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Opening Ritual
The Rev. Virginia Ann McDaniel CALL TO WORSHIP
(adapted from a mourning ritual in Mourning and Mitzvah, by Anne
Bremer, Woodstock, Vt. : Jewish Lights Pub., 1993.)
VOICE ONE
Let us begin as Job began.
When Job received word of the calamities that had befallen him, he tore his
robe. He cut off his hair and threw himself on the ground. He said, "Naked
came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return there. God has given
and God has taken away. Blessed be God's name."
Upon hearing of the death of a loved one, Jews traditionally tore their
garments "to expose the heart." This practice began, in the biblical story,
with Jacob, who tore his cloak and began to mourn when the bloodied coat of
his son, Joseph, was brought to him. Tearing a garment smbolizes the severing
of a relationship. It permanently mutilates something valuable that cannot be
mended. By "exposing the heart," we also expose our own vulnerability.
VOICE TWO
"God has given and God has taken away."
We do not believe that God has taken the lives of the countless thousands who
were killed today. Human beings took away those lives. But we do believe that
those who died are in God's arms, and that God is with all those who mourn
them.
So let us begin as Job began,
as remember the four jets which went down...
Then, slowly and loudly, I tore four strips off a large piece of purple
cloth, and laid the strips across the worship table, which was also set with a
simple vase of white flowers, a white candle (which we lit at the end of the
service with prayers for the dead), and an incense burner.
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