The Passing of a Hero

January 30

It was with great sadness that I just learned of the death of a woman I had the privilege of knowing for a just few short hours several years ago. Lani Silver cast a giant gleaming shadow and the world is definitely bereft without her. She lived the tenets of Judaism and was a 'light to the nations'. Feeling that the survivors of the Holocaust had stories that needed to be told, both for the teller and the listener— experiences that should never be forgotten, she recorded thousand of life histories and inspired Spielberg's Shoah Foundation. She was able to see that, tragically, prejudice extends far beyond the history of the Jews and turned her skills as an oral historian to the US. She founded the James Byrd Jr Racism Oral History Project, when she discovered that no one else had interviewed the family of the father of 3 who was dragged to his death by whited supremacists in Jasper Texas, Texas in 1998. She then started interviewing Americans about racism in their lives. How appropriate for a woman whose consciousness was truly awakened by visiting apartheid South Africa when she was a teen. She did for Nazi Holocaust survivors in Europe and some of the victims of racism in the US what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did in South AFrica.

I feel blessed to have been part of a workshop she lead at our Temple in San Luis Obispo and know how deeply she affected both the people she interviewed in our group as well as those who heard their stories. Rest in peace Lani, the world will miss you and you live on in my heart as a true inspiration. http://lanisilver.com/

And So The New Age Begins . . .

We have a new President and the new age begins. President Obama referred to the words from Ecclesiastes:

To everything there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and
a time to die;
a time to plant, and
a time to pluck up
that which is planted;
A time to kill, and
a time to heal;
a time to break down, and
a time to build up;
A time to weep, and
a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and
a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and
a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and
a time to lose;
a time to keep, and
a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and
a time to sow;
a time to keep silence, and
a time to speak;
A time to love, and
a time to hate;
a time of war; and
a time of peace

How fitting to recall those words as we watch the changing of administrations. Eight years ago,in disbelief we watched the 'selection' of a President and his team that came into office in the arrogant pride that precedes a fall. Today we thrill at the return to American values of honesty, hope and optimism soaring on the hopes and dreams of a world transformed. In the traditional Zulu greeting, we say: Hamba Gashele, Mr President. Go in peace and safety.

The end of an error

Jan 19 2009

Happy Martin Luther King Day to one all. It has taken the proverbial 40 years through the wilderness to arrived at the Promised Land. Interesting synchronicity? Coincidence? However we view the road to this present moment, we are experiencing an amazing beginning and a call to action, to hope and to possibility.

A pre-election bumper sticker said it all: Jan 20 2009 - the end of an error. And tomorrow we see the Inauguration of President Barack Obama and experience a turning point in history. I feel sure that in the years to come, we will look at the 'old footage' of the present celebrations and remember where we were and what we were doing on January 19 and 20, 2009. As an ex South African I experienced the same sense of amazed disbelief and wonder when Nelson Mandela became the President of an apartheid-free South Africa. It was something for which we hoped, prayed, and worked towards in our different ways as South Africans. Many brave and committed souls suffered and lost their lives for that dream that became a reality.

And now as an American, it is our turn to experience the giddy excitement, goodwill, enthusiasm and love that is tangible across the land, and I am sure across the globe. One cannot help but be moved to tears as we hear Martin Luther King's words once more, as we see the shining faces of African Americans in dizzy and joyful celebration. The dream is becoming a reality.

As our prayers focus on the safety of the new Presidential family, we focus on the positive energy the we feel today and commit to using it as springboard towards a more inclusive society, a connected and balanced world that will celebrate our diversity.

As one who has felt totally alienated from the national scene over the past eight years, it is such a delight to once feel the excitement of possibility and potential that President Obama represents and we look forward to a new year, an new administration and a new era that will call to us all to play our own part in being present to the present moment and all that it can be as we strive to create a new world.