大象传媒

From Julia Neuberger Senior Rabbi at the west London Synagogue:

It鈥檚 been a glorious Bank Holiday, with the temperatures in most of the country breaking all records since this early May Bank Holiday began in 1978. People were out in force. There were swimmers in the Thames, beaches were packed, ice cream sellers were in clover, and everyone was really enjoying good weather and feeling thankful. You could hear people saying how wonderful it was to have this after a tough winter, thankyou for good weather, thankyou for surviving a tough winter, thankyou for the pleasure in family and trips outside鈥�..

And yet鈥�. The weekend was marred by 5 shootings in London, with one 17 year old shot dead. Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton was a promising young man who wanted to work with children, shot dead playing football with friends. His mother called for an end to the violence in London: "Let my son be the last and be an example to everyone. Just let it stop." The violence is terrifying, and it needs to stop.

So there鈥檚 a bittersweet ring to this joy in summer- the bitterness of pointless violence, the sweetness of warmth and light. And that鈥檚 a journey we need to take, to stop the violence. There鈥檚 a Bible story about the Israelites crossing the desert and finding undrinkable water:鈥淭hey went three days鈥� and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters, for they were bitter鈥�. Then the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" So he cried out to God, and God showed him a tree. When he threw it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.鈥� (Ex 15:22-5) Would that it were so easy. No throwing a tree into the water for us maybe. But we can and we have to do something with God鈥檚 help. Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton鈥檚 mother is right. It has to stop. We need to work out how to make that journey from bitterness to sweetness, from violence to peace, from winter to warmth. It won鈥檛 be easy- but until we do, every lovely day will be marred by pointless young deaths, and our consciences will be full of us not dealing with the bitterness and the violence. Bitterness in the midst of joy.