מִמַּעֲמַקִּ֖ים קְרָאתִ֣יךָ יְי׃ אֲדֹנָי֮ שִׁמְעָ֢ה בְק֫וֹלִ֥י תִּהְיֶ֣ינָה אׇ֭זְנֶיךָ קַשֻּׁב֑וֹת לְ֝ק֗וֹל תַּחֲנוּנָֽי׃
“… Out of the depths I call to You, Adonai – Lord, hear my voice: let Your ears attend to the sound of my pleadings.”
Psalm 130:1
Language is holy – it is the tool the Holy One used to bring our world into being.
And yet there are moments when there are simply no words, where language does not exist to express the anguish of the heart or the pain in one’s soul.
The evil massacre that stole the lives of 19 fourth grade school children in Uvalde, Texas yesterday, along with two of their teachers, tears at the marrow of our very being. That the horror of this event stirs memories of other school massacres reveals the sickness of our time.
Our tradition teaches that the house of learning is a sacred place, a sanctuary, a place of holiness and safety. But Tuesday, Robb Elementary school was desecrated by an act so evil and terrible it is hard to fathom.
Israel’s memorial to the Holocaust, Yad VaShem, includes the children’s memorial, an extraordinary edifice commemorating the murders of one and one half million children. A system of mirrors casts the light of a single memorial candle into a sea of lights that surrounds you to infinity. It reminds us of our tradition that whoever should destroy a single human life; it is as if he destroyed an entire universe.
It doesn’t matter if a million children are murdered, or nineteen. The murder of one child is enough. It’s enough to overwhelm the soul. The faces of each of the nineteen who were murdered this week radiate the innocence and purity and holiness that young childhood represents. They were murdered where they should have been safest – in their schoolhouse, a home away from home.
Our society is broken. And we who comprise the members of our society are broken too.
A society is broken when parents cannot trust with absolute faith that their children will be safe at school.
A society is broken when division and hatred makes us see the other as not worthy of concern, not deserving of respect, not fully human.
A society is broken when it gives itself over to selfishness and greed, lust for power and sanctimonious self-righteousness, knowing how corrosive is corruption on public trust, and that integrity, decency, honor, and humility are the pillars that hold up a faithful society.
A society is broken when it gives itself over to deceit and dishonesty, knowing that the erosion of truth will destroy the right and the good.
A society is broken when it gives itself over to anger and violence, knowing that hurting each other solves nothing, and that only forbearance, tolerance, understanding and love have the power to heal.
A society is broken when its members insist that the only way we can be safe and secure is with a weapon of war in our hands.
This is a time that screams out for healing, a guttural cry that shrieks with pain and anger and frustration and deep, deep grief. It is a cry that transcends language – but calls us with utter clarity to rebuild our broken hearts with love, to rebuild our broken souls with hope, and to rebuild our broken society with a renewed commitment to see the presence of God reflected in the face of the other.
May the source of all love and healing sustain those who face an unfathomable loss, and help us to heal our broken hearts and our broken world.
