Here’s a prayer for Veterans Day originally written for the HUC-JIR continuing ed blog Tzeh U’limad. Click here to read a set of three Veterans Day prayers. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. Click here for a memorial (yizkor) prayer for soldiers. Click here for Memorial Day Prayers.
Veterans Day Prayer
G-d of compassion,
G-d of dignity and strength,
Watch over our veterans
In recognition of their loyal service to our nation.
Bless them with wholeness and love.
Shelter them.
Heal their wounds,
Comfort their hearts.
Grant them peace.
G-d of justice and truth,
Rock of our lives,
Bless our veterans,
These men and women of courage and valor,
With a deep and abiding understanding
Of our profound gratitude.
Protect them and their families from loneliness and want.
Grant them lives of joy and bounty.
May their dedication and honor
Be remembered as a blessing
From generation to generation.
Blessed are You,
Protector and Redeemer,
Our Shield and our Stronghold.
© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day
Postscript: Here’s a link to a related prayer called “In Times of War.” Thanks to Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, Ph.D., editor of Tzeh U’limad, for her suggestions. This prayer, which also appeared on Beliefnet’s Prayables, was first published on November 10, 2011.
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.
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