My attempt at Spoken Word. Written. Whatever...

So I was invited to represent the Jewish community of Lawrenceville at a local diversity day a few years back. I chose to "perform" a spoken word style poem and include the 7 universal commandments for all people.

I'm sharing this poem now because at a time like this, when people are getting the gist that we are really not in control of much, if anything, we are looking for something bigger - a higher power? - to connect with and use as our guidance.

Funny enough, this was provided to us a few millennia ago when, after the destruction of mankind,  save for a few people, Noah was told by G-d what the moral standard of the "new" world should be. These are dubbed the "7 Noahide Laws" and they are the blueprint for moral behavior; this is what G-d expects from all people.

I hope you enjoy the poem and I ask that if it was in any way meaningful to you, pass it on... I think the world can use it (IMveryHO;)
(I changed a few details to make it more, well, universal...)

Hello fellow Humans!

So good to be here

And share

Time with you all

Whether

We’ve met

Or not yet

I’m glad we’re together

‘cuz from all walks of life

The different faces, and different places and different spaces and different races

And maybe from other planets

We land

And perhaps with our family

We take responsibility

We build community

And create possibility

And

So here we stand.

And though I am I and you are you

We are each individual –

That’s all good and well

Because if I am not for me

Then who will be?

Asks the Elder Hillel

But

If I am only for me

And I cannot see

That multiplicity and variety

Are a recipe

For success

Then I missed the point…

So let me stress

That it’s our ability

To embrace, not erase

Our diversity

That brings us to a better place

So, while I am a Jew

And I preach and I teach

The 7 Noachide laws to all mankind:

·        In ONE G-d you shall believe

·        Only to bless, G-d’s name you shall retrieve

·        A judge in a court you shall not deceive

·        All living creatures in peace you shall leave

·        Your fellow man’s possessions you shall not thieve

·        Your fellow man’s murder, G-d says, I will grieve

·        To only ONE spouse at a time you shall cleave

All this you can achieve

And do

But now I ask:

Who are you?

Are you my neighbor?

Who I see when I walk

Or the one whose dogs always bark

Are you the mother with whom I talk

When we meet in a park?

Are you my doctor? My lawyer? The mail carrier? The dentist? The crossing guard? The clergyman? The cashier?

Do you live at the beginning of the block or the end?

Are you old? Are you young? Are you tall are you short? Are you a woman? A man?

Does it matter?

I think not

I think I’d consider you my friend

In this melting pot

Of cultures, religions and nations

Backgrounds, values, educations

Languages, inflections, pronunciations

People

Human beings

Coming together and sharing one earth

As G-d must intend…