Central Reform Congregation

2 weeks ago

Here are some beautiful words from Rabbi Susan Talve during her trip to Israel:
Day 1
Dear Friends,
Though there are still days I find it hard to leave my house, I am in Israel, sitting on the shores of the sea where Hanna Szenes wrote her eternal words
My God, My God
I pray that these things never end
the sand and the sea
the rush of the waters
the crash of the heavens
the prayers of the heart.
Hannah was one of the founders of the fishing village that became this kibbutz, Sdot Yam. I came to spend a year here when i was 19. I was adopted by a family who were also founders. My"father," Eliezer z'l, slept in the same bunk with Hannah. They were both from Hungary. He told me how the young women would get the British soldiers drunk so the men could take boats into the sea to bring the illegal refugees escaping the terrors of Europe ashore. I came back to visit and spend time many times over the years. When they lost their son, my soul brother, Kobi, to a war in Lebanon, i saw what grief could do to a parent, to a sister, and in this case, to a nation. I am here to visit my "mother," who is ailing and her daughter and granddaughters. And, this afternoon, I will leave here to meet the five women I will travel with for the next week. Three rabbis and three Christian ministers, who are here not as tourists, but as pilgrims and as sisters, ready to deepen in relationship through courageous and loving, conversation.
In late July of 2014 as missiles were falling on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and bombs were devastating Gaza, I was in Israel.
i came home to August 9th and the murder of Mike Brown Jr., the
Ferguson uprising and the connections made between black and brown young people facing militarization and racism across the world. A group of clergy found ourselves holding the streets, the bold and beautiful young people and each other. The solidarity with the struggle for Palestinian liberation found its way into the Black Lives Matter Movement. Young black leaders were taken to Palestine. As a rabbi on the street I was asked to take a stand, either I stood with Israel or with Palestine. I continued to stand in the place of believing that the only answer is co-existence; not either-or but and-and. The first idea of this trip came from conversations with Rev. Traci Blackmon. We realized early on that we needed to walk this land, Israel and Palestine, together. To see through each others eyes, To listen with our hearts. To be willing to let faith overcome fear and open us to the possibility that something new could emerge.
The journey that is supported by a grant from the Jewish Federation of St. Louis begins tonight at the shores of the sea. I will greet my sisters, Rev. Karen Anderson, Rev. Deb Krause, Rev. Traci Blackmon, Rabbi Andrea Goldstein and Maharat Rori Picker-Neiss with the eternal words of the poet Hannah Szenes and pray that these things that are essential for the survival of all people and of our planet, never end.
Love,
Susan ... See MoreSee Less