Sentence:  Yet we who lean upon such a man and draw strength from him and expect interpretation of the infinite through him - we who readily accept his sacrifice as our due , we of the congregations <WSD>are</WSD> the first to tell him what is in our minds instead of listening to what is in his soul . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)