Mourning Into mitzvah

Newsletter August 12, 2024 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Yesterday, I gathered with dozens of other community leaders and hundreds of community members to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center. 

The August 10, 1999 incident, where a white supremacist gunman entered the JCC, fired over 70 rounds from a uzi, shot 5 people (three of them under 10 years old), and then killed a nearby postal carrier, Joseph Ileto, was motivated by hate of Jews, Asians, and Latinos. (View a news story on this HERE; and you may find my benediction at the link HERE.) 

The keynote speaker for the event was a dad named Fred Guttenberg whose 14 year old daughter, Jaime, was killed at the Parkland High School shooting. He spoke about the impact on his family including his son who was at the school at the time, and the dangers of gun violence. (photo above)

Clearly these massacres occurred at the nexus of hatred and the unchecked gun lobby. The violence is escalating with 400M guns (plus more ghost guns) in the US and 20M of them are assault weapons. It is all so sad. 

And it is fitting for us to feel our sadness as tonight marks the saddest day of the Jewish calendar year. On this holiday, known as Tisha b’Av, we commemorate all kinds of hateful acts targeting the Jewish people. Everything from the destruction of the First and Second Temples, the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian programs, the Holocaust, antisemitism in the Middle East and beyond. We mourn it all. And accordingly, it is customary to read the book of Lamentations to aid in our spiritual expression.

On the one hand, it is comforting to know that we don’t have to hold this kind of pain year round, and instead can reserve one sad day a year to mourning in this way. On the other hand, we are commanded to feel this kind of pain and observe morning as an entire united community once a year. And that can be painful to bring up old wounds.

This year we observe this holy day with a fresh set of wounds and deeper sense of mourning having recently experienced the October 7 attacks. (For a new set of Lamentations on this theme, please see this touching poetry HERE.) 

All of this mourning is meant for us to be reminded that the free practice of our religious tradition and free expression of our cultural heritage is not to be taken for granted. Likewise, it may serve to encourage our fight for the right of others to freely practice the traditions that they hold, dear.

Otherwise, why are we remembering the tragedies that have befallen our people? These are days to reflect and consider what we can do to make the world a better place for ourselves and others.

So tonight, take some time to reflect upon the feelings of vulnerability we may feel, and consider new ways to stem the tide of antisemitism, bigotry in all its forms, gun, violence, and more. Let's turn our morning into mitzvot.

Together, may we build a world of safety for all.

This is how we’re keeping it sacred.  

Together we are keeping it sacred….  

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

---

The above is an excerpt from a Keeping It Sacred newsletter. If you want to read the entire newsletter or any from our archives, please head over to: keepingitsacred.com/news 

And if you'd like the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week, please share your name and email address in the fields at the bottom of the page in the purple boxes.

Thanks for your interest, and thanks for #keepingitsacred...