the great 20th century rabbi abraham joshua was once asked what is the most important thing a religioushat we do as religious people every time we gather. we hear again and again the sacred stories of encountering god ancient and cherished. stories about god as a mystery, yet, still revealed to our fragile and mortal humanity. we remember god's saving love of the human race, and in that act of remembering together, the god of life and giver of every good gift is present to us just as in this moment. this god is the one who raised up and delivered israel out of bondage in egypt, fulfilling ancient promises and who raised jesus from the dead into resurrection life, colin knew this god through all his years. his faith was of first importance, and his life was marked by those words of the prophet micah. he has shown you what is good, to do justice. to love kindness. and to walk humbly with your god. the god to gathers and comforts us this day is a god of justice and mercy, who seeks to lift up all who seek him. those who grieve the lost, weary, forgotten, the vulnerable and poor and all in

a professor of history and public affairs at princeton university and also the author of "abraham joshua he and harris affixed a traditional jewish scroll to the vice presidential residence. tell us. what is the significance of this. >> it's symbolically very important. most jewish homes have that on the door. it's to signify that the person and people inside will remember god's commandments and that it's a holy place, your home, and more important it demarcates that it's a jewish home. it's a public demarkation of that, so to have the vice president's family put that on the door is an important milestone in american jewish history. >> the message of the season is the potential for the smallest bit of light to push back the darkness. what does that look like as we look back on 2021 and look forward to 2022? >> well, this is a country, it's a world that's looking for light. we have lived through a pandemic. we're still in the middle of a pandemic, and we're trying to find positive signs so that we collectively can move forward, so i think the holiday as much as it has any other year symbo

the great 20th century rabbi abraham joshua daschle was once asked what is the most important thing aacred stories of encountering god. agent and cherished. stories about god as ineffable mystery yet still revealed to our fragileand mortal humanity . we remember god's saving love for the human race and in that act of remembering together. the god of life and the giver of every good gift is present to us just as in this moment. this god is the one who raised up and delivered israel out of bondage in egypt, fulfilling ancient promises and who raised jesus from the dead into resurrection life. colin knew this god through all his years. his faith was of first importance. and his life was marked by those words of the prophet micah. his he has shown you old man what is good. to do justice to love kindness and to walk humbly with your god. the god who gathers in comforts us this day is a god of justice and mercy who seeks to lift up all who seek him. those who grieve the loss weary forgotten, the vulnerable and poor and all on the margins of life. and god wants you to know in every circumsta

the great 20th century rabbi abraham joshua daschle was once asked what is the most important thing aphet micah. his he has shown you old man what is good. to do justice to love kindness and to walk humbly with your god. the god who gathers in comforts us this day is a god of justice and mercy who seeks to lift up all who seek him. those who grieve the loss weary forgotten, the vulnerable and poor and all on the margins of life. and god wants you to know in every circumstance of life that you are beloved whoever you are. whatever you are, whatever you've done .looks at you today and he loves you. this is the god we know. wholoves fiercely . who traffics in life and death and is known in every dimension of life even in the crosscurrents of the emotions we experienced today. and speaking with many people these last weeks as colin powell's life was remembered there was at the beginning of most of those conversations just the slightest of pauses, a recalibrating of the mind and heart and a realization that we were now talking about a member of the family. respected, admired and loved. for

the great 20th century rabbi abraham joshua was once asked, what is the most important thing a religiousevery time i gather we hear again and again the sacred stories of encountering god, ancient and cherished. story about god as ineffable mystery, but still revealed to our fragile and mortal humanity. we remember god's saving love for the human race, and in that act of remembering together, the god of life and giver of every good gift is present to us just as in this moment. this god is the one who raised up and delivered israel out of bondage in egypt, fulfilling ancient promises, and who raised jesus from the dead into resurrection life. colin knew this god through all his years. his faith was of first importance, and his life was marked by those words of the prophet, micah. "he has shown you, o, what is good. to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your god." the god who gathers and comforts us this day is a god of justice and mercy, who seeks to lift up all who seek him. those who grieve the lost, weary, forgotten, the vulnerable and poor and all in the margins of l

the great 20th century rabbi abraham joshua heshel was once asked what is the most important thing atime we gathering that we hear gennifer flowers and again the sacred stories of encountering god, ancient and cherished, stories about god is inf-able, in mystery yet still revealed to our fragile and mortal humanity. we remember god's saving love for the human race and in that act of remembering together, the god of life and giver of every good gift is present to us just as in this moment. . this god is the one who raised up and delivered israel out of bondage in egypt fulfilling ancient promises and who raised jesus from the dead into resurrection life. colin knew this god through all his years, his faith was of first importance, and his life was marked by those words of the prophet micah. he has showed you, o man, what is good, to do justice, to do justice and to walk kindness and to walk humbly with your god. . the god who gathers and comforts us is a god of comfort and mercy who seeks to lift up all who seek him those who grieve, the lost, the weary, forgotten, the vulnerable and

abraham lincoln in 1862. he committed it -- created it to honor noncommissioned officers that had extreme gallantry. in 1863 it was expanded to include officers. that was just in time for joshuamberlain to receive the medal of honor for his actions in defending the flank of the union army in the battle of gettysburg and repelling numerous confederate charges up little round top, thus helping win the decisive battle of the civil war. i have not researched whether there were too many or not enough such medals given. i know and some research in my book which includes the medal of honor recipients for iraq and afghanistan that at one point it was thought that they were being too stingy, and the secretary of defense and jim mattis asked the services to go back and look at some of the engagements and whether individuals who had won a distinguished service cross, the second most -- highest honor for gallantry, whether those might actually deserve a medal of honor. some were upgraded to a medal of honor. honor. i think that was a good thing. these engagements, if you read these narratives, you will find they are as intense as any combat any generation of american troops have been in,

abraham lincoln in 1862. he committed it -- created it to honor noncommissioned officers that had extreme gallantry. in 1863 it was expanded to include officers. that was just in time for joshuain to receive the medal of honor for his actions in defending the flank of the union army in the battle of gettysburg and repelling numerous confederate charges up little round top, thus helping win the decisive battle of the civil war. i have not researched whether there were too many or not enough such medals given. i know and some research in my book which includes the medal of honor recipients for iraq and afghanistan that at one point it was thought that they were being too stingy, and the secretary of defense and jim mattis asked the services to go back and look at some of the engagements and whether individuals who had won a distinguished service cross, the second most -- highest honor for gallantry, whether those might actually deserve a medal of honor. some were upgraded to a medal of honor. honor. i think that was a good thing. these engagements, if you read these narratives, you will find they are as intense as any combat any generation of american troops have been in, and t