have been defiled and rendered ritually impure. That we are in that valley of dry bones searching for a way to live again. We need to find that one jar of pure olive oil still bearing the seal of the High Priest before we can illumine our candelabrum. We need the purifying waters of the Red Heifer sprinkled upon us so that we can ascend God’s Holy mountain with clean hands and a pure heart. Have we not been called to be a light unto the nations? Surely, we must first illumine that light for ourselves before we can be the light of the world; before we can be that city on the hill for all to see.
President Lincoln consoled the nation in his days with these words, “We are not enemies, but friends ... (and even) though passion may have strained our friendship) it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell, when again (we are) touched ... by the better angels of our nature.” Notice these key words: (1) Friendship, (2) Affection, (3) Passion (4) Memory and (5) Nature. Could these be the secret ingredients of healing and re-dedication we are to weave into this new observance?
While justice must be served upon the rioters, we must also try and understand how and why they were compelled to do what they did. We must also learn to distinguish between those who came to honor our age-old tradition of robust public discourse and those who breached our sacrosanct social contract. Among those who breached the walls, I sense a deep woundedness, suffering and selfloathing; a feeling of being sent to the outer camp as lepers and scapegoats soon to be thrown off the cliff of modern industrial society.
The connective tissue that runs through it all, in varying degrees, is a sense of being excluded from the favored group. And those who succumbed to violence, they stopped looking to their highest angels and started looking towards their darkest demons. They live in existential pain for which they have found no relief. And being unable to bear it any longer, under the hypnotic encouragement from the highest office of the land, they sought temporary relief by projecting their pain outward onto others through grotesque seditious violence.
“Can these dry bones live again?” Yes, they can, and yes, they will, as soon as we enunciate once again, our true national creed. This means, the practice of conducting public discourse robustly within the bounds of civility, and within the bounds of our nation’s social contract. The ability to listen to our fellow citizens and allowing all worthy perspectives
President Lincoln consoled the nation in his days with these words, “We are not enemies, but friends ... (and even) though passion may have strained our friendship) it must not break our bonds of affection.
to add tendons, flesh, and muscle to our bones. This means we advocate for our passionate beliefs in democratic contests throughout our Constitutional Republic. Sometimes we win, and sometimes we lose, but when the contest is over, we stretch forth our hand of friendship and affection to congratulate our interlocutor.
It is time to rededicate ourselves through a national ritual that will reestablish love for our neighbor and love for God. It is time to allow the light of this love to illumine our core values of friendship, affection, passion, and the higher angels of our national character.
Rabbi Dr. Shaul Marshall Praver is the former Congregational Rabbi of Newtown and “spiritual first responder” to the tragic massacre of Dec. 14, 2012. Currently, he serves as a prison chaplain, and a senior fellow at the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute in Washington, D.C., and recently authored “The Love Zap: Harnessing the Power of Love to Transform the World.” Rabbi Praver along with several of his colleagues from Newtown’s interfaith clergy group, continue providing spiritual care for the Newtown families. Newsweek recognized Rabbi Praver as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in 2013 for his strong local and national ministry presence.