This is a new prayer for safe travel, incorporating the perils of modern life with classic language of t’filat haderech, the traveler’s prayer. It’s my third prayer related to the outbreak of coronavirus. The first,”Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists,” was included in a Central Conference of American Rabbis rapid response liturgy packet, which got me thinking about prayers that might be missing from the packet. I then wrote “Healing from Coronavirus” which was subsequently added. This morning, the idea of a revised traveler’s woke me. This is what I wrote.
Traveler’s Prayer in a Time of Pandemic
May it be Your will,
Our G-d,
G-d of our fathers and mothers,
That we journey in peace
And return in peace,
Safe from the ancient hazards of travel –
Enemies, thieves, ambushes and wild beasts –
And safe from modern perils –
Plane crashes and traffic wrecks,
Scammers and con artists,
Infectious disease and quarantine –
So that our travel serves it highest purpose,
And we reach our destination and return home
In joy, life and health.
Grant us grace in Your eyes
And in the eyes of all whom we meet.
.ברוך אתה ה’, שומע תפלה
Baruch atah Adonai, sho’me’a t’fila.
Blessed are You Adonai, Who hears prayer.
© 2020 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.
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Postscript: My other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “On Waiting for An Organ Transplant,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For Healing the Spirit” and “For a Critically Ill Child.”
Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and my two CCAR Press books: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings 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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Tags: blessing, coronavirus, COVID-19, disease, GloPID-R, healing, health, hope, infection, life, novel coronavirus, outbreak, pandemic, patient, prayer for travel, public health, recovery, renewal, travel, WHO