O God, full of compassion,
Who dwells on high, grant true rest upon the wings of the Shechinah↑, in the exalted spheres of the holy and pure, who shine as the resplendence of the firmament, to the souls of the eleven slain members of Tree of Life synagogue who [have] gone to their eternal home; may their place of rest be in Gan Eden. Therefore, may the All-Merciful One shelter them with the cover of His wings forever, and bind their souls in the bond of life. The Lord is their heritage; may they rest in peace; and let us say: Amen!
~ A slight adaptation of El Maleh Rachamim — the Jewish prayer for the dead.
. . . Jews and Christians are called upon to work together. None of us can do it alone. Both of us must realize that in our age anti-Semitism is anti-Christianity and that anti-Christianity is anti-Semitism.
[Humanity] is never as open to fellowship as . . . in moments of misery and distress. . .
Our era marks the end of complacency, the end of evasion, the end of self-reliance. Jews and Christians share the perils and the fears; we stand on the brink of the abyss together. . .
Parochialism has become untenable. . .
No religion is an island. We are involved with one another. Spiritual betrayal on the part of one of us affects the faith of all of us. Views adopted in one community have an impact on other communities. Today religious isolationism is a myth. . .
We must choose between inter-faith and inter-nihilism. . .
On what basis do we people of different religious commitments meet one another?
First and foremost we meet as human beings who have so much in common: a heart, a face, a voice, the presence of a soul, fears, hope, the ability to trust, a capacity for compassion and understanding, the kinship of being human. My first task in every encounter is to comprehend the personhood of the human being I face, to sense the kinship of being human, solidarity of being. . .
A person is not just a specimen of the species called homo sapiens. He [or she] is all of humanity in one, and whenever one [person] is hurt we are all injured. The human is a disclosure of the divine, and all . . . are one in God’s care for [humankind].
~ Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Note: A feminine word, Shechinah is the Hebrew word referring to the Indwelling and abiding Divine Presence.
The above selections are taken from Rabbi Heschel’s inaugural lecture as the Harry Emerson Fosdick Visiting Professor at Union Theological Seminary in 1965. His audience was predominantly Christians. It first appeared in print in January 1966 in Union Theological Seminary Quarterly. Sadly, the address is as timely today as it was over fifty years ago.