imagine winning

On Tuesday morning, I proudly held a cardboard image of a monarch butterfly and stood in front of City Hall alongside comrades, clergy and council members in the freezing cold as Council Members Rue Landau and Kendra Brooks introduced powerful legislation to protect all Philadelphians from ICE. 

Then yesterday morning, Rabbi Lizzie and Rabbi Mó gathered with a triumphant swell in the chambers of city council to witness testimony in support of the legislation, which now has the veto-proof support of 15 of 17 members. 

Pastor Johnny Rashid of West Philadelphia Mennonite powerfully testified as the child of Egyptian immigrants, “This package of bills fulfills Philadelphia’s mission to love its neighbors and welcome the stranger. It seeks to hold law enforcement officers accountable and it ensures the protection of our community from the growing fascism and authoritarianism in our country. These bills guard against Trump’s bullying and power-grabbing, it protects our migrants from fear and assault, and it makes Philadelphia the welcoming city it purports to be.” 

In a week this brutal, both the weather and the news, this is a win! And it is no small thing to notice our wins. One of the limited things we can control these days is where we put our attention. And even that is really hard. So let’s practice together. 

This week’s Torah portion is triumphant! After 400 years of slavery and 10 plagues, and everything between, the Israelites are finally free. It is one of my favorite rituals of the year to read the Song of the Sea. 

What I am struck by this week is not the fact that we read this Torah portion every year, or that we sing the Song of the Sea every shabbat, but that we actually read from the Song of the Sea every day, twice a day in fact. This biblical poem is at the core of every morning and evening service. It is where the words “Mi Chamocha” come from. The rabbis anchor our entire prayer life to this moment in Torah. We should not take this for granted. 

They could have called our attention to many other stories, but they chose this one. We are invited to keep the song of the sea before us always. 

In an essay this week, Rebecca Solnit quotes the poet W.H. Auden who wrote in a review of the final book in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, "Evil, that is, has every advantage but one – it is inferior in imagination…” 

I think the Song of the Sea is a daily invitation to imagine freedom, to imagine winning. And, to quote Aurora Levins Morales, “Then imagine more.”

“imagine winning.  This is your sacred task.
This is your power. Imagine
every detail of winning, the exact smell of the summer streets
in which no one has been shot, the muscles you have never
unclenched from worry, gone soft as newborn skin,
the sparkling taste of food when we know
that no one on earth is hungry, that the beggars are fed,
that the old man under the bridge and the woman
wrapping herself in thin sheets in the back seat of a car,
and the children who suck on stones,
nest under a flock of roofs that keep multiplying their shelter.
Lean with all your being towards that day
when the poor of the world shake down a rain of good fortune
out of the heavy clouds, and justice rolls down like waters.”

This is the power of prayer. To undermine the fear of the world and to invite us to imagine every satisfying detail of winning.

For the second Friday in a row the city of Minneapolis has canceled business as usual and called for a national strike. Last week, in subzero temperatures, nearly a quarter of the population of Minneapolis was in the streets demanding ICE leave their state. That is a win! 

In moments of despair, when the urge to doomscroll arises, remember the Song of the Sea. Remember that we danced our way across the sea, drumline and all. Remember that it seemed impossible until it happened. Keep even just the very last words in your pocket if it helps you remember to imagine winning on the daily. 

וּבְנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל הָלְכ֥וּ בַיַּבָּשָׁ֖ה בְּת֥וֹךְ הַיָּֽם׃
​
“And the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea” (Ex. 15:19)

Soon by us!