This is a meditation on the beauty and heartbreak of the City of Gold. A lovely reflection on the City of Peace, it can be used in private prayer, in communal worship or as an additional reading during your Passover Seder. This meditation appears in my new book, Haggadah Companion: Meditations and Readings. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The prayer text follows.
Jerusalem: A Meditation
Jerusalem,
You are mystery and wonder,
Secrets hidden and secrets revealed.
You are beauty in the hills
And holiness in stone.
City of Peace,
Why are you still besieged by nations?
Why are you held hostage from within?
What errant flight has the white dove taken?
What mission of love and mercy
Has drawn her away
Leaving us to weep, broken-hearted?
Jerusalem,
You are prayers and echoes,
Questions without answer,
Yearning and hope,
Radiance and splendor.
Jerusalem,
You are my journey and my destination.
You are my longing.
You are my sorrow.
Will you be my consolation?
© 2010 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.
Postscript: Here are links to “Israel: A Meditation” and “For Peace in the Middle East.” Here are more prayers for and about Israel.
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 Credit: Alden Solovy
Tags: celebration, Israel, Jerusalem, joy, Kotel, redemption