I honor the Indigenous peoples whose lands I live on, including the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, and Molalla nations. This city bears the scars of colonization, displacement, and erasure.

I also remember the enslaved Africans whose labor built much of this nation, and whose descendants still face systemic oppression.

Our sages taught: “Every person is created from the stamp of the first person, yet no two people are exactly alike” (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5). Each human life is unique and of infinite worth.

As a Jew, I bring the values of זִכָּרוֹן (zikaron, sacred memory), צֶדֶק (tzedek, justice), and תִּיקּוּן עוֹלָם (tikkun olam, repairing the world) to this act of acknowledgement. I commit to building relationships beyond my own community and with the Earth, guided by the values of שָׁלוֹם (shalom, peace), חֲבֵרוּת (chaverut, friendship), and כָּבוֹד (kavod, respect)—toward solidarity, healing, and repair.