GOING FORTH AND INVITATION

Rabbi Murray Ezring

Interfaith Thanksgiving Service 2008

Friendship Missionary Baptist Church

In 1960, President Kennedy declared that we approached a New Frontier. As a nation, we broke the bonds that bound us to this planet. Gene Rodenberry proclaimed in the opening lines of his cult classic “Star Trek”: “Space, the final frontier…to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

This year, we learned that Rodenberry was wrong. Space is not the final frontier. We stand on the threshold of a different frontier. The path we strode through the last presidential election, brought us to the border of the minority frontier. We are all minorities. As we begin our “trek” into this newest/oldest frontier, we must come to understand each other better, learn to truly respect each other, and stand side by side to discover the unimaginable potential of our America.

We give thanks to God for the blessings we can only discover together and the ability in this time of economic instability to fulfill the prophet’s words: May we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, and walk humbly before our creator.

It is my honor to invite you to join us at Temple Israel in a year’s time, to celebrate Thanksgiving in gratitude for that which we will learn from each other in the coming months. Tzaitchem B’shalom Go forth from this sanctuary together in peace and Bo’achem B’shalom Return to 40^th Interfaith Thanksgiving Service in love, joy, and peace.