The words of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy:
The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times. The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning. When new insight reveals discord between the Constitution’s central protections and a received legal stricture, a claim to liberty must be addressed.
Tonight, as we light the candles of Shabbat, may their glow remind us of the wisdom of the generations that came before us and symbolize the amazing power of new insight. As we gather together with those we love, may our ability to come together remind us of our tradition’s insistence that we must do what we can to end discord and pursue justice. And may we all have a Shabbat Shalom.
