El Rahum v’Hanun/God, Merciful and Compassionate One:
War has overtaken the Holy Lands of IsraelLit. ''the one who struggles with God.'' Israel means many things. It is first used with reference to Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel (Genesis 32:29), the one who struggles with God. Jacob's children, the Jewish people, become B'nai Israel, the children of Israel. The name also refers to the land of Israel and the State of Israel. and Palestine;
Leaders have opted for extreme violence and rampant destruction, barbarity and ferocity,
and the populace suffers death, serious injury, terror, trauma, despair, and seething vengeance.
Erekh Appayim v’Rav Hessed v’Emet/Patient One, Abounding in Loving Commitment and Faithfulness:
Expand the hearts of all Your children to reclaim the supreme call to Shalom/Peace and Wholeness.
Despite and against hatred, well-founded distrust, understandable resentment, and justifiable fear,
plant and nurture unusual seeds of courageous outreach, illogical extension of olive branches, and creative solutions based in truth, love, and mutuality, healthy self-interest and sustainability.
Notzer Hessed laAlafim/One Who Extends and Assures Love for Thousands of Generations:
Help us hold on to a vision of profound, enduring kinship, even as bombs explode and missiles demolish;
Empower us to excavate hope and rescue possibility,
to commit to a different tomorrow,
to take calculated risks for a future of societal serenity and shared prosperity.
Noseh Avon vaFesha v’Hata-ah, v’Nakeh/The One Who Forgives Iniquity, Transgression, and Sin, and Grants Pardon:
We cannot jump to what would surely be a shallow and fragile forgiveness,
but in Your Light we can imagine such a world:
where the debris is recycled into reconciliation, the detritus forged into fuel for conjoint grieving and reciprocated understanding.
A-na A-donai, Hoshi-a Na/Please, please A-donai, please help and deliver us!
Written October 2023/Motza’ei Simchat TorahThe holiday at the end of Sukkot during which Jews dance with the Torah late into the night. The yearly reading cycle of the Torah is completed and a new cycle is begun. Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah mark the end of the holiday season. In some congregations, the Torah scroll is unrolled in its entirety, and selected verses are read or sections noted. 5784
