February 13th, 2021 — Shabbat Mishpatim 5781
For years, violent religious extremism has been growing in American and around the world. But you cannot be religious and mock the most sacred principles of faith: honoring the image of the Holy One in all people, walking with compassion and love, building the infrastructure for a just and equitable society. I Imagine the Holy One weeping over the mess we’ve made: the degradation, humiliation and violence we’ve perpetrated against one another. But God weeps not only for the suffering we’ve caused, but for the fact that so much of it was perpetrated in God’s own name. People of faith must lift up a different understanding of what it means to be religious today.