Holidays

PESACH

Readings for Passover

“…wherever you are it is probably Egypt (meaning a narrow place). There is a better place, a promised land. The only way to the Promised Land is through the wilderness. There is no way to get there except by joining hands together and marching”

Michael Walzer

"Paintbox"
by Tali Shurek (13 y.o.)

I had a paintbox,
each color glowing with delight.
I had a paintbox,
with colors warm, and cool, and bright.

I had no red for the wounds and blood,
I had no red for an orphaned child,
I had the white for the face of Death,
I had no yellow for burning sands.

I had orange for joy and life,
I had green for bugs and blooms,
I had blue for clear blue skies,
I had pink for dreams and rest.

I sat down and painted,

Peace.

The Gates of Hope
by Victoria Safford

Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of Hope—Not the prudent gates of Optimism,
Which are somewhat narrower.
Not the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense;
Nor the strident gates of Self-Righteousness,
Which creak on shrill and angry hinges
(People cannot hear us there; they cannot pass through)
Nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of
“Everything is gonna’ be all right.”
But a different, sometimes lonely place,
The place of truth-telling,
About your own soul first of all and its condition.
The place of resistance and defiance,
The piece of ground from which you see the world
Both as it is and as it could be
As it will be;
The place from which you glimpse not only struggle,
But the joy of the struggle.
And we stand there, beckoning and calling,
Telling people what we are seeing
Asking people what they see.