I have lived in Louisville, Kentucky… for over ten years… working on countless projects with the mayor’s office and the Louisville Metro Police Department and even the FBI, to try to bring healing, justice and peace to this city.
It is therefore with profound sadness, horror, rage and disgust that I watch what is unfolding in this “city of possibility”, that crowned itself as “compassionate”.
In my current position as Director for Program Development with Interfaith Paths to Peace, we are working to support the peace-making and justice-seeking efforts in this city. Clergy of all faiths have been intervening to deescalate tensions between police and protesters, often inserting themselves between them to protect their right to peacefully demonstrate.
What small shreds of hope we still had were crushed by the announcement of the Attorney General that no charges would be made against the police officers who shot Breonna Taylor. The double standard of the law is glaring, and the city is grieving. Because of the forced curfew, those grieving are being arrested for exercising their right to protest because of a curfew that is imposed to perpetuate the stereotype that people of color are dangerous, when the last several months have demonstrated that they were peaceful and supported by clergy from across the community.
Squelched grief has become a ticket to a non-socially isolated jail and fines that perpetuate debt and social inequality. It is just too overwhelming to see the glaring contrast between the ease with which a protester, clergy or lay, can be arrested and the inability to indict a police officer that turns off his camera, falsifies documents and shoots a woman dead in her home for just sleeping… a woman deemed guilty because of her skin color… because of her dating history… because the owners of the building refused to sell to the mayor who was having an affair with the developer who wanted to tear down that building and build a tribute to the mayor’s so-called contributions to the city’s West End… because the truth is that those officers were following orders… because the corruption is so profound that this act of murder cannot be punished…
And so, here I am, a rabbi who dedicated years to trying to do G!d’s work in Louisville… approaching Yom Kippur, reflecting upon our tradition’s call to confess our sins and atone… our rabbis teach that we should confess our sins in the plural because even if not all committed the crime, all are guilty for not trying to stop it… and so it is… we confess… ashamnu… we have sinned…
We sin as a nation when we call ourselves a democracy but maintain an electoral college that was created to perpetuate slavery and the belief that people of color should not have the same voting power as white people…
We sin as a nation when we continue to enslave people of color… when this nation continues to target them and imprison them so that they can work without pay to fuel the profits of our privatized prison system and the corporations that derive profit thanks to the slavery amendment of our constitution. We participate in the sin of slavery every time we buy something from whole foods or any one of the countless companies that relies upon unpaid prison labor…
Today, in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we collectively confess our sins… the sins of this nation… for each of us who vote and pay taxes in this country and in this city… each of us are responsible for what is happening…
And today we affirm that we all share responsibility for our current reality… and as clergy we decry our continued complicity with these sins… and today, we join our brothers snd sisters of all faiths, to publicly confess these sins… and to reclaim the prophetic voice that calls upon us all to atone, make amends and work for justice, peace, reconciliation and a new start where all human beings are recognized as created in the Divine Image.
As we approach Yom Kippur, who amongst us can say that we have not sinned?
Each of us who pays taxes has contributed to the rapidly growing weight of our nation’s collective sins…
For the sin of children in cages and mothers with forced sterilizations…
For the sin of police officers who murder and are only sometimes held accountable if someone is videotaping…
For the sin of thousands upon thousands of deaths due to a virus that we have collectively refused to manage appropriately…
For the sin of destroying this earth that was given to us to safeguard…
For all these sins and more, we confess… we are guilty.
Our sins continue to be an alphabet of woe… and this week, we add another shocking sin…
For the sin of failing to indict or charge officers who turned off their cameras, falsified documents, and murdered Breonna Taylor… we confess… ashamnu.
For the sin of remaining silent and failing to use “tochecha” to rebuke our brothers and sisters who support policies that perpetuate the systemic racism that leaves each of us with blood on our hands…
For all these sins and more, we confess our guilt and ask for Your help in making amends and working to atone and be worthy of forgiveness…
Our hearts break as we watch the consequences of our failure to act and our willingness to accept our divisions… our hearts break as we see what happens when we choose “shalom bayit” (to keep the peace) rather than to speak out against injustice.
We cannot breathe under the growing weight of our collective sins… we cannot breathe alongside our brothers and sisters… we cannot breathe until all people can breathe… until all people can sleep soundly in their homes without worrying that their tax funded dollars will pay for police officers to come and kill them in the middle of the night and not get charged…
This Yom Kippur may we confess… atone… and begin the difficult work of making amends… seeking justice… and becoming worthy of forgiveness.
Our rabbis have taught us to kindle Light where there is darkness… as we grieving the darkness that continues to thicken and suffocate us all… let us find the strength to kindle light…
Blessed is the Source of Light who made us holy with commandments and ethical principles and who commands us to kindle Light in the darkness…
I invite the Reform movement to join with us in this new ritual that Interfaith Paths to Peace (www.paths2peace.org) is initiating in partnership with the Center for Interfaith Relations… a new and nightly ritual:
“One Light Many Candles”
In the midst of our communal brokenness and with our diverse experiences and perspectives we are inviting you to hold our city, and indeed our nation. in prayer, presence and love. We hope you will join us at this “Louisville Prays” event.
The flame represents our common humanity and the different candles our unique expressions of its light. Starting Wednesday, September 23rd and going through the election season, we are asking everyone at 8:00 PM to light a candle and stand at a street corner in their neighborhood, or outside their home, or from their window to light a candle of hope and as an expression of love and healing prayer.
May this new year usher forth the healing, peace and justice for which we all pray, and may our prayers inspire us to act and make amends.
Emerging Torah as Rabbi Nachshon emerges 
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