Rabbi Jhos Singer, Part 1 (more to come...being transcribed)

Welcome everyone who has come out today to show your support to Kyle’s family, to come together as a community to grapple with this almost unfathomable occurrence. Achi just invoked the Angel’s of Peace that we bring in, that we invite in, on Shabbat, the day of rest, the day of peace. And these Angels come to us from magical and mysterious places to hold a container for us to be able to depart from the daily concerns that the working week keeps us attending to, and allows us to enter into a sacred space of possibility, a sacred space of hope, a sacred space of what could be and not what is. And in so many ways that is the task that we have at hand today, also. Because to live with what is, a loss like this so sudden and so young, we can’t live like that. We have to cull through the memories and the experiences of life in order to go forward and attend to the daily world. There is a translation of what Achi just sang that was offered by Rabbi Romi Shapiro, and I thought it was a perfect way of thinking about it for us today, “Angels are another name for feelings. When we love and act with kindness, we create angels of love and kindness. When we hate and act with violence, we create angels of hatred and violence. It is our job to fill the world with angels love of love and messengers of kindness that link us together as one family, and I think that is exactly what we are here to do today, to find all those angels of love and kindness, and funny, ridiculous stories and strength and courage and a shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold as we enter into what is very difficult work. A big part of what we are here to do in these next few hours is the mitzvah of Kavot Hamet, the mitzvah, the sacred deed of burying our dead. There is no easy or pretty way to put it. That is what we are here to do. And that is hard work, but that is work that a loving, caring, courageous community can do better than anybody else.  And so, as we take a few moments this morning to draw our strength together, to find our courage, to live in this community for a couple of hours, we draw upon Jewish tradition that says that it is really OK, it is really OK for this to be hard. It is supposed to be hard. But it can’t stay hard for the rest of our lives. Part of how we keep that difficulty contained, is by really focusing, by really working together, and really supporting each other, in stepping off into very, very difficult terrain. But we don't do it without some sense that there is more joy than grief here, that there is more good than bad, that this is a place for forgiveness, that this is a place for learning, that this is a place for celebrating life, even as it is a place to grieve and to hunger a little bit. So, we want to begin with some words from some of the people who were very, very close to Kyle to give us some perspective, and to start helping us to come to grips with what we are here to do. So, I would like to invite up Hasmig Minassian to read a poem that Kyle wrote.