It's time to reclaim religion | Sharon Brous

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

Translator: Gramoz Pisha Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

I was a new mother

Une isha një nënë e re

and a young rabbi

dhe një rabine e re

in the spring of 2004

në pranverën e 2004

and the world was in shambles.

dhe bota ishte ne kaos.

Maybe you remember.

Ndoshta e mbani mend.

Every day, we heard devastating reports from the war in Iraq.

Cdo ditë, ne dëgjonim lajme shkatërruese nga lufta ne Irak.

There were waves of terror rolling across the globe.

Ishin disa valë terrori qe rrotulloheshin në të gjithë globin.

It seemed like humanity was spinning out of control.

Dukej sikur njerëzimi po dilte nga kontrolli.

I remember the night that I read

Më kujtohet nata kur lexova

about the series of coordinated bombings

rreth nje serie bombardimesh të koordinuara

in the subway system in Madrid,

në një metro të Madridit,

and I got up and I walked over to the crib

dhe u ngrita e eca deri te krevati

where my six-month-old baby girl

ku vajza ime 6-muajshe

lay sleeping sweetly,

po flinte ëmbëlsisht,

and I heard the rhythm of her breath,

dhe degjova ritmin e frymëmarrjes së saj,

and I felt this sense of urgency coursing through my body.

dhe e ndjeva si nje prioritet që përshkroi gjithë trupin tim.

We were living through a time of tectonic shifts in ideologies,

Ishim duke jetuar në një kohe të përplasjeve tektonike në ideologji,

in politics, in religion, in populations.

në politikë, fe, dhe në popullsi.

Everything felt so precarious.

Cdo gjë ishte e pasigurtë.

And I remember thinking,

Mbaj mend që mendoja:

"My God, what kind of world did we bring this child into?

"Zoti im, ne cfarë lloj bote e sollëm këte fëmije?

And what was I as a mother and a religious leader

Dhe cfarë isha unë si një nënë dhe udhëheqëse fetare

willing to do about it?

e gatshme të bëja rreth kësaj?

Of course, I knew it was clear

Sigurisht, e dija mirë

that religion would be a principle battlefield

se feja do të ishte beteja kryesore

in this rapidly changing landscape,

në këtë peisazh shpejtësisht të ndryshueshëm,

and it was already clear

dhe ishte tashmë e qartë

that religion was a significant part of the problem.

se feja do të ishte një pjesë e rëndësishme e problemit.

The question for me was,

Pyetja për mua ishte,

could religion also be part of the solution?

mundet feja gjithashtu te jetë pjesë e zgjidhjes?

Now, throughout history,

Tani, përgjatë historisë,

people have committed horrible crimes and atrocities

njerëzit kanë kryer krime të tmerrshme dhe mizori

in the name of religion.

ne emër te fesë.

And as we entered the 21st century,

Sapo hymë ne shekullin e 21,

it was very clear that religious extremism was once again on the rise.

ishte shumë e qartë se ekstremizmi fetar ishte sërish në rritje.

Our studies now show

Studimi ynë tani tregon

that over the course of the past 15, 20 years,

se përgjatë rrjedhës se 15-20 viteve te kaluara

hostilities and religion-related violence

dhuna e lidhur me fenë

have been on the increase all over the world.

ka qenë në rritje në te gjithë botën.

But we don't even need the studies to prove it,

Por ne nuk kemi nevojë që ta provojne studimet

because I ask you, how many of us are surprised today

sepse nëse ju pyes sa prej nesh surprizohen

when we hear the stories of a bombing or a shooting,

kur dëgjojmë për histori me bombardime apo të shtëna,

when we later find out that the last word that was uttered

kur më vonë zbulojmë se fjala e fundit që u tha

before the trigger is pulled or the bomb is detonated

para se këmbëza të tërhiqej ose bomba te shpërthehej

is the name of God?

është emri i Zotit?

It barely raises an eyebrow today

Mezi ngremë sytë lart sot

when we learn that yet another person

kur mësojmë se një person tjetër

has decided to show his love of God

vendosi te tregojë dashurinë për Zotin

by taking the lives of God's children.

duke marrë jetët e fëmijëve te Zotit.

In America, religious extremism

Në Amerikë, ekstremizmi fetar

looks like a white, antiabortion Christian extremist

duket si një i bardhë, ekstremist kristian kundër abortit

walking into Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs

që futet brenda Planned Parenthood në Colorado Springs

and murdering three people.

duke vrarë 3 veta.

It also looks like a couple

Duket si një cift

inspired by the Islamic State

qe të nxitur nga Shteti Islamik

walking into an office party in San Bernardino and killing 14.

futen në një zyre në San Benardino duke vrarë 14 njerëz.

And even when religion-related extremism does not lead to violence,

Edhe nëse ekstremizmi i lidhur me fenë nuk con në dhunë,

it is still used as a political wedge issue,

prapë se prapë përdoret si një cështje politike

cynically leading people to justify the subordination of women,

që cinikisht i con njerëzit të justifikojnë nënshtrimin e femrave,

the stigmatization of LGBT people,

stigmatizimin e njerëzve LGBT,

racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

racizmin, islamofobinë dhe anti-semitizmin.

This ought to concern deeply

Kjo duhet te shqetesoje thellesisht

those of us who care about the future of religion

ata prej nesh qe kujdesen per te ardhmen e fese

and the future of faith.

dhe për te ardhmen e besimit.

We need to call this what it is:

Duhet ta shikojmë ashtu sic është:

a great failure of religion.

një dështim i madh i fesë.

But the thing is, this isn't even the only challenge that religion faces today.

Por problemi është se, ky nuk është problemi i vetëm qe përballet sot feja.

At the very same time

Në të njejtën kohë

that we need religion to be a strong force against extremism,

që e duam fenë te jetë një forcë e madhe kundër ekstremizmit,

it is suffering from a second pernicious trend,

është vuajtëse nga një trend i dyte i dëmshëm,

what I call religious routine-ism.

që une e quaj rutinizmi i fesë.

This is when our institutions and our leaders

Kjo eshte kur institucionet tona dhe lideret tane

are stuck in a paradigm that is rote and perfunctory,

jane zhytur ne nje paradigme qe eshte rutine dhe sa per forme,

devoid of life, devoid of vision

liria e jetes, liria e vizionit

and devoid of soul.

dhe liria e shpirtit.

Let me explain what I mean like this.

Më lejoni t'ju shpjegoj cfarë dua te them me këtë.

One of the great blessings of being a rabbi

Një nga bekimet më te mëdha e te qenit mësuese e judaizmit

is standing under the chuppah, under the wedding canopy, with a couple,

është qëndrimi nën tenden e martesës, me ciftin,

and helping them proclaim publicly

duke i ndihmuar te shpallin publikisht

and make holy the love that they found for one another.

dhe te bej te shenjte dashurine qe ata kane per njeri-tjetrin.

I want to ask you now, though,

Dua t'ju pyes juve,

to think maybe from your own experience

te mendoni ndonje eksperience tuajen

or maybe just imagine it

ose thjesht ta imagjinoni ate

about the difference between the intensity of the experience

rreth diferences mes intensitetit te eksperiences

under the wedding canopy,

poshte tendes se marteses,

and maybe the experience of the sixth or seventh anniversary.

dhe ndoshta eksperiencën e përvjetorit te gjashtë apo te shtatë.

(Laughter)

(Të qeshura)

And if you're lucky enough to make it 16 or 17 years,

Dhe nëse do te keni mjaft me fat që ta bëni të zgjase për 16 ose 17 vjet,

if you're like most people, you probably wake up in the morning

nëse jeni si shumica e njerezve, do te zgjoheni ne mëngjes

realizing that you forgot to make a reservation at your favorite restaurant

dhe do te kujtoni se keni harruar te rezervoni ne restorantin e preferuar

and you forgot so much as a card,

dhe ngaqë harroni shpesh,

and then you just hope and pray that your partner also forgot.

do te shpresoni dhe luteni qe edhe partneri juaj te ketë harruar.

Well, religious ritual and rites

Në rregull, ritet dhe ritualet fetare

were essentially designed to serve the function of the anniversary,

janë krijuar fillimisht per te shërbyer si përvjetor,

to be a container in which we would hold on to the remnants

dhe te jete nje ene ne te cilen do te hedhim gjerat

of that sacred, revelatory encounter

e shenjta, ne takimin e shpalljes

that birthed the religion in the first place.

qe lindi feja per herë te parë.

The problem is that after a few centuries,

Problemi është se pas disa shekujve,

the date remains on the calendar,

data qëndron ne kalendar,

but the love affair is long dead.

por dashuria ka vdekur me kohë.

That's when we find ourselves in endless, mindless repetitions

Kështu ndodh kur e gjejmë veten nëpër përsëritje te pafundme dhe të pamend

of words that don't mean anything to us,

te fjalëve qe nuk kanë asnjë kuptim për ne,

rising and being seated because someone has asked us to,

qe shtohen dhe nuk lëvizin sepse dikush na ka pyetur për to,

holding onto jealously guarded doctrine

duke u kapur pas doktrinave me kujdes

that's completely and wildly out of step with our contemporary reality,

qe është komplet pa lidhje me realitetin e sotëm,

engaging in perfunctory practice

duke u përfshirë ne një praktikë te përciptë

simply because that's the way things have always been done.

thjesht sepse kështu ka qenë mënyra si si janë bërë gjërat.

Religion is waning in the United States.

Feja po dobësohet ne Shtetet e Bashkuara.

Across the board, churches and synagogues and mosques

Ne te gjithë vendin, kishat, sinagoget dhe xhamitë

are all complaining

po ankohen

about how hard it is to maintain relevance

per vështirësinë për te ruajtur rëndësinë

for a generation of young people who seem completely uninterested,

të nje gjenerate te re qe duken tërësisht te painteresuar,

not only in the institutions that stand at the heart of our traditions

jo vetëm per institucionin fetare qe qëndrojnë ne krye të traditave tona

but even in religion itself.

por edhe për vetë fenë.

And what they need to understand

Ajo që duhet te kuptojnë

is that there is today a generation of people

eshte se sot ekziston nje gjeneratë njerezish

who are as disgusted by the violence of religious extremism

qe jane te merzitur nga dhuna e ekstremizmit fetar

as they are turned off

qe i mbyll

by the lifelessness of religious routine-ism.

ne rutinizmin fetar.

Of course there is a bright spot to this story.

Sigurisht kjo eshte pjesa e dukshme e historise.

Given the crisis of these two concurrent trends in religious life,

Duke pare krizen qe po shtohej ne jeten fetare

about 12 or 13 years ago, I set out to try to determine

rreth 12 apo 13 vjet me pare, vendosa te provoj te gjej

if there was any way

nese ka ndonje menyre

that I could reclaim the heart of my own Jewish tradition,

qe une mund te permiresoja vete traditen time Judaiste

to help make it meaningful and purposeful again

qe te kishte serish te njejtin kuptim dhe mendim

in a world on fire.

ne nje bote qe po ziente.

I started to wonder,

Fillova te pyes veten,

what if we could harness some of the great minds of our generation

nese mund te merrnim disa nga mendjet me te mira te gjenerates tone

and think in a bold and robust and imaginative way again

dhe te mendojne serish ne menyre te fuqishme, imagjinare dhe te spikatur

about what the next iteration of religious life would look like?

rreth asaj se si perseritja e fese do te duket?

Now, we had no money, no space, no game plan,

Tani, ne nuk kishim para, hapesire, dhe asnje plan loje

but we did have email.

por kishim email.

So my friend Melissa and I sat down and we wrote an email

Keshtu qe, shoqja ime Melisa dhe une u ulem dhe shkruajtem nje email

which we sent out to a few friends and colleagues.

te cilin ia derguam disa miqve dhe kolegeve.

It basically said this:

Shkurtimisht thame kete:

"Before you bail on religion,

"Perpara se te lini fene,

why don't we come together this Friday night

pse nuk bashkohemi kete te premte ne darke

and see what we might make of our own Jewish inheritance?"

dhe te shikojme se cfare mund te bejme per trashegimine tone hebreje?"

We hoped maybe 20 people would show up.

Shpresuam se vetem 20 do te ishin te interesuar.

It turned out 135 people came.

Por erdhen 135 veta.

They were cynics and seekers,

Ata ishin cinike, kerkues

atheists and rabbis.

ateiste dhe rabinj.

Many people said that night that it was the first time

Shume njerez thane se ate nate ishte hera e pare

that they had a meaningful religious experience in their entire lives.

qe kishin patur nje eksperience me kuptim per fene ne te gjithe jeten e tyre.

And so I set out to do the only rational thing

Dhe keshtu kam vendosur te bej gjene logjike

that someone would do in such a circumstance:

qe dikush do te bente ne rrethana te tilla:

I quit my job and tried to build this audacious dream,

Lashe punen dhe u mundova te ndertoja endrren e guximshme,

a reinvented, rethought religious life

nje jete te re fetare te rizbuluar dhe rimenduar

which we called "IKAR,"

te cilen e quajtem "IKAR"

which means "the essence" or "the heart of the matter."

qe do te thote "esenca" ose "qellimi i ceshtjes."

Now, IKAR is not alone

Tani, IKAR nuk eshte i vetem

out there in the religious landscape today.

ne peisazhin e feve qe ka sot.

There are Jewish and Christian and Muslim and Catholic religious leaders,

Ka lider fetare hebrenj, te krishtere, muslimane dhe katolike,

many of them women, by the way,

dhe meqe ra fjala, shumica prej tyre jane femra,

who have set out to reclaim the heart of our traditions,

qe kane vendosur te permiresojne qellimin e traditave tona

who firmly believe that now is the time for religion to be part of the solution.

te cilet besojne se tani eshte koha qe feja te jete pjese e zgjidhjes.

We are going back into our sacred traditions

Jemi duke u kthyer pas ne traditat tona te shenjta

and recognizing that all of our traditions

dhe duke njohur qe te gjitha traditat tona

contain the raw material to justify violence and extremism,

permbajne material te mire per te justifikuar dhunen dhe ekstremizmin

and also contain the raw material to justify compassion,

por gjithashtu permbajne material te mjaftueshem per te justifikuar meshiren

coexistence and kindness --

bashkejetesen dhe miresine--

that when others choose to read our texts as directives for hate and vengeance,

qe kur te zgjedhin te lexojne tekstet tona si udhezues per urrejtje dhe hakmarrje

we can choose to read those same texts

ne do t'i lexojme te njejtat tekste

as directives for love and for forgiveness.

si udhezues per dashuri dhe per falje.

I have found now

Kam zbuluar

in communities as varied as Jewish indie start-ups on the coasts

ne komunitete te ndryshme qe nga start-ups indipendente hebrenj neper brigje,

to a woman's mosque,

deri tek xhamia e femrave,

to black churches in New York and in North Carolina,

tek kishat e njerezve me ngjyre ne Nju Jork dhe Karolinen e Veriut,

to a holy bus loaded with nuns

tek nje autobus te mbushur me murgesha

that traverses this country with a message of justice and peace,

qe kalonte ne te gjithe vendin me mesazhin per drejtesi dhe paqe,

that there is a shared religious ethos

qe atje ndahet nje karakter fetar

that is now emerging in the form of revitalized religion in this country.

qe po shfaqet ne kete vend ne formen e fese se revitalizuar.

And while the theologies and the practices vary very much

Nderkohe qe teologjite dhe praktikat variojne shume

between these independent communities,

midis ketyre komuniteteve te pavarura

what we can see are some common, consistent threads between them.

ajo qe shohim jane ca fije te perbashketa dhe te perhershme midis tyre.

I'm going to share with you four of those commitments now.

Do te ndaj me ju tani kater nga parimet e tyre tani.

The first is wakefulness.

E para eshte vigjilenca.

We live in a time today

Sot jetojme ne nje kohe

in which we have unprecedented access

ne te cilen kemi akses te pashembullt

to information about every global tragedy

ne informacionet per cdo tragjedi boterore

that happens on every corner of this Earth.

qe ndodh ne cdo cep te Tokes.

Within 12 hours, 20 million people

Per 12 ore, 20 milion njerez

saw that image of Aylan Kurdi's little body

pane imazhin e djaloshit Aylan Kurdi

washed up on the Turkish shore.

i mbuluar me pluhur nga sulmet me bomba.

We all saw this picture.

Te gjithe ne e pame ate fotografi.

We saw this picture of a five-year-old child

Pame ate foto te nje femije 5-vjecar

pulled out of the rubble of his building in Aleppo.

i nxjerre nga rrenojat e nderteses ne Alepo.

And once we see these images,

Dhe sapo i pame serish keto imazhe

we are called to a certain kind of action.

kerkuam te merrej nje lloj aksioni.

My tradition tells a story of a traveler who is walking down a road

Ne traditen tone tregohet nje histori e nje udhetari qe po ecte ne nje rruge

when he sees a beautiful house on fire,

dhe kur pa nje shtepi te bukur ne zjarr,

and he says, "How can it be that something so beautiful would burn,

thote, " Si ka mundesi qe dicka kaq e bukur te digjet,

and nobody seems to even care?"

dhe askush te mos e vrase mendjen?"

So too we learn that our world is on fire,

Pra, gjithashtu mesojme se bota eshte ne zjarr

and it is our job to keep our hearts and our eyes open,

dhe eshte detyra jone te mbajme zemrat dhe syte hapur,

and to recognize that it's our responsibility

por edhe te pranojme qe eshte pergjegjesia jone

to help put out the flames.

ta nxjerrim boten nga flaket.

This is extremely difficult to do.

Eshte shume e veshtire per t'u realizuar.

Psychologists tell us that the more we learn about what's broken in our world,

Psikologet thone se sa me shume te mesojme se sa eshte shkaterruar bota

the less likely we are to do anything.

me te veshtire e kemi per te reaguar.

It's called psychic numbing.

Quhet mpirje psiqike.

We just shut down at a certain point.

Ne thjesht mbyllemi ne nje pike te caktuar.

Well, somewhere along the way, our religious leaders forgot

Diku gjate rruges, lideret tane fetare harruan

that it's our job to make people uncomfortable.

qe eshte puna jone ti bejme njerezit te ndihen rehat.

It's our job to wake people up,

Eshte detyra jone te zgjojme njerezit,

to pull them out of their apathy

ti nxjerrim nga apatite

and into the anguish,

dhe nga ankthet,

and to insist that we do what we don't want to do

dhe te insistojme qe te bejme ate qe nuk duam ta bejme

and see what we do not want to see.

dhe te shikojme ate qe nuk duam te shikojme.

Because we know that social change only happens --

Sepse dime qe ndryshimi social vazhdon e ndryshon--

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

when we are awake enough to see that the house is on fire.

kur ne jemi mjaftueshem ne dijeni te shohim se shtepia eshte nen zjarr.

The second principle is hope,

Parimi i dyte eshte shpresa,

and I want to say this about hope.

dhe dua te them kete per shpresen.

Hope is not naive,

Shpresa nuk eshte naive

and hope is not an opiate.

dhe shpresa nuk eshte lende narkotike.

Hope may be the single greatest act of defiance

Shpresa mund te jete akti i vetem i optimizmit

against a politics of pessimism

kunder politikes se pesimizmit dhe

and against a culture of despair.

kunder kultures se deshperimit.

Because what hope does for us

Sepse ajo qe shpresa ben per ne

is it lifts us out of the container

eshte qe na heq nga ena

that holds us and constrains us from the outside,

qe na mban dhe ndrydh nga pjesa jashte,

and says, "You can dream and think expansively again.

dhe thote,"Mund te enderrosh dhe mendosh fort serish.

That they cannot control in you."

Sepse ata nuk mund te kene kontroll mbi ty."

I saw hope made manifest in an African-American church

E kam pare shpresen te manifestohej ne nje kishe Afro-Amerikane

in the South Side of Chicago this summer,

ne pjesen jugore te Cikagos kete vere,

where I brought my little girl,

ku cova vajzen time te vogel,

who is now 13

e cila eshte 13 vjece

and a few inches taller than me,

dhe disa cm me e gjate se une,

to hear my friend Rev. Otis Moss preach.

per te degjuar predikimin e pastorit Otis Moss.

That summer, there had already been 3,000 people shot

Kete vere, te pakten 3000 njerez jane qelluar

between January and July in Chicago.

midis Janarit dhe korrikut ne Cikago.

We went into that church and heard Rev. Moss preach,

Ne shkuam ne kete kishe dhe degjuam predikimin e tij,

and after he did,

dhe pasi ai vdiq,

this choir of gorgeous women, 100 women strong,

nje kor me femra te mrekullueshme, rreth 100

stood up and began to sing.

u ngriten dhe filluan te kendojne.

"I need you. You need me.

"Kam nevoje per ty. Ti per mua.

I love you. I need you to survive."

Te dua ty. Kam nevoje per ty qe te mbijetoj."

And I realized in that moment

Dhe ne kete moment kuptova

that this is what religion is supposed to be about.

se kete supozohet qe te beje feja.

It's supposed to be about giving people back a sense of purpose,

Supozohet qe te jete rreth te dhenit pas sensit te qellimit,

a sense of hope,

sensit te shpreses,

a sense that they and their dreams fundamentally matter in this world

nje sens qe ata dhe endrrat tyre kane rendesi te madhe ne kete bote

that tells them that they don't matter at all.

qe u tregon atyre qe ata nuk kane rendesi fare.

The third principle is the principle of mightiness.

Parimi i trete eshte parimi i forces.

There's a rabbinic tradition that we are to walk around

Ka nje thenie rabinike se ne duhet te ecim perreth

with two slips of paper in our pockets.

me dy copa letre ne xhepa.

One says, "I am but dust and ashes."

Njera thote," Une jam por me pluhur dhe me hi."

It's not all about me.

Nuk eshte gjithcka rreth meje.

I can't control everything, and I cannot do this on my own.

Nuk mund te kontrolloj gjithcka, dhe nuk mund ta bej kete vetem.

The other slip of paper says, "For my sake the world was created."

Copa tjeter e letres thote, "Per shkakun tim u krijua bota."

Which is to say it's true that I can't do everything,

Eshte tregimi i te vertetes qe une nuk mund te bej gjithcka,

but I can surely do something.

por me siguri mund te bej dicka.

I can forgive.

Une mund te fal.

I can love.

Une mund te dashuroj.

I can show up.

Une mund te dalloj.

I can protest.

Une mund te protestoj.

I can be a part of this conversation.

Une mund te jem pjese e kesaj bisede.

We even now have a religious ritual,

Qe tani ne kemi nje rit fetar,

a posture,

nje qendrim,

that holds the paradox between powerlessness and power.

qe mban paradoksin mes pafuqise dhe fuqise.

In the Jewish community,

Ne komunitetin hebre,

the only time of year that we prostrate fully to the ground

koha e vetme ne te gjithe vitin, qe ne gjunjezohemi plotesisht ne toke

is during the high holy days.

eshte gjate diteve te shenjta.

It's a sign of total submission.

Eshte shenje e nje bindjeje totale.

Now in our community, when we get up off the ground,

Tani ne komunitetin tone kur ngrihemi nga dyshemeja,

we stand with our hands raised to the heavens,

qendrojme me duart tona te ngritura lart,

and we say, "I am strong, I am mighty, and I am worthy.

dhe themi," Jam i forte, jam i vendosur, jam i vlefshem.

I can't do everything, but I can do something."

Nuk mund te bej gjithcka, por mund te bej dicka."

In a world that conspires to make us believe that we are invisible

Ne nje bote qe komploton te na beje te besojme qe jemi te padukshem

and that we are impotent,

dhe qe jemi te pavlefshem,

religious communities and religious ritual

komunitetet dhe ritet fetare

can remind us that for whatever amount of time we have here on this Earth,

mund te na kujtojne se per cfaredo kohe qe jemi ketu ne Toke,

whatever gifts and blessings we were given,

cfaredo dhurate dhe bekimi qe na kane dhene,

whatever resources we have,

cfaredo burimesh kemi,

we can and we must use them

ne mund dhe duhet t'i perdorim ato

to try to make the world a little bit more just

qe te perpiqemi ta bejme boten pak me te drejte

and a little bit more loving.

dhe me shume te perzemert.

The fourth and final is interconnectedness.

E katerta dhe e fundit eshte nderlidhja.

A few years ago, there was a man walking on the beach in Alaska,

Disa vite me pare, nje burre ishte duke ecur ne nje plazh te Alaskes,

when he came across a soccer ball

ku i doli nje top futbolli perpara

that had some Japanese letters written on it.

qe kishte disa shkronja japoneze te shkruajtura ne te.

He took a picture of it and posted it up on social media,

I beri nje foto dhe e postoi ne nje media sociale,

and a Japanese teenager contacted him.

ku nje adoleshent japonez kontaktoi me te.

He had lost everything in the tsunami that devastated his country,

Ai kishte humbur gjithcka ne cunamin qe shkaterroi vendin e tij,

but he was able to retrieve that soccer ball

por ishte i afte te gjente ate top futbolli

after it had floated all the way across the Pacific.

pasi kishte pluskuar ne te gjithe Paqesorin.

How small our world has become.

Sa e vogel qe eshte bere bota.

It's so hard for us to remember how interconnected we all are

Eshte kaq e veshtire per ne te kujtojme se sa te lidhur qe ne jemi

as human beings.

si qenie njerezore.

And yet, we know

Por serish, e dime

that it is systems of oppression

qe eshte sistemi i tiranise

that benefit the most from the lie of radical individualism.

qe perfiton me shume nga genjeshtra e individualizmit radikal.

Let me tell you how this works.

Me lini t'ua shpjegoj se si funksionon.

I'm not supposed to care

Mua nuk duhet te me interesoje

when black youth are harassed by police,

kur policia i bie ne qafe te rinjve me ngjyre,

because my white-looking Jewish kids

sepse femijet e mij te bardhe hebrenj

probably won't ever get pulled over for the crime of driving while black.

ndoshta nuk do te ndalohen ndonjehere per krimin qe jane shofere me ngjyre.

Well, not so, because this is also my problem.

Ky eshte problemi im gjithashtu.

And guess what? Transphobia and Islamophobia

Gjeje cfare? Transfobia, islamofobia

and racism of all forms, those are also all of our problems.

dhe racizmi i te gjithe formave, jane te gjitha problemet tona.

And so too is anti-Semitism all of our problems.

Gjithashtu keshtu eshte edhe anti semitizmi jane problemet tona.

Because Emma Lazarus was right.

Sepse Emma Lazarus kishte te drejte.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

Emma Lazarus was right when she said until all of us are free,

Emma Lazarus kishte te drejte kur tha qe derisa te gjithe te jemi te lire,

we are none of us free.

asnje prej nesh nuk eshte i lire.

We are all in this together.

Jemi te gjithe bashke ne kete.

And now somewhere at the intersection of these four trends,

Dhe diku ne nderprerjen e ketyre kater parimeve,

of wakefulness and hope and mightiness and interconnectedness,

te vigjilences, shpreses, forces dhe nderlidhjes,

there is a burgeoning, multifaith justice movement in this country

eshte nje levizje e drejte, mugulluese shume besimore ne kete vend

that is staking a claim on a countertrend,

qe po ndermerr nje pretendim kunder trendit

saying that religion can and must be a force for good in the world.

duke thene qe feja mund dhe duhet te jete nje force per mire ne bote.

Our hearts hurt from the failed religion of extremism,

Zemrat tona dhembin nga feja e deshtuar e ekstremizmit,

and we deserve more than the failed religion of routine-ism.

dhe ne meritojme me shume sesa rutinizmi fetar i deshtuar.

It is time for religious leaders and religious communities

Eshte koha qe lideret fetare dhe komunitetet fetare

to take the lead in the spiritual and cultural shift

te marrin drejtimin ne levizjet shpirterore dhe kulturore

that this country and the world so desperately needs --

qe ky vend dhe bota kane nevoje deshperimisht--

a shift toward love,

nje zhvendosje drejt dashurise,

toward justice, toward equality and toward dignity for all.

drejtesise, drejt barazise dhe dinjiteti per te gjithe.

I believe that our children deserve no less than that.

Une besoj se femijet tane nuk meritojne me pak se kaq.

Thank you.

Ju falemnderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)