8 | JULY 8 • 2021 

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued from page 6

When I was just a little girl, my momma said to me,
Why do you cry, my child? You should be full of glee.
Momma oh momma, if only you knew; It’s due to all I see.
Can you help us live in harmony?
I wish I could stop all the pain that people go through!
Love, love, love will overcome; Believe. 
It’s up to you and you and you!
A black cloud of evil hovers above us! 
That is all the fuss!
Guns here, guns, there, guns everywhere!
Bad people shoot without a care, just evil, I swear!
People suffer, it is too much to bear!
We know the chill exists, such a terrible scare!
It’s a worry about our family and our friends, too!
Such a terror on our shoulders; that’s why we are blue!
The mentally ill are blamed, I’m not so sure that’s true!
“Normal” people kill, without reason or a clue!
What is happening in our world? It affects me and you!
We pray and say: “God bless us on this day!” Please, lead the 
way.
STOP the violence! Let us live in peace,
And make the killings cease!
I know you are listening and have all the power!
I know you are blessing us, within this very hour!
Your light is here, I see it clear … your love is strong; 
We can’t go wrong! I sing this song: Love, Love, Love! 
Darkness disappears! The holiest light is here!

— by Brenda Newman, Oak Park

with Yehuda, how would 
I have answered? When I 
used to drive my kids past 
the yeshivot to drop them 
off at preschool at Temple 
Emanu-El, did I believe I 
had something in common 
with the black-hatted chil-
dren I saw walking along 
10 Mile Road? Did I place 
lines, this Jewish com-
munity versus that Jewish 
community, instead of one 
diverse Jewish community?

INTRAFAITH DIALOGUE
While I am a proponent 
of interfaith engagement 
between the many diverse 
faiths that exist here in the 
United States, Pew shows 
we also need a commit-
ment to intrafaith engage-
ment. Within Judaism there 
is a diversity of religious 
beliefs, religious practices 
and religious identities. 
How much stronger would 
we be as a community if 
we could engage with each 
other? How much stronger 
would we be if we felt that 
we shared commonality 
with each other?
This is not to overlook 
the real difficulties that 
can exist. Before the first 
time Yehuda had my family 
over for Shabbos lunch, he 
honestly shared his strug-
gle with me. “My children 
do not know that people 
like you exist.” I was not 
offended; I was honored 
that I meant enough to him 
to warrant grappling with 
the challenge that intro-
ducing a family like ours 
entailed.
For me, I struggle with 

the gender differentiation 
in Orthodox communi-
ties. I am uncomfortable 
praying in situations where 
a mechitzah (a partition 
between the sexes) is 
present and bristle at the 
notion that I simply do not 
count in a minyan because 
of my gender. However, 
this would never stop me 
from joyfully standing in 
the room with a mechitzah 
as I watched Yehuda’s son 
become a bar mitzvah. 
These challenges are not an 
impediment to our friend-
ship; instead these chal-
lenges have deepened our 
friendship. 
Today, if someone were 
to ask me if I had some-
thing in common with 
Yehuda, of course I would 
say yes. But holding com-
munity together is not just 
about two people. Holding 
community together means 
that each of us has to learn 
to break down the labels 
that are placed on us and 
push past our comfort 
zones to meet Jews who 
experience Judaism in ways 
that we may have never 
imagined. It is through 
these interactions that 
we will continue to build 
a more vibrant, richer, 
diverse American Jewish 
community. 

Alicia Chandler is pursuing her 
Ph.D. in sociology at Wayne 
State University. She is found-
er of Multifaith Life LLC, a 
consulting firm supporting the 
diversity of Jewish life today 
and co-founder of Nu?Detroit. A 
version of this article was previ-
ously published on Nu-Detroit.
com. 

poetry

Sign of the Times

