Rabbi Noah Farkas Sermons

Invocation at the 49th Annual Veterans Day Ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks And Mortuaries

November 11, 2008 by Rabbi Noah Zvi Farkas

Good morning. I am Rabbi Noah Farkas, a former Navy Chaplain, and I am one of the rabbis at Valley Beth Shalom, a Conservative Synagogue in Encino. 

In a letter to James Lloyd on the 1st of October 1822, our 6th President John Quincy Adams wrote, "Individual liberty is individual power, and … the nation which enjoys the most freedom must … be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation." The novelty President Adams’s letter is not in the idea that liberty is an individual right inalienable to all of humanity. The right to liberty was recognized long before President Adams by the framers of the constitution, and the writers of the Declaration of Independence. No, the novel idea of President Adams, is that our true power as a nation is found in our collective liberty; that each of us shares a covenant of destiny with our fellow Americans to pursue a flourishing life together. It is a recognition that my life is bound up with yours, that when your liberty is fettered by chains of repression, so is mine, and that my happiness cannot ride on the back of your misery. The true power of America, wrote Adams, is our ability to stand together in all of our sacred individuality while gazing together at a common horizon. 

We are standing at a critical point of transition in America. After years of divisive politics that has threatened our ability to stand together and see our collective fate we have the opportunity, perhaps the only opportunity in our lifetime, to harness the great potential of the American spirit, its promise, to heal this great country and again be the guiding light to the nations. But to be a nation that shares a common fate, its citizens must live in service to liberty. We must learn to sacrifice our self-interest for a greater good. We must realize that freedom and liberty are only powerful, as Adams remarked, when the express themselves collectively. And on this day, we celebrate those who through the spirit of service committed their lives to something greater than themselves. Today we praise their ability to transcend their own individuality for the sake of a greater cause. And today we remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of our collective liberty. It is this spirit of service and sacrifice that makes true freedom possible and America a powerful nation both home and abroad. 

Let us pray. 

Sovereign of the Universe, Author of Liberty, 
Open the hearts of these good people who gather today to lift up those who have served this sovereign nation under your Sovereignty. Impress upon each of us the responsibility that we bear as free individuals to see our collective fate. Strengthen those who have come here to mourn the loss of a loved one or friends long gone by through the faith of their ancestors. Instill within us the pride of our patriots, the courage of our defenders, and the wisdom of our sages. Open our ears to the cries of the neediest, and the freedom songs of those that still seek their own liberty. And open our hands to join with those with whom we share differences as we march together toward a better tomorrow. Together may this country be an influence for good throughout the world. For You know that what unites us in faith and freedom is always greater than what divides us. And You know that we carry no greater message than the echoes of a ringing bell of liberty from our founders to our future and yesterday until tomorrow. 

And let us say, Amen

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