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2
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Processional
B’ruchim haba-im
to you all, who come not just as passersby
Nor even just as honored guests,
But as God’s agents, solemnly consigned
To the mission of nurturing tomorrow:
Not altogether fresh, dependent on our meager minds alone,
But consonant with renewed reverberations of all our proudest yesterdays,
And resonant with the gift of Torah
That carries us — even as we think we carry it —
Our never-failing guide through time and circumstance.
(
Congregation rises for procession of Torah scrolls)
In transmitting Torah once again, one generation to another,
We publicly proclaim the privilege of this moment.
V’hu hayah, v’hu hoveh, v’hu yih’yeh!
Somehow, in these scrolls of Torah,
God “was, and is, and will eternally be,”
Alongside us, we pray, a people rich in blessing,
And partnering with divinity.