Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Between the Fires

[For recitation in a ceremony:]

ALL:
We are the generations that stand
between the fires:
Behind us the flame and smoke
that rose from Auschwitz, from Hiroshima,
and from the burning forests of the Amazon.
Before us the nightmare of a Flood of Fire,
The flame and smoke that could consume all earth.

It is our task to make from fire not an all-consuming blaze
But the light in which we see each other fully.
All of us different, All of us bearing
One Spark.

[Pause to light the sage, incense, candle]

ALL:
We light these fires to see more clearly
That the earth and all who live as part of it
Are not for burning.
We light these fires to see more clearly
The rainbow in our many-colored faces.

Blessed is the One within the many.
Blessed are the many who make One.

[Pause to pass the sage bowl, to sound of a peace bell]

[After sage bowl passing, someone reads this passage from Malachi, the last of the ancient Hebrew prophets, chapter 3]

• The day is approaching
• That will burn like a furnace,
• Scorching like stubble
• Those who impose injustice, violence --
• the dying of the earth and human earthlings.
• But those who revere My Name --
• Yahhh, the Interbreathing of all life --
• Can find in sun and wind the source of justice and of healing.
• Here! I will send you
• Elijah the Prophet
• Before the coming
• of the great and terrible day
• of YAHH, the Breath/ Wind/ Hurricane of Life.
• And he shall turn the hearts
• Of parents to children
• And the hearts of children to their parents.
• Lest I come and
• Smite the earth
• With utter destruction.

ALL:
Here! we ourselves are coming-forth
Before the great and terrible day
of smiting Earth —
For we shall turn the hearts
Of parents to children
And the hearts of children to their parents
So that this day of smiting
Does not fall upon us.