CyberTorah

We are drawing close to the first Shabbat of the new Jewish year. This first Shabbat, the Shabbat of Return, is of special significance. It is on this Shabbat that our prayers for the year, our hopes for peace, are especially potent. The heavens feel the effort on our part to find the way, the way back to our truest most sacred selves, the way back to a purpose infused world that calls on us to act, to do, and be God’s partner in healing the world. That experience of teshuvah, or turning, or responding to the brokenness around us, can open the gates of Heaven themselves.

In that spirit, I offer the following prayer:

God, so much is broken and lost. We need You more than ever to show us the way out of this violence and towards true peace.

Bring the wholeness in the heavens here on Earth. Show us a way to bring our hostages home and to end this war. Instruct us in how we can use our own agency to fulfill Solomon’s words of wisdom, “When your enemy is hungry feed him, when he is thirsty give him water.” Help us see a way to let our soldiers return home so they can dance and celebrate and live.

Heal us.  Our hearts our broken and our eyes clouded. We can’t see the way past the anger and violence, the competing slogans and the endless need to blame. We need Your help to discover a new way, a way that can bring more love into the world. We need your help to find a path to peace because today it seems so distant. All the choices seem bad; help us find a new way.

Finally, strengthen us for the challenges ahead. Remind us, as Rabbi Avi Weiss teaches, to be extremists in loving other Jews. Remind us that this crisis can still give birth to new hope.

From out the depths we call to You. Help us, heal us, strengthen us.

L’shana Tova,

Rabbi David Booth