Eleh Ezkerah

These are the things I will remember
And my soul is melting with sorrow:
In the time of the Romans, Rabbi Ishmael and Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel were the first to be taken to the place of execution, where each desired to precede the other in being slain and thus be spared the sight of seeing his friend suffer. When Rabbi Ishmael was flayed, suffering with great fortitude,
he wept only when his tormentors reached the place of his Tefillin.
From Guantanamo Bay to the Bagram holding facility in Afghanistan, detainees have been stripped, left naked in isolation, hooded, beaten, kicked, shackled in humiliating and physically painful positions for hours on end, spat at, urinated upon, deprived of food and sleep for days, exposed to extremes of hot and cold, bombarded with painfully bright lights and loud violent music, and threatened with dogs. Many have been interrogated in sexually suggestive and abusive ways.
And this I would prefer to forget, but must remember on this holy day:
R’Hananya ben Teradyon was wrapped in the Torah from which he had been teaching and placed on a pyre of green brushwood, and his chest was drenched with water to prolong the agony. His disciples, watching the flames dancing over their beloved teacher, asked, “Master, what do you see?” He replied: “I see parchment burning, while the letters of the Torah soar upward.” His disciples then advised him to open his mouth that the fire might enter and sooner put an end to his sufferings; but he refused to do so saying:” It is best that he who has given life should also take it away; no one may hasten his own death.” The executioner removed the wet sponge, fanned the flame, thus accelerating the end, and then plunged himself into the fire.
And on this holy day we would like to forget and we are charging ourselves to remember:
And their Holy Scriptures were desecrated.
And our souls melt with sorrow.
As it is written in the Talmud, “How do you know that your blood is redder? Maybe his blood is redder.”
And we affirm that the abolition of torture, like slavery, is the measure of a free and ethical society.
And we remember on this day the crowning principle of Jewish law is human dignity.
And today we see the parchment burning while the letters of the Torah soar upward.
On this Holy Day,
Remember us O Lord
Open our hearts to love you and love your creatures
Remind us that only by remembering that your love fills all your creatures
Can we come near to You.