It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
These are Charles Dickens’ opening words to A Tale of Two Cities. I memorized them as a high school freshman, never imagining that I would live in times that could be characterized by those dialectically opposite phrases, and yet here we are.
Without question, it has been among our worst years and yet, for some the best year: there have been births, a few weddings, B’nai Mitzvah and other celebrations. At a time when the science is clear and the grim count of COVID-19 deaths reaches towards 400,000 of their fellow citizens, there are still millions asserting that refusing to wear a mask is a sign of patriotism. In the face of the most transparent and scrutinized election in the history of democracy, significant numbers of Americans challenge the results despite overwhelming evidence that the results are sound. As the US Capitol reels from insurrectionary attacks encouraged by the president and members of congress (replete with Nazi sympathizers) we stand on the eve of a new democratically chosen administration that promises racial diversity. Such is the nature of our contradictory times. Dickens’ prophetic words ring eternal.
At 2 p.m. this afternoon (via Zoom), we invite you to join us for a memorial service that seeks to balance the paradoxes that confront us. Our youth, our leadership, our frontline health care workers are represented as participants in the service—a sign of hope—even as we memorialize those who’ve perished in the midst of our modern plague. That is how we go forward. We hold conflicting realities, contradictory perceptions: hope and despair, sorrow and joy, love and abhorrence, belief and incredulity. It is the hardest part of being human and yet, it is what makes us most deeply created in the image of God.
— Rabbi Ron Stern