Today the echo can still be heard
Stand still, if only for a moment.
To listen.
To remember.
A voice crying in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel weeping for her children;
refusing to be comforted
because they are no more.
The Jews, young and old
The dissidents, the pacifists,
The Roma, the Serbs, the Poles,
The homosexuals, the prisoners of war, the differently abled….
More than 12 million lives in all
Starved, gassed, and burned.
Cut off, cut down, cut short.
While the complacent heard, saw, smelled, said, and did nothing.
While the brave defied, assisted, subverted, concealed, and risked everything
So let us listen
So let us remember
To honour the beauty, the tragedy, and the sacrifice of the dead
To resist the rhetoric, the prejudice, and the fear of the living
That can only lead us back to Ramah
and away from the LORD’s redemption
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth
With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations[d] I will lead them back
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
A Downloadable document of this litany with parts marked for 2 Readers and Congregation is available below:
