for those of you who are standing in the back there are still some seats that are i believe left in the balcony if you'd like to sit down ok i take that back so good evening and thank you for coming there is a jewish prayer that expresses reverence and for synagogues and other places of worship in hebrew it's called mato vu how goodly are  tents your dwelling places so israel as for me three year abundant grace i enter your house of worship with allah in the safety of your sacred place vu the first two lines of mato vu interestingly the first line of this prayer is a quote from a man sent to kersey israel lights when they were wandering in the desert but is instead overcome with off at god and the israel lights house of worship the first line in this prayer is the only prayer commonly said at jewish services that is actually written by a person who wasn't jewish and it is about entering a house of prayer and a house of worship we are all here to gather this evening to mourn lives lost to honor to honor their memories to seek and find comfort in the company of this our wonderful and amazing community and to find understanding what each each of us today and in the days to come can fully appreciate the true enormity of the events in pittsburgh and how these events impact jews here in burlington and around the world my name is karen paul i'm a member of the burlington city council and a member of this jewish community and i am proud to be among you this evening we have a number of people who will be offering words from their hearts on the unspeakable hateful and vengeful tragedy this weekend and perhaps most importantly they will be imparting their message of resolve and unity please join us in the following two songs starts so if the person next to you is comfortable with putting your arm or touching that's fine but we have many different faith traditions and so some people are not comfortable with that but make a community however it feels comfortable for is not to fear it all and it starts off and then it goes and gets a little rowdy so make it work with us thank you that was beautiful it is my pleasure now to introduce the mayor of the city of burlington mayor moreau weinberger giving everyone let me start by thanking rabbi small for her leadership in bringing us all together tonight welcome everyone welcome to our city hall welcome to contours auditorium i must say  you know i've been in this room now many times this is one of the fullest rooms we've had here in recent years and as mayor as a jew it is very comforting to stand up here and see how many people have come out to to be together at this time i already have a sense of how this evening is going to go leader as as a mayor what i've been reflecting on today is also what is what is what is incumbent on us as a community where we go from here what do we have to do tragically because of the hate filled anti semitic actions in pittsburgh this weekend there are eleven people who are not with their communities and their families tonight joyce feinberg richard got fried melvin wax and irving younger are not with their families tonight what happened in pittsburgh this weekend was a product of two deeply troubling trends in america  first is something that i've talked about and we've debated as a community many times before here in burlington and that is the law and the attitudes on gun policies that we have in this country with the pittsburgher shooting the jewish community has become the latest in a long line of victims of those flawed gun policies roland tony ans have been on the forefront of calling for change here in vermont and thankfully we are finally starting to make progress i'm committed to working towards further reform these massacres are virtually unique to the united states they are a function of our laws of our policies and i believe that we can and then we must change them in addition however the events of this past weekend are about something else they are an indication that here in america bigotry generally and anti semitism specifically are on the rise this is sadly a predictable outcome of our president's willingness to sympathize with to empower and to enable white supremacists this is a grave and disturbing threat and there's only really one thing that we can do to address it and that's do what we're doing here tonight doing what we're doing right now coming together standing together and to speak out the urgency for doing that came to me in part from listening to a podcast this morning the new york times podcast the daily maybe some of you heard it and if you did you heard this incredible speech by rabbi prinz who was the rabbi of the jewish community embroiling and berlin during the rise of the third reich and in that speech he said powerfully that the most important thing that i have learned in my life he said is that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problems the most urgent the most disgraceful the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence tonight we are not being silent we are gathering we are standing together we are speaking out and sadly i think we are going to be called on to do this together many more times in the weeks and months and years ahead thank you for all coming together and being part of th we are very privileged to have with us tonight the lieutenant governor of the state of vermont it's my pleasure to introduce david zucker men thank you karen and rabbi small and all of the interfaith leaders from vermont interfaith action and others who are here in brother and sister hood as well as all of you here and brother and sister hood with our community in pittsburgh our community here our community across the country and our community frankly around the world of people that believe in peace believe in love believe in caring for our fellow humans and not in hate and violence thank you for organizing this i want to briefly mention there's still some room in the corner here some of the folks standing want to slowly work your way in because there's still a lot of folks outside so folks can even slightly shuffle and i won't mind while i'm speaking but there is quite a bit of room i grew up in brookline massachusetts another deeply jewish faith based community and i'm thinking a lot about family and friends in that community as well as our community here and our friends in pittsburgh and i'm thinking about how we reach out to each other we console each other in these challenging times these violent times and how we also stand with each other to think how can we improve our community and how so much of the of the true faith that many in this room have across all the different religions it's about making our community better it's about helping those who are in need it's about giving love to those who are in pain and that's what we must continue to do as a political leader a white male cis economically stable in power i want to say it is most incumbent upon those of us who have the privileges that we have to speak up for those who are most vulnerable and if we political leaders and religious leaders speak up against the hateful rhetoric that we are seeing from our president and other political leaders and sadly even from some religious leaders in this country who will if we don't and that's why we are here and that's why we are in places of worship all across this country in halls of governance all across this country arm in arm spirit and spirit we will get through this not just this moment but the bigger this we will hold each other's hands we will hug each other and we will continue to speak up and speak out we need to bring reason to hate we need to bring love to pain and we need to bring peace to hostility thank you thank you david for those inspiring words congressman peter welch could not be with us this evening he wanted to be he's actually in southern vermont tonight but he does have a statement which will be read by congressman welch was anxious to be here and sad to have to send a statement but wanted to make sure his voice is heard none of us can begin to comprehend the loss suffered by the tree of life community none of us can begin to comprehend the evil that would inspire someone armed with combat weapons and malignant anger to take the lives of eleven extraordinary individuals who gave selflessly to their communities and lived each day with love for neighbor and stranger alike yet all of us can be inspired by the example set by the tree of light community they have redoubled their commitment to each other and to their resolve to love their neighbors and help all among us the devastating tragedy happened in an extraordinary community the horror of targeting people who are different as other affects many identities every day in communities across our country each of us must repu this prejudice at every opportunity we are all in this together and we must reaffirm our conviction that every human being is deserving of respect dignity and security each and every our first reading this evening will be from sharon lifshitz the exam assistant director of hi everyone thank you for being here this evening my name is sharon lipschitz i use she her pronouns and i'm the assistant director of u v m hillel and my heart is broken i find that in times of immense sorrow and also in times of immense joy when things just feel so overwhelming that i turn to judaism my my jewish faith for some guidance maybe a little comfort to help me try to center what's happening and reflecting on the tragedy that happened on shabat i'm i'm drawn to two words visit whore to keep and to remember i think about what i'm feeling the anger the frustration the fear the pain and then i think about the choice that i have the choice of what i choose to keep and what i choose to remember and through what i'm feeling i am going to keep with me joy and compassion and empathy i'm going to keep the faces that i'm seeing in this room keeping this memory of the community in my heart i'm going to remember these eleven souls that were taken from us because they were jewish and i will remember i can do every single day to make a difference in combating injustice we see in the world and i think about what i believe i believe i can be a light i believe that each of you we can be a light in this darkness and in my work that you v m hello i am surrounded by light every day and the students that i am privileged to work with and it is my honor to be able to introduce two of them to you now who have helped me navigate these really challenging and difficult moments the first is alec collins who i don't know how you did this put together a vigil saturday evening through your pain and suffering led a community and remembering and honoring eleven souls that were taken too soon absolutely needed and incredible and i also have the privilege of introducing alexis katie after that who will be sharing her story as she is from squirrel hill and dealing with this tragedy in her own community  alec my name is alex collins you see him pronouns this prayers and titled a prayer for healing after a hate crime is adapted from rabbi seth goldstein l o l novello are god and god of our ancestors hate and death has been visited upon our people one of our sacred spaces has been violated we feel we feel vulnerable afraid angry and broken our spirits are overflowing with grief and sorrow god and god of our ancestors we praise to you may strength come from our vulnerability so we can support one another and receive the support of others with gratitude and humility may compassion come from our fear so we do not act from that fear and we can pursue justice not revenge peace not more violence may wisdom come from our anger so we are able to see that an attack against us is an attack against all and we are able to join in common cause with those who are similarly oppressed and targeted me healing come from our brokenness so we are able to rise from this challenge with renewed life commitment and connection may our shared grief be a comfort to the loved ones and friends of those whose lives were taken too soon may their memories be a blessing and may our sorrow be a source of strength to those who are injured whether in body or in spirit god in god of our ancestors in light of this act violence and hatred we maintain our commitment to be sure our eat us or i'll the remnant of israel continually up holding the teachings and traditions of your covenant pursuing righteousness and compassion justice and mercy peace and understanding love and friendship may you frustrate those who seek to do harm and uphold those who seek to do good may the shelter of your peace spread over us and over all  i never thought it would happen near me this cliche has been repeated all too often lately and now pittsburgh repeats it also my name is alexis katie and i hail from squirrel hill near blocks from the tree of life synagogue and this saturday a deadly shooting devastated my community and rippled across the world because of hate and fear i never thought it would happen near me my community i am proud to say is one of inclusion and diversity and interwoven this like many people are finding out through the news but all but do not let this gloss over the problems and hate that exists there to please don't misunderstand me i love my city it has taught me to understand difference not fear it but it is also a place where racism prejudice and anti semitism exists whether in the shadows were in the daylight and these issues exist in every part of our country in some way or another we must stop glossing over them it is hard to confront this but to stop it to stop adding to the shootings the bombings and misunderstandings we must confront in every community we are part of to stop the repeating of the phrase i never thought it would happen near me we must act small and big we must vote we must talk and try to understand each other we must be caring and pull people in not push them away do not leave this do not let this phrase spread to more places fight it pittsburgh feels your support but to not let it stop tonight support your own communities confront these problems and help with the solution we need each other for this otherwise one day we will all be saying i never thought this was happened near me thank you holy brothers and sisters invite you to silence your cell phones there is a scream in the jewish retelling of the opening verse of this week's torah portion highest sarah or the life of sarah this week our tradition asks why is the portion called life of sarah if in fact it is the announcement that she has died what caused her to die our tradition offers a mid rush an imaginative reflection on the opening verse of the torah portion highest sarah the life of sarah by connecting it to the binding of her son utes hoch of isaac in last week's torah portion last week her husband abraham sneaks off in the morning with their son isaac to walk three days to a sacred mountain in order to offer isaac up to god the mid rush imagines that sarah is awakened by an angel some say an evil angel some say a been if it isn't angel to let her know what is about to transpire and she screams a scream that shoots through time and space and it is that scream which interrupts abraham's knife and with that scream she dies in solidarity with each other and all those who suffer needless execution by mad men i offer that there is a very great power in a scream our scream can interrupt the violence it can bring to the world the interruption that it needs in order to recalibrate our nation our world actually towards the arc of justice we must never hold that scream inside of us we cry out from our deepest core to interrupt and redirect our voices are our tools our feet follow the clarion call of the outrage time and time again in torah it is our screams are calling out our viii that initiate the moment when change begins when the move towards liberation is initiated when justice rains down from the heavens upon us all but only when we call out for it to start raining may we all find it scream within us and let it out who knows what evil we might dismantle our next reading is from barry weiss of the new york times and will be delivered by rabbi david adelson of temple sinai hello everybody i so appreciate you coming this is from an editorial that she wrote a few days ago called a massacre in the heart of mr rogers neighborhood we are living in an age when anti semitism is on the rise here at home you need only think of last year's chance of jews will not replace us in charlottesville or the president's constant attacks on globalist international bankers and the corrupt media all of which are commonly associated with jews in the minds of anti semites it isn't at all surprising that these rhetorical tropes have translated into acts of violence according to the anti defamation league anti semitic incidents rose by fifty seven percent in two thousand and seventeen and even if mr bowers also reviled the president as insufficiently nationalist he said there is no make america great as long as there is a kike infestation every jewish community in america will now have to make sensible decisions about how to ensure that they are not the next victims of such a crime but those hard choices should not make us forget the core values that make communities like squirrel hill what they are welcoming big hearted and profoundly decent one of the gifts of the jewish experience in america is that because we have been so welcomed in so safe here these values have been able to flourish just as every jewish couple gets married under a canopy that is open on all four sides a replica of the tent model for us by abraham and sarah so much jewish communities keep our tents open this is the true source of our longevity and our resilience now the jews of pittsburgh joined a growing list of communities around the world that have been terrorized by anti semitic fanatics from kansas city to brussels mumbai to jerusalem the heartbreak is indescribable but squirrel hill i am certain will continue to live by the values that jews have sustained for more than two thousand years those values can never be gunned down we're going to interrupt our program because we're very fortunate to have with us chief brandon del pozo of burlington police who just got back from a trip just off an airplane and his first stop was here thank you for usually when i speak extemporaneously i use humor to bridge the gap and i'm in a little bit of a loss tonight because i don't think i can avail myself of that technique thank you for asking me to take the podium i'm jewish i've been by miss food when i was young i was so proud of my grandfather for fighting in world war two as a paratrooper against the nazis that i enlisted in the aura to see to continue that tradition to defend our values and when i was young i was in a secular jewish family i love hanukkah and seven nights of presents not so hot on yom kapoor and i would wonder how jewish i was was i was i jewish enough you know not just to enter the kingdom of heaven but was i jewish enough to meet the needs of the religion into feel authentic and one of the things that my grandfather would always say is that when they come for you don't worry you're jewish enough and i never quite forget that that you know when people ask me if i do that filon or not if i do the where my amika had some heart to hearts rabbis you know it loses sight of the problem which is that you know in this community in the newsroom we're blind to distinctions that are arbitrary and don't matter about the manner in which you worship god or the manner in which you love your family the matter in which you come together as a community i look around the room and i see jews muslims christians and gnostics i'm sure there's atheists in this room that's not the point but in the eyes of hate you're muslim enough and you're jewish and often you're gnostic and off your atheist and off and you know i was just the army i had to go back to the army i'm a cop now as it was has a saying this will defend we will defend and was looking around this room standing behind my deputy chief and i said this we will defend thank you the next reading is the twenty third psalm and it will be to livered by robertson tracy june it of righteousness for the sake of his name though i walk in the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for you are with me your riding your staff they will comfort me you will prepare a table for me before my enemies you have anointed my head with oil my cup is full only goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life and i shall dwell in the house of the lord for many long years thank good evening i have two selections from the koran that i would like to read the first one it speaks about the importance of judging others by the content of their character by the interior instead of the exterior it also addresses the importance of being steadfast and patient in the face of misfortunes adversity the second reading teaches us the importance of not fighting fire with fire not responding to evil with evil but rather fighting evil with good righteousness is not that you turn your face to east or to west rather to righteousness is one who believes in god the last day the angels the scripture and the prophets and gives of his wealth in spite of his love for it to relatives orphans the needy wayfarers those who ask and for the emancipation of those in bondage those who offer prayers give alms and fulfill their promises when they promise those who are steadfast in times of misfortune had versity and conflict those are the ones who are true and is they who are conscious of god with that which is superior goodness you will find that he who had previously been your most bitter enemy with will become your nearest and dearest friend but none is granted this level of tolerance and self restraint except those who are patient and none is granted it except the one granted a great share of goodness and if there comes to you from satan the evil suggestion to retaliate to fight evil with evil then seek refuge in god indeed he is all hearing and all  thank you our next reading first they come will be delivered by reverend can way of the college st congregational church first they came for the socialists and i did not speak out because i was not a socialist then they came for the trade unionists and i did not speak out because i was not a trade unionist then then they came for the jews and i did not speak out because i was not a jew then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me immediately after the tragic and horrific events this statement was released there are no words to express how devastated we are by the events in pittsburgh this morning this loss is our loss and our thoughts are with the tree of life congregation our will our local partner the jewish family and community services of pittsburgh the city of pittsburgh and all of those affected by this senseless act  violence as we try to process this horrifying tragedy we pray that the american jewish community and the country can find healing hi is is one of nine national resettlement agencies they partner with the united states government to resettle refugees as part of the refugee admissions program hyas was founded in eighteen eighty one as the hebrew immigrant aid society and it was originally an organization to help jews and now it is an organization for jews to help the world it was called out as the reason for this massacre and so they issued another statement and i'll read a selection from it some of judaism wise's traditions are around morning after someone dies we are told to sit low to the ground and to really sink into our grief only after we have been gauged in the morning process do we rise up and return to our lives and rise up we will even more committed to the jewish movement for refugees more than ever before but in this moment we take the time to lean into our grief and to lean into community and to stand lovingly with friends families and communities of those who lost their lives in pittsburgh in deepest sorrow in solidarity from all of the staff at highest many of us will now redouble our efforts to work with highest on refugee resettlement as a result of this tragedy now the words of abraham joshua heschel to despair is to betray to us of this generation who have walked through the ruins of a boarded dreams and desecrated ideals and have a at the twentieth century the supreme question is how does the roadside and read abandon all hope you who enter or to despair is to betray at the end god's mercy will prevail the one road sign may be almost everywhere the other road side is revealed in the lives of those who would rather suffer than bear false hood in another reading relating to the holocaust he said we still feel the blow to our head huge chunks are falling from the heavens but we have yet to grasp the rupture and the misfortune that has been following us we are still waiting for the funeral not yet ready to sit shivah distraught broken confused and petrified we are living in a state of chaos we celebrate our joyous occasions but it's a can't a holding a wedding ceremony at a cemetery our world is a godless world we have forgotten that we live in a world that is impure our conscience is mute we are just racked it by the of this world i do not seek merely to unburden my heart we will not fulfil our obligation by reciting lamentations our task is not to bang heads against the wall our task is to find an answer to a crucial question what is our generation's obligation what is the task not to forget never to be indifferent to other people's suffering the next reading dreaming of home by merrill felt it's from rabbi sorry rabbi reverend just so used to saying what can i say reve sisters and brothers even though our hearts are broken this evening our hearts by god's providence are called to love deeper stronger and longer than the hatred of anti semitism than white supremacy or than christo fascist nationalism we need to learn to live together it says in proverbs twenty nine eighteen where there is no vision the people perish we will not perish because we are that vision as we gather here muslim jew atheist agnostic buddhist christian we gather here men and women we gather here trans by gay lesbian we gather here as that vision to continue to love in god's way dreaming of home we want we want so much to be in that place where we are respected and cherished protected acknowledged nurtured encouraged heard and seen seen and all our loveliness in our fragile strength and safe safe in all our trembling vulnerability where we are known and safe safe and known is that possible our next reading is merger by judy chicago from the red river and i've got reverend wright now this time laurel and laura angle can the director of u v m interface center for many of us poetry is a kind of prayer so here this prayer from judy chicago and then all of what has divided us will merge and then compassion will be wedded to power and then softness will come to a world that is often harsh and unkind and then people of all genders will be gentle and then people of all genders will be strong and then no other person will be subject to another's will and then all will be rich and varied and then all will share equally in the earth abundance and then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old and then all will nourish the young and then we will all and then all will cherish life's creatures and then all will live in harmony with each other and the earth and then everywhere will be called eden once again may we each and all are different ways in our different religious and philosophical perspective and practices be part of this prayers becoming in our homes in our communities in our nation and our world maybe so it is my pleasure and honor i to introduce the former governor of the state of vermont former ambassador to switzerland on member of our wonderful jewish community and just amazing it really is a beautiful sight to see all of you here and i'm just the reverend's words ringing in my head safe and known  i must confess that when i first heard about the slaughter in pittsburgh i wondered if i was safe if i could be as a jew and still feel safe where looking at all of you i think you make all of us who are jewish or whatever religion we are safe safe because i'm reminded of and that there is safety there is safety in numbers there is safety in declaring who you are declaring that you have nothing to do with anti semitism and you never will declaring that you will fight against anti semitism and be identified as one who does so for many jews you know ninety nine percent of our lives but not identified as jews we merican but when it comes to something like this religion counts or religion matters we can be proud of it we don't have to duck for cover we can be americans and choose in safety in this country thank you next we're going to have a candle lighting done by you v m hello and that will be followed by a reading after so i guess where we're doing the lighting for you ok i'm sorry we're doing the reading first by marge percy this is susan left the executive director of the jewish communities of   pearcey we are given fire to see against the dark to think to read to study how we are to live to bank on ourselves against defeat and despair that cool and muddy resolves that make us forget what we what we saw we must do we are given passion to rise again like the sun in our minds with the new day and burn the debris of habit an y and fear we stand in the midst of the burning world primed to burn with compassionate love and justice to turn inward and find holy fire at the core to turn outward and see the world that is all of one flesh with us see under the trash through the smog the furry be in the apple blossom the trout leaping the candles our ancestors lit for us the traditional jewish prayer for morning is called kodesh it is a prayer of praise for god and gratitude for the precious gift of life it doesn't mention death it doesn't speak of loss it speaks of the great opportunity we have to live as human beings and to be god's partners in this world for cut ish i ask that we all stand i know you can't all see but the sight of those eleven candles is both beautiful and heartbreaking and dramatic may the light of their lives and who they were never die out conclude with this song yes we're going to close off with one of the things about judaism is even in times of grief we look to our own responsibilities to do what is right regardless of what but we can prevent it from happening again how wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world if anne frank's words have taught us anything it is that actions and language matter we hope this evening has given us all a time to reflect and appreciate the greater understanding of the need to address the evils that pervade cannot be allowed to prevail if we each amongst ourselves if we each in our own heart resolve to act to improve the world along improving the world as often as we can we can go forth from this evening an even stronger community in unity thank you so much