Avinu she-bashamayim
Tzur Yisrael v’goalo
Our Parent in the heavens
Rock of Israel and its salvation
We invoke your presence on this sacred Shabbat of transition.
For centuries our people have pointed our hearts to the East, though so many of our lives and generations found our bodies tied to the west.
And yet we never forgot the age-old promise of redemption.
Our ancestors equated this redemption with a return to the Land of Zion.
The world today is much more complicated.
We can return to the land, but redemption remains in the distance.
As you prepare to take this next step in your life’s journey and into this new growth of your Jewish identity and sense of peoplehood, we pray that your prayerful feet may walk like Abraham the width and breadth of the land.
We pray that every corner of Zion you touch–every kilometer, every relationship, every heart, and every deed of compassion you toward which you endeavor in the land–may bring our people one step closer to, not just the land, but to the land bedecked in the garment of true redemption.
May your journey be one of peace, equanimity, love, justice, compassion, understanding, and a deep sense of home and community.
Nesiya Tovah! May you have a good trip. . .
May you find in the days not too far off that you and all those in the land may sit under their vines and fig trees and have no reason to be afraid.
And let us say, “amen.”
