Next week, hikers will hit Israel’s trails to raise money for Tsad Kadima, an organization founded by parents of children with cerebral palsy to provide innovative educational services and rehabilitative treatment across the country. The Tsad Kadima way is to help kids and adults strive for educational advancement while promoting maximum personal agency tailored to each person’s condition. Please consider a donation of any size. Donate to my Hike for Hope for Tsad Kadima by clicking here. This prayer-poem includes optional language in [brackets].
For the Disabled
G-d of all,
You have made a world of
Infinite variation and infinite beauty,
Giving us each different skills and challenges,
Strengths and weaknesses,
Abilities and inabilities,
So that we may take our individual places
In tikkun olam,
In repairing Your world,
So that we would need each other
To accomplish Your will.
Look with special care upon those
Whose abilities are challenged by obstacles to their
Physical, emotional, or cognitive functioning.
Bless them with loving, understanding, and dedicated parents,
Families of strength and heart,
And friends who bring them joy and laughter.
May they be surrounded with encouragement,
With love and with compassion.
Bless their caregivers with skill,
To support them with energy and enthusiasm.
Bless their teachers with talent,
To teach them with patience and wisdom.
Bless all who advocate for the disabled before the seats of power.
May the work of their hands never falter
Nor despair deter them from this holy calling.
[May these blessings also be heard in the name of
My child/partner/parent _________________ (name).
May he/she/they reach the highest potential.]
G-d of love,
Help us to be present for each other,
With generosity of spirit,
Generosity of understanding,
And generosity of blessings.
Help us to see the wonder and majesty
In our differences.
May we all find our place
In service to Your holy name.
© 2023 Alden Solovy and ToBendLight
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Postscript: This year the Hike for Hope will be in Ramat Hanegev/Sde Boker from March 21-23, 2023. We’ll explore the desert canyons and expanses, wildflowers, natural springs, and archaeology that make this area a hiker’s paradise. Donate to the Hike for Hope by clicking here.
Please check out These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah and my other CCAR Press volumes: This Grateful Heart, This Joyous Soul, and This Precious Life, which can also be purchased as the Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines, 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. For a taste of my teaching, see my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer.”
Tags: hike, hike Israel, hope, renewal, Tsad Kadima, צעד קדימה, צעדת התקווה