9/15/2023

Sep 15, 2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Shanah Tovah! “It’s never too late to repent, to change, to begin anew.” Amen to this quote from your remarks to the rabbis yesterday. Your other statement, “I, you might say, was raised in the synagogues of my state,” rings less true, at least according to the NY Post. They note “Biden’s 2007 memoir “Promises to Keep” doesn’t contain a single use of the word, “synagogue.”

            I had a Jewish boyfriend in college. We had lots of fun together until I visited his house in Brookline, MA & met his parents. He never acknowledged that our religious differences could be an issue, but now I understand that they had their reservations about me.

            It’s too bad you don’t have time to go down to Birmingham with Justice Ketanji Jackson for the 2023 Forging Justice Commemoration Week. The city has planned several events to mark the occasion of the bombing of the 16th St Baptist church where Denise, Carole, Cynthia, & Addie Mae were murdered 60 years ago as they prepared for children’s day in the bathroom in the basement of the church. “There is a Balm in Gilead,” one of my favorite hymns, was used as the title of the “healing from racial trauma” event. I wish I could attend it.

            I wonder when Burma will be calm enough to celebrate holidays and commemorations. Please do whatever you can to restore it to a safe place for all.

            BYBS,