If these children are debilitated by disease, by violence and neglect, then our own future is at risk. We, then, must insist that our elected officials provide access to health care for all children, just as a prior generation assured older adults medical care. We must dig deeper when asked for help by United Way and other agencies that care for children. Jewish Family Service, Child Guidance Center, and Any Baby Can are just a few of those groups, struggling to fill in society s gaps, to protect the children from harm. May our actions join theirs, as we strive to be God s partners, to bless the children, by guarding them from harm.
Light is the symbol of knowledge, of wisdom, of learning.
We in the Jewish community do understand the importance of shedding God s light upon our own children, as we stress both Jewish and secular educator. Last fall, on Yom Kippur, I spoke of the gross inequities that plague public education in San Antonio. I urged us never to be silent, until each and every child in our community is offered a clear vision of God s light of knowledge. As I said then, we must not rest until the child in South San is offered the educational opportunities available to the child in Northside, until the child in Edgewood is taught with the same commitment as the child in Northeast, unto the day when the educational dollar committed to the children of the San Antonio Independent School District is equal to the resources committed to the children of the Alamo Heights Independent School District. All of these children represent our very own future.