12/27/18

So God, why us?

Why couldn’t he turn his car a different direction?

I began services at 9:45. The shooting started a few minutes after. There were 12 of us in the sanctuary at that time

I helped pull out the people that I could from the front, but alas, I had eight people in the back. One fortunately survived. Seven of my congregants were shot dead in my sanctuary

My holy place has been defiled

I thought to myself the 23rd Psalm, “Thе Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.”

Well, God, I want. What I want, you can’t givе me. You can’t return these 11 beautiful souls. You can’t rewind the clock. What I want, you can’t give me, but yet it says, “I shall not want.” “You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.” with love from strangers, people I’ve never met, people who are not from the United States, but people from all around the world—Jewish, Christian, Muslim—all with the same message: we are here for you

That’s how you defeat hate

At the end of Noah, God says “I recognize that from his youth, man is prone to evil.”

What a depressing thought?

Isn’t there a chance for good?

The answer is, yes, there is. You don’t have to follow the “prone to evil” path. We can also be “prone to good” if you decide to take that path

It starts with speech

Words of hate are unwelcome in Pittsburgh. It starts with everyone in this room, and I want to address for a moment some of our political leaders who are here:

Ladies and Gentleman, it has to start with you as our leaders

Stop the words of hate. If it comes from you, Americans will listen. Independent of what any of our elected officials choose to do from here on…

It’s us, “We, the people…”

Tree of Life has lost seven branches, but really eleven because they’re all part of our family. But we’ve been here 150 years, we’ve got a lot more branches. We will rebuild to be a stronger tree, offering a new light, offering a Dor Chadash--a new generation--so that collectively, people will come and say, “Wow, that’s how you’re supposed to live your life.”

It starts with one simple step: just stop the hate

Don’t say it

It just takes one person to make that difference. The question I have for you is: are any of you that person?