anniversary

I hadn't been to Temple Emanu-El for many, many years. The last time I can recall being there was at my Grandmother Sonia's funeral in 1994.

It was nice to see people I've known since I was a small child, and I was very pleased to meet the current Rabbi, Debra Landsberg. She led a service which included having my parents stand under the chuppah, as they did when they were married, bringing their wedding into the present.

Rabbi Arthur Bielfeld, Emanu-el's rabbi for 33 years, was present to celebrate and be celebrated. He was and continues to be a committed social justice activist. Among many causes, he has fought for the rights of migrant workers, of refugees from Vietnam, for Gay and Lesbian rights (including the right to be recognised as families in the congregation), for refuseniks in the former Soviet Union, and to end child poverty here in Canada.

During the service, my father read a poem for my mother:

The Life That I Have

The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours

The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause
For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours.

Leo Marks