April 2024
James Keane
jkeanenj@optonline.net
jkeanenj@optonline.net
Author's Note: I wrote "Prayer for All of Us" in the week leading up to Easter Sunday in April 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was truly becoming global. Two years later, I read "Prayer for All of Us" to a poetry group monitored by Rabbi Nathaniel Benjamin, who immediately invited me to attend his Friday evening services and to celebrate the High Holidays with his congregation. This Roman Catholic felt honored to be invited. "My Rabbi" was written to honor my friend and commemorate his passing in late November 2023.
Prayer for All of Us
Dear Lord,
in this time of suffering
that knows no boundary
or border, please keep
all your children – everyone –
in your mercy and care. May
we come to know, every
one of us, and soon,
the hope and joy
of resurrection
in our own fashion, through
all the beautiful shades
of our humanity
and the passion
we all share
for living.
Originally published in WINK: Writers in the Know
My Rabbi
Rabbi Nathaniel Benjamin,
I never studied with you. Never had
the privilege enjoyed by so many,
over so many years, of hearing you
sing.
But having absorbed the multitude of your
accomplishments, I have to wonder: Just how
many of you were there? Two? Three? Four? Five?
Certainly there was not just one of you.
I am not a Jew. As you well knew.
But after I read you “Prayer for All of Us”,
your reaction was immediate: you invited me
to attend your Friday evening services. Celebrate
your High Holidays. Did I accept? I was honored to.
When a holy man of this world
invites you into his world, it’s best
you accept that invitation. You will find yourself
better for it. I did. I am better for it.
When your beloved wife of 56 years passed away,
I wrote a poem to Jill and you. Was I concerned about
your reception? Oh yes. But happily, I found I needn’t be.
After you read it, you contacted me. I will always
treasure your validation of you and me:
“Hi, it’s Nat Benjamin. Your Rabbi.”
May it always be.
Originally published on Facebook
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