Between the Fires
This year, may Rosh Hashanah spark the fire of the Burning Bush that burns within us with Love and Liberation
We are the generation that stands
between the fires:
Behind us the flame and smoke
that rose from burning crosses to terrorize the Black American community
Behind us the flame and smoke
that rose from Auschwitz and from Hiroshima;
Not yet behind us the burning forests of the Amazon,
Not yet behind us, the hottest years of human history, bringing upon us
Melted ice fields, Flooded cities, Scorching droughts.
Before us the nightmare of a Flood of Fire,
The heat and smoke that could consume all Earth.
“Here! The day is coming
That will flame like a furnace,”
Says the Infinite YHWH / Yahhhh,
The Breath of Life —
when all the arrogant, all evil-doers,
root and branch,
will like straw be burnt to ashes.
Yet for those of you who revere My Name,
Yes! My Name, Yahhhh, the Interbreath of Life!
a sun of justice will arise
with healing in its wings / rays. . . .
“Here! Before the coming
of the great and awesome day
of YHWH/ the Breath of Life,
I will send you the Prophet Elijah
to turn the hearts of elders to youth
and the hearts of youth to their elders,
lest I come and smite the earth with utter destruction.”
Here! we ourselves are coming
Before the great and terrible day
of smiting Earth —
For we ourselves shall turn the hearts
Of elders to the youth
And the hearts of youth to their elders
So that this day of smiting
Does not fall upon us.”
It is our task to make from fire not an all-consuming blaze
But the light in which we see each other fully.
All of us different, All of us bearing
One Spark.
We light these fires to see more clearly
That Earth and all who live as part of it
Are not for burning.
Like the Burning Bush within us,
we are not consumed.
Instead, may this year that begins with Rosh Hashanah be lit by the inner fire of the Bush — Love and Liberation.
We light these candle-fires to see more clearly
The Rainbow in our many-colored faces.
Blessed is the One within the many.
Blessed are the many who make One.
[Light candles of commitment]