Posts Tagged ‘violence’

 

After Huwara: A Lament

Posted on: March 2nd, 2023 by Alden

Dozens of settlers in the West Bank rampaged through the village of Huwara Sunday evening as revenge against the terrorist murders of Hallel and Yagel Yaniv z”l. In the pogrom-like violence, cars, storefronts and homes were torched. One man — 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash — was murdered. We must stand up to lawless violence — yes, terror — perpetrated by Israelis, just as we must stand up against terror by Palestinians. This is a lament to be said by the Jewish people in remembrance of Huwara.

After Huwara: A Lament
Oh my people,
What have you become,
To hurl fire and terror,
Rocks and revenge,
Against a village,
To rampage with violence,
To run wild
Under a cloak of self-righteousness.

Oh my people,
Can it be true,
That hatred burns among us,
So that we become
The perpetrators of pogrom
And the silent accomplices to rage,
Executing collective punishment
Under a cloak of justice.

Let our hearts break,
Again and again,
For the murdered among us,
Our friends and families
Cut down by the hand of terror.
In this grief, let us not become the hand of hatred,
Spilling blood for blood,
Cutting down our neighbors with vengeance.
Let our hearts break,
Again and again,
For those we have killed
With our own lawlessness.

Oh my people,
Busy your hands with acts of kindness,
And your hearts with a vision of peace.
Let us stand firm against violence,
Under the rule of law,
Neither accepting terror aimed at us,
Nor becoming a source of terror
Aimed at others.

© 2023 Alden Solovy and ToBendLight

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Postscript: Here’s a prayer “For Peace in the Middle East.”

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Joyous Soul, This Grateful Heart, and This Precious Life. Here’s a link to my ELItalk, “Falling in Love with Prayer..” For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

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Photo Source: Time of Israel

For Parkland, Florida

Posted on: February 18th, 2018 by Alden

Received by email this morning:

Dear Mr. Solovy,

I wanted to thank you for your prayer “For the Children of Newtown” that we found at reformjudaism.org. These comforting words have now been shared to thousands and more at my own congregation the night of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, at a City of Parkland Prayer Vigil, and this afternoon at a Broward County teacher’s labor union. I am only sorry that I have to write you to say that I needed to use this prayer and substitute Newtown for Parkland 6 years after you wrote this prayer.

On looking at your website I saw you just posted on 2/14 about love and it was so beautiful and wanted to ask if you could perhaps write a prayer for our suffering here in Parkland, FL. We are a bit too close to what is happening to sit still and think, but I know we would be appreciative and would share your words for comfort

Shavua tov,
Rabbi Melissa Stollman
Director of Lifelong Learning
Congregation Kol Tikvah

I finished this an hour later…

For Parkland, Florida
Oh grief,
This grief suddenly forced upon us
With violence and weapon,
That your names have become prayers,
To keep us safe from violence,
That your sweet lives,
Once held with joy and light,
Are now among the accusers of those who fail
To protect us from the plague of guns.
Scott, Aaron, Chris, Martin
Luke, Cara, Jamie, Nicholas
Gina, Alex, Joaquin
Alaina, Peter, Meadow
Helena, Alysa, Carmen

Oh grief,
This grief suddenly forced upon us
With malice and anger,
That Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida,
Would join the list of schools attacked,
Traumatized with horror,
Knowing that this hasn’t ended yet,
Let justice prevail.

Author of life,
Source and Creator,
Grant a perfect rest under Your tabernacle of peace
To the victims of this massacre in Parkland, Florida.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.
May they rest in peace.

G-d of mercy,
Remember, too, the survivors of this attack,
Ease their suffering and release their trauma.
Grant them endurance to survive,
Strength to rebuild,
Faith to mourn,
And courage to heal,
So that they recover lives of joy and wonder.

Remember the families and friends
Of the dead and the bereaved
With consolation and solace.
Grant them Your protection,
Your wholeness and healing.
May they find hope and grace.

G-d of Consolation,
Every soul is Yours,
A world, unique and holy.
Let Your peace reign quickly among us.
Let violence, hatred and terror vanish.
Let Your comfort descend from heaven,
And let the righteous rest in peace.

© 2018 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

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Postscript: This is a combination of new writing and elements from “For the Children of Newtown” and “One is Everything,” two more prayers after violence and terror.

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: ABC Action News

For Manhattan, New York

Posted on: November 1st, 2017 by Alden

After another day of horror, this one in New York City. Here is my “Liturgy after Terror Attacks.” May we never need prayers such as these again.

For Manhattan, New York
Author of life,
Source and Creator,
Grant a perfect rest under Your tabernacle of peace
To the victims of the massacre in Manhattan,
Whose lives were cut off by violence,
In a rampage of aggression beyond understanding,
Targeted by vehemence and hate.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.
May they rest in peace.

G-d of justice and mercy,
Send healing to those wounded in this assault,
Those struck by the hand of brutality.
Remember, too, the survivors of this attack,
Witnesses of shock, horror and dismay.
Ease their suffering and release their trauma
So that they recover lives of joy and wonder.
Grant them Your shelter and solace,
Blessing and renewal.
Grant them endurance to survive,
Strength to rebuild,
Faith to mourn,
And courage to heal.

G-d of love and shelter,
Remember the families and friends
Of all the dead and the wounded
In New York, the U.S. and throughout the world.
Remember them with comfort and consolation.
Grant them Your protection,
Your wholeness and healing.

Heavenly Guide,
Put an end to anger, hatred and fear
And lead us to a time when
No one will suffer at the hand of another,
Speedily, in our day.

© 2017 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: BBC News

These Troubled Children

Posted on: October 1st, 2017 by Alden

Here’s a prayer for our children, youths and teens who express their pain through various forms of self-violence. Here are several related prayers: “My Child’s Self-Inflicted Wounds,” “My Depression,” “Cutting, A Prayer to End Self-Mutilation” and “Mental Illness.”

These Troubled Children
Who will take these troubled children
By the hand and lead them
Back to joy and comfort?

You, who cut your own flesh,
There is no blade sharper
Than your own grief.

You, who drink to disappear,
There is no poison more deadly
Than your own doubts.

You, who drug your minds,
There is no potion more deadly
Than your own despair.

Beautiful child,
You are not yet lost.
You are not yet gone forever.
Come home.

Source and Shelter,
Lead these troubled children
To the arms of hope and help.
A loving parent.
A caring friend.
A big brother. A big sister.
An AA meeting.
A suicide prevention line.
A foster family.
A pastor, a priest, a rabbi, an imam.
A counselor.
A professional with resources
And an open heart.

Healer and Guide,
Bring these troubled children
Back to wholeness and peace.
Let love fall like warm rain
Into their hearts.

© 2017 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: See also: “My Child’s Self-Inflicted Wounds,” “My Depression,” “Cutting, A Prayer to End Self-Mutilation” and “Mental Illness.”

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: Pinterest

Another Boy Lost: A Jewish Yizkor for an Arab Son

Posted on: July 8th, 2014 by Alden

Muhammad Abu KhdeirThis is prayer in memory of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, the 16-year-old Arab boy burned to death at the hands of Jewish extremists. It’s part lament — that some of our own Jewish people could commit such a heinous act — and part a prayer to honor his memory. As such, it is explicitly written to be said by Jews. To emphasize the theme that the murder of any child is intolerable, it borrows from my prayer “They Were Boys: A Yizkor Prayer,” written in memory of Gil-ad z”l, Iyal z”l and Naftali z”l. The last line is from alāt al-Janāzah — the Islamic funeral prayer, as it appears on Wikipedia — and is shown in italics. I hope that I’ve used it in a way that is respectful of the Moslem tradition.

Another Boy Lost
Oh my nation,
In this grievous hour of pain and loss,
Another boy is dead,
This time by our own hand.
Oh my people,
That some of our own could
Commit such an atrocity!
An atrocity by fire.
He was a boy.
Stolen from his family,
Stolen from his people,
Stolen from life itself.
A boy.

G-d of All,
Grant a perfect rest under Your tabernacle of peace
To Muhammad Abu Khdeir
Whose life was cut off by violence
In an act of witless anger and hatred.
A boy.

Blood is blood.
Breath is breath.
Life is life.
May his memory become a source of
Courage to our nation and our people
To reject racism and hate.

G-d whose name is Peace,
In this hour of grief,
Remember Muhammad.
A boy.
Bless his family with consolation and strength.
Grant them endurance, hope and courage.
Let him find peace in the cradle of heaven.

Oh G-d,
Admit him to Paradise
And protect him from the torment of the grave.
Make his grave spacious and fill it with light.

© 2014 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: In writing this, I selected one line from the alāt al-Janāzah and removed some language. The line reads in full:

“Oh G-d, admit him to Paradise and protect him from the torment of the grave and the torment of Hell-fire; make his grave spacious and fill it with light.”

I removed the reference to Hell-fire for two reasons: first, because of my discomfort with the language. Second, to avoid a potential misinterpretation by those outside Islam. The original name for this prayer was “Blood is Blood,” also to emphasize that all life is sacred, but after thinking about the prayer, it seemed too harsh of a name for a memorial prayer. Thanks to Rabbi Bob Carroll of Interfaith Encounter here in Israel and Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder of Be’chol Lashon in the U.S. for your review and comments. Here’s a link to “They Were Boys: A Yizkor Prayer,” and other prayers for Israel. Please check out my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: Times of Israel

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