Unetaneh Tokef: Facing our Environmental Challenge

We declare the sacred power of this day
We stand on the edge of possibility and loss
Like the angels, let us sound the great shofar
Let us strain to hear the still small voice
calling us
To awareness
To hope
To truth
That we face a world where we are more vulnerable
To fires that can’t be contained,
Heat that overwhelms,
Mega-storms that scatter us like debris,
Bitter conflicts over water, oil, food,
Fossil fuel industries who put profits above the planet —
And the morally questionable banks that finance them
Species that are losing their last foothold in our world.
Let us turn to our ancient wisdom
To teshuvah – a shift in consciousness
Tefillah – sharing our yearnings and our grief
And tzedakah – always the work of justice
So that we can write ourselves into the book of compassion and resilience
Each of us letters of light facing the darkness