STANDING IN THE BIBLE 

I stood with Abraham in his lonely vigil
And read the destiny of his people in the stars.

I was with Isaac when he built the altar
Where his faith and devotion were put to the test.

I stood with Jacob when he wrestled through the night
And won a blessing at the break of dawn.

I was with Moses, an alien prince among an alien people.
Unshod, I stood with him before the vision in the wilderness
And from the fire, I heard the voice summoning him.

I was at Sinai and entered there the everlasting covenant
Between the people and their God

I suffered, and I hungered with them
All the way across the wilderness to the Promised Land.

I was with Joshua at Jericho.

And with Deborah by the waters of Megiddo.

I stood with the blind Samson in his agony
And I heard the wild cry of his desperate courage
As he pulled the pillars over the Phillistines.

I heard Samuel admonish his people to remain free
And not to reject God by enslaving themselves to a king.

I listened to the harp of David
And I saw him bow before the wrath of Nathan
And before the truth of his accusation.

I heard Solomon in the Temple
On the day he dedicated it as a House of Prayer for all Peoples
And I learned from him of a God whom heaven and the hosts of heaven cannot contain.

Whose compassion extends to all
Even to the stranger who comes from afar.

I was with the prophets who came to destroy old worlds
And to build new ones.

I heard them lash out against injustice.
I warmed at their compassion for the weak.

I was with the people by the rivers of Babylon
And I heard their oath
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem.

I entered their makeshift dwellings in Babylon
And learned there that prayer and study can be as beloved to God
As the sacrifices of the priests in the Temple
Or the songs of the Levites.

I sat with the sages and the scribe
Who patiently interpreted the word of God
And slowly formed the Oral Law.

I moved among the mountains of Judea
With the lionhearted sons of Mattathias.

I was with Hillel when he summarized the whole Bible
In the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.

I was with Akiba when he inspired a revolution,
Defied an empire and died a martyr.

I wandered with the people into many lands
Where the cross and the crescent reigned.

I was with them when they drank out of the bitter chalices
Of pain, humiliation, cruelty and hatred.

I saw them stay sane in the midst of madness,
I saw them stay civilized in the midst of brutality,
I saw them lighting candles in the midst of the darkness.

Then I saw the night lift and the dawn break
And into the new world, blessed with liberty and freedom.

Abba Hillel Silver
 (adapted)