Saturday, August 12, 2006
British Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
Friends, let me tell you what is wrong with terror. It is not just that it murders the
innocent: the young, the old, the defenceless, the uninvolved.
It is that it murders innocence itself.
It turns virtue into weakness, decency into vulnerability.
And if we, if Israel, if Europe, if America do not take a stand against terror,
if we ignore it as the world ignored it for so long,
then it will leave a stain on the human future that no tears, no regrets, will ever remove.
innocent: the young, the old, the defenceless, the uninvolved.
It is that it murders innocence itself.
It turns virtue into weakness, decency into vulnerability.
And if we, if Israel, if Europe, if America do not take a stand against terror,
if we ignore it as the world ignored it for so long,
then it will leave a stain on the human future that no tears, no regrets, will ever remove.
And therefore let me end with simple words of prayer:
Ribbono shel olam: Be with your people Israel now.
Hear their cry
Heed their tears
Listen to this, our prayer on their behalf.
Grant peace to all your children, Jew, Christian and Muslim alike.
Help us live together, respecting one another.
Help us cherish life.
Help us to use the powers You gave us, to heal, to mend, to build.
We ask of You, Almighty God, just one thing:
You who make peace in high places,
Help us make peace down here on earth.
