Jewish 9/11 and Shabbat

There are many things in Judaism relating to #remembering: both positive and negative experiences motivate us to work towards being better versions of ourselves, and as a society. The act of remembering recurs throughout #Judaism: our calendar is full of #remembrances from our past.
 
 On Shabbat we are urged to not only REST, but to REMEMBER.
 
 And on this Shabbat, America is also landing on a remembrance of another kind altogether. This particularly fraught and confusing #September11th, 2020 we are remembering the 2,799 lost lives from that senseless act of terrorism and hatred, but what also feels vitally significant is to remember the 194,000+ (and counting) American human lives that have, as of today, been taken by the Coronavirus.

 On this Shabbat, I wish you rest and remembrance.
 Our memories shape us and guide our mission to build a better, more equitable world.
 Our memories of oppression should remind us to wipe out slavery of all kinds, and to treat all people with dignity.
 Our memories of hatred, violence and terrorism should remind us to stand up against hatred and prejudice with love and light.
 
 Ours is an active existence.
 

     “There is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord.  Life goes wrong when the control of space, the acquisition of things of space, becomes our sole concern.  The Sabbath is the day on which we learn the art of surpassing civilization— Abraham Joshua Heschel

 
Good Sabbath, my friends. May we Never  Forget.