Standing with Friends in Synagogue

Today, I wish to stand with my Jewish friends in the wake of the anti-Semitic violence last week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when a gunman killed eleven worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue. Beit Knesset is the Hebrew term for synagogue. It literally means “house of assembly.” It is the focal point of Jewish communal life, a place for prayer, for study and connection. While the synagogue, Beit Knesset, is a sacred place, it is even more sacred when people assemble together in that place.

The Great Synagogue of Florence or Tempio Maggiore Israelitico di Firenze (Getty Images)

In thinking of the recent tragedy of men and women being gunned down at a house of worship, my mind also went back to a moment of inspiration when I stood in The Great Synagogue in Florence. It was a day when my appreciation for my Jewish friends was heightened all the more.

It happened many years ago when I had completed a teaching position overseas and was touring Europe on my way back home. With a Eurail pass and a Europe on $25 a Day guidebook, I saw some of Europe’s major cities by train. Three wonderful days were spent in Florence, Italy. It is an amazing city, beautifully set on the Arno River and full of art and history. I was in awe as I stood with my hand on the iron gates designed and built by Michelangelo himself!

Interior view of the Great Synagogue 

One surprise that awaited me was The Great Synagogue of Florence (Tempio Maggiore Israelitico di Firenze in Italian). I had not been a student of Italian history, so I had no idea of the existence of this remarkable structure until I visited it on one of my walks through the city. I was one of my favorite encounters in my self-styled European tour.

The synagogue was built between 1874 and 1882 as a symbol of the new freedom that the Jewish community was feeling after being granted emancipation by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1848. One can only imagine the joy and exhilaration the Jewish community must have felt in being allowed to fully participate in society and finally being given the freedom to bring their heritage to full flower.

(The Great Synagogue has Moorish architecture inspired by the

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Here is an interior view of the dome.)

When I stood in that sacred space, I was energized and awe-struck by the beauty and symmetry of that domed structure whose architecture was inspired by the Hagia Sophia in the old city of Constantinople. I took joy in the notion that this community, 100 years earlier, had found the freedom to dwell and to flourish. Even so, I had to recall that there would be darker days ahead for European Jews. Christian antisemitism would continue until faced with the horrors of Nazi Germany. A fresh wind then blew through the open windows of Vatican II in 1962 when the Catholic Church declared that our Jewish friends are indeed fellow pilgrims along the way. It was the herald of a new day, but when will we come to a full realization of that day?

It has been my privilege at various times over the years to stand with friends in synagogues for special events and bar mitzvahs. Today, I wish to stand again with my Jewish friends. I stand just as proudly as I stood so many years ago in the Great Synagogue in Florence. I also weep just as surely as if my own people were cut down.

America should be the place where all are welcome and where no one is excluded – no race, gender, class, or religion should be denied. All people of faith should be able to worship unhindered, certainly no group should be targeted or discriminated against. This is the ideal we stand for. We are not there yet, which is why we must call it out whenever we see violence or discrimination against another. 

We can stand together to make every Beit Knesset, every church, every temple, every mosque, a sacred place. 

For a remembrance of the eleven victims of the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue, go here.

To hear Rabbi Jeffry Meyers at the prayer vigil go here.

_______________________

Photo of The Great Synagogue by Ruy Barbosa Pinto (Getty Images).
Interior photos courtesy of Wikipedia.



-

Monday Music: A Very Lunar Clair de Lune

I always enjoy Tim Lennox's blog. He finds interesting news items to highlight, and he keeps me up on what is happening at NASA (Hubble pics, Mars Rover explorations, etc.). Last week, Tim posted this excellent compilation from NASA of lunar images set to the soundtrack of Clair de Lune:
"Moonlight (Clair de Lune) - Moon Images from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter."

From the NASA YouTube site:

"This visualization uses a digital 3D model of the Moon built from global elevation maps and image mosaics by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. It was created to accompany a performance of Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune by the National Symphony Orchestra Pops, led by conductor Emil de Cou, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on June 1 and 2, 2018, as part of a celebration of NASA's 60th anniversary."



-

Saturday Haiku: Woodlands

the forest hiker

will gladly stop to listen

to a woodland stream

_________________
 Image: "Brookside in Sunlight"
Artist: e.e. cummings
Medium: Oil on canvasboard

-

Who Are We, and What Do We Stand For?

Today's post is a repeat from April 30, 2017. It is my poem to commemorate who we are as a people, and where we stood at that first 100-day mark in a new presidency.  As the president continues to hold campaign-style rallies, we must ask ourselves again, who are we, and what do we stand for?

100 Days

Can the first one hundred days 
Unfold the path before us?

The New Deal reshaped a nation.

The Great Society held out promise

But did not foretell the struggle

And the unraveling that would come.

These one hundred days –

Marked by petty discord,

Wartime posturing,

And confused uncertainty –

May be telling our own story.

While many voices still call out

For justice and equality,

Many others turn a blind eye

To the fascist greed

That shapes the public square.

Sober minds can recall missteps in our past:

A constitution that counted three-fifths of a person

To accommodate slaveholders;

A Supreme Court’s Dred Scott Decision;

A government enforcing the Indian Removal Act.

A country that sings “Let freedom ring”

While shackling slaves

And engaging in genocidal acts

Has been our paradox

Of good and evil.

Taking pains to correct past mistakes,

Our country has made gains

In “liberty and justice for all.”

Now we carefully negotiate our way

Through one hundred days of chaos,

Wondering if those gains will be lost.

“This cannot be us,”

We cry in dismay,

“We are better than this!”

This is, indeed, us.

We are those things we hate

In one another.

Where do we go from here,

Now that our true colors

Are on display?

In the clear light

And in the aftermath of an electoral vote,

Perhaps we see ourselves too clearly,

Or perhaps we do not see at all.

We live with divided allegiances

And shared dreams,

Holding out hope

That our best efforts

May yet correct

Our current missteps.

                                                ~ CK

-

Monday Music: A Very Young Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma at age seven, plays the first movement of Concertino No. 3 by Jean-Baptiste Bréval. He is accompanied by his eleven-year-old sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma. I love the scope of Leonard Bernstein's international vision as he introduces Yo-Yo Ma for the first time to a national audience.

From the YouTube site:
The New York Times reported that on November 29, 1962, a benefit concert called "The American Pageant of the Arts" was to be held with "a cast of 100, including President and Mrs. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Leonard Bernstein (as master of ceremonies), Pablo Casals, Marian Anderson, Van Cliburn, Robert Frost, Fredric March, Benny Goodman, Bob Newhart and a 7-year-old Chinese cellist called Yo-yo Ma, who was brought to the program's attention by Casals."

-

Saturday Haiku: Cloudy Day

cloudy day swiftly

erasing the illusion

between sea and sky

___________________________
Image: Cloudy Day in Mizuki, Ibaraki Prefecture, 1946. Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Kawese Hasui (1883-1957
Medium: Woodblock print



-

For All of Our Endeavors

For the desires we hold for this great American experiment, Reinhold Niebuhr has some important words for today. Niebuhr was a twentieth century theological luminary. You can read a little bit about him at  Reinhold Niebuhr: the theologian politicians read.

Reinhold Niebuhr (RNS photo)

“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.”
                                                

(Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History)

-

Leonard Bernstein, The greatest 5 min. in music education

From the YouTube site:
"This amazing lecture series (The Unanswered Question ), is actually an interdisciplinary overview about the evolution of Western European classical music from Bach through the 20th century..." 

The Unanswered Question was a series of six lectures given by Bernstein at Harvard when he delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures in 1973. Virgil Thomson said of the lectures: “Nobody anywhere presents this material so warmly, so sincerely, so skillfully. As musical mind-openers they are first class; as pedagogy they are matchless.”

-

Monday Music: Crazy (Diana Krall, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson)

Willie Nelson wrote "Crazy" back in 1961, and Country music legend Patsy Cline made it a hit the following year. When Patsy Cline sang country, she could make it sound like a standard right out of the Great American Songbook. Here, putting a smooth jazz spin on the song are Diana Krall, Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello. They performed the number at Willie Nelson's 70th  birthday celebration in 2003.

-

Saturday Haiku: Diligence

ever diligent,

two deer grazing quietly

hear distant footsteps

______________________

Image: "Deer and Pine in Moonlight" at Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Artist: Ohara Koson  (Japanese, 1878–1945)
Medium: Woodblock print



-

No Time for Weeping

[From my Journalistic Poetry file:  an excerpt from a post from April 2, 2017]

Autumn Dawn by James Jordan

No Time for Weeping

I can see the day

When trees will weep for spring

And oceans will mourn 

As waves break upon silent shores.

On this day, however, 
There is no time for weeping.

As long as geese continue to take flight

We live with hope.

While the tiger roams the forests 

We find security in life's foothold.

When dragonflies skirt the waters

And trout swim the streams

We can enjoy the journey set forth

Ten thousand years ago.

In the interest of life

We must resist oil barons

And industrial magnates

When they seek to ramp up outmoded practices

That will increase environmental toxins.

When executive order

Sneers at fresh Yosemite air

And disregards the Appalachian quail,

Those who care for life

Will appeal to sound minds and nurturing spirits.

For those who remember acid rain

And watched when Lake Erie caught fire

There is no time for weeping;

There is only time for action.

The promise of a dollar
In exchange for smokestacks, 
Smog and dirty water
Is a fool's bargain.
Feeding the oil-ridden industrial machine
Invites death's entrenchment.

There is no time for weeping

As long as there is a chance

To prevent the tears

Of our great grandchildren.
Vigilance today
Will keep life in the world tomorrow.

                                                   

                                                                                                  ~ CK

-

Monday Music: From the Kitchen Table (Dave Alvin)

Here's one that a friend recommended. Dave Alvin is a singer-songwriter who was an early proponent of roots rock with the band he founded in the early 1980's, The Blasters. He then moved on to a solo career, bringing a keen eye for American life to his lyrics and ballads.

-

Saturday Haiku: Harvest

moon on the mountain
hay gathered for the harvest
a field in repose

____________________________

Image: "Evening Landscape with Rising Moon" (1889)
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Medium: Oil on Canvas



-

A Visit to Assisi

Assisi's Basilica di San Francesco

Here is another re-post from a few years back. It includes my travel notes from 35 years ago. It was first posted under the title, My Journey to Assisi.

Today, October 4, is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1983 I was able to tour through Europe with a backpack and a Eurail pass. I was single, on my way home after living abroad in Hong Kong for two years, and traveling light. I was able to spend four weeks riding the rails seeing the sights of Europe.  I loved touring London, walking the streets of Paris and seeing the magnificent art and sculpture of Florence (and the beautiful river that flowed through the town). Venice, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam were equally amazing, but the place I was most eager to see was Assisi, having been fascinated by the life of St. Francis and inspired by his example.

In my travel journal that I kept at the time, I remarked about seeing the cathedrals (Westminster Cathedral in London, the Notre Dame and Sacre Cour in Paris, the Sistine Chapel in Rome) and seeing the hectic tourists, the gawking at the architecture, the peddlers spreading their wares along the sidewalks. I commented that “I couldn’t help noticing the incongruence between what these churches had once represented and what is now taking place at those sites.” Even though I expected much the same in Assisi, I was determined that my visit there would be a personal pilgrimage. What I found in Assisi was something altogether different.

Here is what I wrote in my journal in 1983:

What I found in Assisi was not at all what I had expected, I was overwhelmed by the impact that St. Francis’ life still has upon the town. I found there a living community of faith such as I had rarely seen before. Yes, there were many tourist shops lining the streets, but there was something beyond the tourism.

My experience began as I arrived in town about noonday and found lodging in the Monastero Santa Colette . I immediately felt a oneness of spirit with the gracious nuns who lived there and who served as hostesses for travelers. That afternoon, I walked about the town, perhaps one of the most aesthetically beautiful towns I have ever seen. Every building is made out of the same type of pinkish, whitish stone, every street is cobblestone, and the village is set upon a mountainside overlooking the magnificent Umbrian Valley with all its farms and trees.

I had decided I would not go to see St. Francis’ Basilica on that first day, though. It was too important a visit to rush in to.  After dinner as night was falling, I did go to the foot of the hill where the Basilica is. I sat until darkness set in, looking at the lighted church, contemplating the visit I would make the next day.  The following morning after breakfast, I set off for the Basilica.

There is a Lower Basilica and Upper Basilica painted with marvelous frescoes of the life of Christ and the life of St. Francis (the scenes from the life of Christ are in the Upper Church and those from the life of St. Francis are in the Lower). There is also the tomb of St. Francis at the bottom of the Basilica where Mass is observed daily. I mainly wanted to go to the building to worship and to think about St. Francis’ example and how it should affect my own life.

I was hoping it would be a spiritual experience, and it was – far greater than I had imagined. First of all, it was a powerful experience to worship on that place. Second, I was struck by two things: 1) Of all the people coming into the Basilica, it seemed that everyone was coming to worship. There was a profound sense of reverence and nothing of the tourist atmosphere. 2) There were a surprising number of young people.

The fact that everyone entered the building with reverence made it so much easier to maintain a spirit of worship. When I went up to the Upper Church, I happened upon an American friar who was showing an English-speaking group around.  I joined in with the group. That friar was such a down-to-earth fellow, and at the same time he was sharing his own real faith. He was not speaking to us of what was, but of what is. After he was through showing us around he said, “Whenever I talk to young folks like yourselves, I sense that they feel an uneasiness about their future and about their children’s future, so let’s pause and have a period of silent prayer for peace in our world.” Afterwards he spoke to us St. Francis’ favorite blessing:

                        The Lord bless you, and keep you;
                        The Lord make His face shine on you,
                        And be gracious to you;
                        The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
                        And give you peace.

Then he said, “If you want to go by the gift shop you can find it later – I don’t take people to shops, folks” (a man after my own heart!).

As I walked out of the Upper Basilica near the front there was restoration work being done on some of the frescoes. There was scaffolding of four or five tiers lined with college-age kids and young adults working with palates, working on the frescoes. I was moved to tears just by the sight of it and all that it represented – that the younger generation is taking care to see that this place is kept new, and its memories kept fresh.

Detail from Giotto’s painting, “ St Francis Preaching to Birds”

*   *   *

Related posts:
St. Francis of Assisi: He’s Not Just for Birdbaths
St. Francis of Assisi: A Photo Essay

-

The Feminine Voice in a Pivotal Age

The "silence breakers" of the Me Too Campaign
named Time Magazine's Person of the Year

I believe we are living in a pivotal age, meaning that humanity is at one of those historical crossroads.  The old institutions are not serving as effectively as in the past and we have not yet figured out what social structures will best serve us in our current time, not to mention in the years ahead. Pivotal times are never easy.  They are marked by unrest with some clinging to the past, others pressing for change, and few with adequate insight to see how to navigate the shoals of change.

The good news is that pivotal ages are times of rebirth for society. They are times when humanity can emerge from the chrysalis that held it for a time to find a new day of of promise. The hard truth for those who happen to be living in a  pivotal age is that they will not see the full benefit that is yet to come.

Pivotal times are borne out today in that we are seeing the struggle of our emerging from that chrysalis of outdated structures (St. Paul called it labor pains that precede the birth of a new world). There is a new awareness arising that will ultimately guide us to a healthier way of living. Two big examples of that awareness are (1) society's insistence that we address the plight of child abuse and (2) the call to end men's violence against women.

In our lifetime, we may not see the full fruition. We may have to content ourselves with living in hope that the new day will dawn. In the meantime, we must not grow weary in our efforts toward the greater common good. To that end, I am re-posting an essay from September 2015 about Hildegard of Bingen.

Hildegard was a true visionary during a pivotal age. She lived from 1098 to 1179. I offer this brief recollection in celebration of that feminine voice that is emerging today as we find ourselves once again on the cusp of change. 

Hildegard of Bingen: Wellspring of Creativity

Hildegard of Bingen (Feast Day, September 17) is sometimes referred to as the patron saint of creativity. She has also been known as the patron saint of the culinary arts, having written many recipes including her "Cookies of Joy" recipe for "reducing bad humors" and "fortifying the nerves." Actually, she is not an official patron saint of anything, which may be a good thing because to think of Hildegard merely as a “patron saint” is to gloss over her profound capabilities and influence.

Hildegard of Bingen was a polymath – an individual highly gifted in a variety of fields. She was skilled in the healing arts, having written two books on pharmaceutical herbs and the workings of the body. Her written works include theology, ethics, and biblical commentary. In addition, she composed music and wrote poetry. She was a visionary who brought religion, science, and art together.

St. Hildegard has a wide range of admirers today. She was recently been named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI (there are only 35 Doctors of the Church to date, and only four women). She is also of interest to feminist scholars and many in the New Age movement.  She claimed her knowledge came from divine visionary experiences, which may have lent credence to her words at a time when women had little voice. She challenged institutional corruption in the church and spoke out for social justice. There is even renewed interest in Hildegard’s music, with several modern recordings featuring her works.

A Pivotal Age

The Twelfth Century was a very dynamic period and St. Hildegard was right there in the thick of it, having lived from 1098 to 1179. Indeed, it was a pivotal time of shaking off many of the old ways and taking up new forms. Perhaps it is no wonder that the saint from Bingen is attracting more attention in our day when old forms are not working and our institutions which were developed during the Industrial Revolution are languishing and becoming ineffectual.

One example of how Hildegard’s understanding grew and developed as a result of her visionary mystical experiences is seen in the following quote in which she describes one of her visions:

"Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around Him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God."

May we all come to see ourselves being borne up and empowered by the very breath of God. For people who want to celebrate a variety of life expressions,  for those who seek to participate in creativity, and for all of us who live in this pivotal age, it is good to spend some time today with such an incredible polymath as Hildegard of Bingen.

For more information check out the links below:

• Hildegard of Bingen: Visionary
• St. Hildegard of Bingen (at American Catholic.org "Saint of the Day")
• Hildegard of Bingen: Visionary, Composer, Writer (Women's History)
• St. Hildegard (New Advent Encyclopedia)
• The Patron Saints of the Culinary Arts (Loyola Press)
• St. Hildegard of Bingen (Catholic Online)

_____________________________
Image of St, Hildegard of Bingen from Abby of the Arts Dancing Monks Series



-

Monday Music: All My Life (Flatt Lonesome)

I just recently heard about the bluegrass group, Flatt Lonesome, when a friend talked about them performing in Ashland, Alabama at the Clay County Yellow Meated Watermelon Festival.

-