Creating Hope

By Rabbi Bridget Wynne

February 3, 2024 • 5 Shvat 5785

Have you felt overwhelmed by the news since President Trump’s inauguration? On many days, I have. Recently, I was brought to tears by an article about how federal, state, and local health agencies have responded to Trump’s orders to terminate programs that promote “gender ideology” or diversity, equity, and inclusion.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, employees removed terms like “transgender,” “immigrant,” and “LGBTQIA+.” These orders also included ending “accessibility” programs at Veteran’s Administration hospitals where many patients are disabled, removing research on ending gender-based violence, supporting LGBTQIA+ youths, and addressing racism in health from agency websites. I immediately thought of the millions of people—including individuals I care about, some of whom are part of our Jewish Gateways community—who are personally endangered by these actions.

Many of you tell me you’re struggling to hold onto hope given the flood of decisions that frighten and target many vulnerable people. For me, creating hope is an ongoing practice that I must work at even harder right now. One way I do this is by seeking out examples of people standing up for those who are marginalized and endangered and offering visions of how we humans, each made in the divine image, can treat one another with the kavod (dignity), rachamim (compassion), and chesed (steadfast loving-kindness) our tradition demands. This includes honoring the teaching given more than any other in our Torah: to understand, love, and welcome the stranger, for we were once strangers in the land of Egypt.

Right now, I'd like to share two examples of brave actions. First, Bishop Mariann Budde's words to President Trump at a service following his inauguration, including these:

I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals… I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger… [G]rant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other...

Second, one of the songs written and sung by the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, which is made up of Israelis and Palestinians, is titled “A Different Way.” The chorus says:

[W]e will see the dawn

This darkness can't go on

And when the day is done

What will be left behind?

Only you and me, with our futures intertwined

We live within the wars

We feel each other's pain

Because of you, I know we must choose a different way 

Our futures throughout our nation and our world truly are intertwined.

I invite you to join me in creating and practicing hope and sharing it with one another as one action that can help us choose a different way.