Fear
El Shaddai, Warrior against Fear,
El Rakhamim, Champion of Compassion,
We are living history
With hearts on fire
As our world bursts into flames.
Calamity surrounds us at every turn.
We are being made to stare
Into the face of our collective selfishness
With ever-reddening eyes.
We fear we are living the end.
We fear we are responsible.
We fear it all is moving too fast.
We fear knowing everything is interconnected.
We fear not knowing where to start.
We fear it is already too late.
We fear our fear.
In our paralyzed state,
Where else can we turn,
If not to You,
El Shaddai, Warrior against Fear,
El Rakhamim, Champion of Compassion?
Anger
El Shaddai, Warrior against Fear,
I am angry that we have been given
More responsibility,
More freedom of choice
Than we are capable of handling.
You gave us power
And we abused it.
Why on earth
Would You do that?
You gifted us with creation.
Surely You knew we would
Bring its destruction.
We have become the consumer
Feeding on our own demise.
Why did You create us
With such flaws?
Self-righteousness,
A guilty conscience,
Do nothing unless they
Set us ablaze.
Anger, righteous anger,
Might be the fuel
We need
To stop this fire.
El Shaddai, Warrior against Fear,
Might it be
Your responsibility
To tell us what it is we are to do
And give us the courage
To actually do it,
Given that we know
You will not do it Yourself?
Action
El Rakhamim, Champion of Compassion,
You commanded us to gather
The four corners of our prayers,
The four corners of the earth,
The four levels of spirit,
The four chambers of our heart.
Through the hundreds of mitzvotLit. Commandment. It is traditionally held that there are 613 mitzvot (plural) in Judaism, both postive commandments (mandating actions) and negative commandments (prohibiting actions). Mitzvah has also become colloquially assumed to mean the idea of a “good deed."
You are trying to teach us
How to live a life
In reverence of interconnection,
In this world,
In order that the earth
Can remain able to care for us
And our children’s children’s children.
We hold in our hands
Every strand of integrity,
Woven throughout
The contract signed in our flesh.
El Rakhamim, Champion of Compassion,
We know
That only with You
Can we fulfill it
For the sake
Of the All.
