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Finally. We’ve waited 4 ½ years, but now has our waiting turned to dread? Is it unusual or unreasonable to really want something to happen, but then when it happens you don’t want it? 

I will not be speaking nor writing about the trial while it is in progress, but rather will focus on our collective mental health and caring for each other. These are really the most critical concerns for all of us. We will continue to gather after Shabbat morning services, and you are most warmly invited to join us in prayer and community. We will continue to meet in the park every other Tuesday. There are wonderful resources available for all of us through the 10.27 Healing Partnership and JFCS, just to mention two. 

When asked what do I want, the answer might surprise some. I want shalom, but not in the sense of peace. The root of the word shalom is “shin, lamed, mem”, and means “wholeness” or “completeness”. I want to be whole. I want all of us to be whole, but alas we will never be whole, as a part of us was torn away that cannot be replaced. Regardless of this utopian hope for shalom, that does not mean that we cannot achieve something close to it, as that is indeed possible. It will take time, effort and patience, but together we can achieve a measure of shalom. It will never be 100%, but that final measure is up to us, and it will have to suffice. 

We read in our Friday evening prayers, “Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Sh’lomecha”, which some translate as “spread over us the shelter of Your peace”. Sh’lomecha literally means “Your shalom”. In essence, we are beseeching God to spread over us a shelter of shalom. This is my take on what this prayer requests of God, and it cannot come at a more propitious time. I will take the liberty of rephrasing the concluding words of the bracha to read, “Praised are You Adonai, who spreads the shelter of shalom over us and over all of Pittsburgh”. And let us say: Amen.