This week’s Torah portion, Ha’Azinu, features Moses’ final poem to the People of Israel. In honor of it, I offer you a poem I shared on Yom Kippur by the first Buffalo poet laureate Julian Hanesworth, written after the 5/14 attack on Tops Family Market:
“Choose Love”
The place where we build what we need
Where we run until we cross the finish line
and fight until we are free
Where we pick up the broken pieces
and create something brand new
We fight hard and love harder
There’s nothing we cannot do
We stare directly into the eyes of every painful truth
Not letting it define us
we decide what to choose
So, we choose light, love and family
we’re the mafia after all
And when evil tries to break us
we choose to stand tall
We’ll shout loud and live louder
until the walls of hate fall
because justice can’t be limited
so we choose it for all
We choose healing around here
we eat storms like Buffalo wings
We’ll jump through hoops and through tables
it’s a Buffalo thing
So, no matter what others say
no matter what they try to do
love, light, and each other
is what we will always choose
(I encourage you to hear the words directly from the poet)
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex