A Sh’ma
Know for yourselves, Israel, that
we are one, because G’d is One.
One breath within many breaths,
one flame divided into countless flames,
yet never diminished.
All being and becoming-
You whom we call G’d,
in whom we see ourselves
ever being and becoming.
You are the seed and the flowering of the seed,
the silence before the name
and the name returning to silence.
In You we find each other;
through each other we find You.
As we are gathered into One,
so the One is revealed in us.
You made it known to us
to love and nurture one another,
to bind trauma to trauma
and joy to joy,
to lift the fallen
and be lifted in return.
We shall teach it to our children:
that no soul stands alone,
that no heart is separate,
that kindness is the memory of G’d
living within human hands.
We shall teach them
to speak gently to the stranger,
to protect the weak,
to honor the earth and one another,
and to remember-
as they are remembered.
And so we remind ourselves,
again and again,
as morning reminds the earth of light
and evening reminds the stars of fire:
Know for yourselves, Israel:
that we are one, because G’d is One.
All being and becoming-
we return to You
and in returning
become ourselves again.
