I am guided by the words of Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity, published in 2002.  In the decades since the Holocaust, the relationship between Jews and Christians has changed dramatically:  many official Church bodies have publicly acknowledged remorse for nearly two millennia of institutionalized Christian mistreatment of Jews and Judaism.  Though much of our shared history has been fraught with conflict and antisemitism, today we can confront together the hatred and bias that exists in our world.  We worship the same God, we seek authority from the same book, we accept the moral principles of Torah—the “inalienable sanctity and dignity of every human being.” How can we work together for justice and peace?

The stories of Creation in Genesis are a beginning:  God rested on the seventh day, but did not retire.  The world is not yet complete!  As a Jew, I feel a divine obligation to engage with others and guide creation towards completion through acts of Tikkun Olam B’Shem Adonai—repairing our world in the name of God.  As much as we wait for a promised messianic era when the world will be at peace, a time that the Biblical prophets including Isaiah, Amos, and Micah described and foresaw, we can recognize our potential having an important role in bringing about that messianic era.  Our prayers and our right actions, our commitment and efforts to make the world a better place, will lead us to the messianic era speedily, in our own days.  I am proud to live in a country and community with citizens of all religions, skin colors, and ethnicities where we all aspire to be free from fear, bigotry, and prejudice.

May the time not be distant, O God, when all shall turn to You in love, when corruption and evil shall give way to integrity and goodness, when superstition shall no longer enslave the mind, nor idolatry blind the eye.  O may all, created in Your image, become one in spirit and one in friendship, forever united in Your service.  Amen. From Mishkan T’filah