Rabbi Penzner's voice resounded in Boston City Hall on Wednesday as she offered the invocation for the weekly City Council meeting. District 6 City Councilor Matt O'Malley introduced our rabbi, fondly recalling meeting her when she offered the invocation at Mayor Menino's State of the City Address at Faneuil Hall in 2012 and joining HBT for St. Patrick's Day (which also happened to be Purim) a few years ago. She opened by thanking Councilor O'Malley for his service to our district, as he is stepping down at the end of this term.
Thank you to Councilor O’Malley for your years of service. You have represented the people of District 6 with deep respect and fierce dedication, and you have brought focused attention on the environmental challenges that threaten our city. It is an honor to be here today. May God bless you and the work of your hands.
Shema Yisrael…..echad
Hear O Israel, Adonai our God, who is One
This is the essence of Jewish belief, a statement of witness that all Jews know to recite, starting when we are children reciting it at bedtime. These words come from our Holy Scriptures and fall in the portion of the Torah that Jews worldwide will read this week. Yet in its affirmation of Oneness, the Shema has a universal message.
The word shema, means listen, pay attention.
Pay attention: there is a profound Oneness that connects us all.
Pay attention to the Oneness when you feel alone and disconnected. That Oneness is Love.
Pay attention to the Oneness when you feel powerful and righteous. That Oneness is Wisdom.
Pay attention to the Oneness when insurmountable divisions prevent us from hearing one another. That Oneness is Compassion.
Pay attention to the Oneness when the only voice we hear is the one inside our own heads. That Oneness is Humility.
We reach out, cry out, to the One, the Source, God with multitudes of names, and ask Your help today.
In these hot and humid days of summer, the troubles of our times fall heavily on us. The City of Boston is a city facing rising sea levels and unshaded streets, schools that need better ventilation and neighborhoods that need equitable care. The needs are many. The time is short. Be courageous.
In these glorious, playful days of summer, seedlings of healing and building, gratitude and renewal burst with joy through the cracks in the heaviness. Our city is a story of rising with resilience, a story of hope and humor, a story of life after loss, and story of love. As we slowly emerge from our separateness, each day, each encounter is a gift. This city brings joy through its festivals and fields of play, through the bright colors of public art and public gardens. Honor that joy with gratitude.
Rabbi Simcha Bunem, a wise rebbe of 250 years ago taught: Everyone should have two pockets. In each pocket you carry a slip of paper. On one is written, “For my sake the entire world was created.” And on the other is written, “I am but dust and ashes.”
The first is meant for a time when we feel alone and hopeless. “For my sake the entire world was created.” The second is for a time when we are blinded by our own grandeur. “I am but dust and ashes.”
We are called at one time to be bold and at others to be humble. That is the oneness that we hold with tenderness and tenacity. The oneness of listening and of being heard. The oneness that celebrates the humanity within each of us.
May these humble and noble public servants recognize the power that is a gift to them, bestowed for a time by the citizens of this city and by the Oneness, the Creator, the Source.
May these noble and humble public servants have the mercy to listen with attention and curiosity to the voices of others on this Council, opening their eyes to new ways of seeing and opening their hearts to new ways of being.
May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You, the divine Source of All who affirms Life and who demands justice and who seeks peace.