Please pray for the City of Peace. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below (website only). The 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?
Postscript: I’ve reposted this prayer after today’s bus bombing in our sacred city. This meditation was first posted December 20, 2010.
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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?
The nation of Israel lives! This is my anthem to Israel, to the land, to our history and to our people. This meditation appears in my “Haggadah Companion: Meditations and Readings.” עם ישראל חי
Israel: A Meditation
Israel,
You are my people.
You are my heart and you are my hope.
We waited together at the mountain
When G-d revealed the Holy Word.
We wandered together through the desert
On the path to sacred soil.
We watched the sea part.
We heard the heavens roar.
We stood at the doorway to freedom,
At the border of a Promised Land.
Israel,
You are my destiny.
You are my joy and you are my truth.
We were victorious at Jericho,
Unyielding at Masada.
We defied empires
For Torah.
We defied kings
For justice and freedom.
We’ve traveled the earth,
Wandered the millennia,
Refugees of the ages,
Homeless and hopeful,
Waiting to return
To native ground.
Israel,
You are my brother in history,
My sister in fortune,
The mother of my courage,
The father of my heart,
The child of my longing,
And the light of generations.
To you I pledge my right arm
And my voice in song.
To you I pledge my soul.
To you I pledge my spirit.
Israel,
You are my nation.
You are my inheritance.
You are my home.
Postscript: Click here for more prayers and meditations about Israel.
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This is a prayer about remembering. Yes, it is a prayer for peace, but it is about remembering. What have we forgotten? Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and Israelis, share a common lineage. We are brothers and sisters. Click on the triangle in the bar below to listen while you read. The text follows. For more prayers about Israel — including “Israel: A Meditation” and “When Peace Comes” — please click here. This piece appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.
For Peace in the Middle East
Sons of Abraham,
Sons of Hagar and Sarah,
Of Isaac and Ishmael:
Have you forgotten the day we buried our father?
Have you forgotten the day we carried his dead body into the cave near Hebron?
Have you forgotten the day we entered the darkness of Machpaelah
To lay our Patriarch to rest?
Sons of Esau and Jacob:
Have you forgotten the day we made peace?
The day we set aside past injustices and deep wounds to lay down our weapons and live?
Or the day we, too, buried our father? Have you forgotten that we took Isaac’s corpse into that humble cave
To place him with his father for eternity?
Brother, I don’t remember crying with you.
Sister, I don’t remember mourning with you.
We should have cried the tears of generations.
We should have cried the tears of centuries,
The tears of fatherless sons
And motherless daughters,
So that we would remember in our flesh that we are one people,
From one father on earth and one Creator in heaven,
Divided only by time and history.
One G-d,
My brother calls you Allah.
My sister calls you Adonai.
You speak to some through Moses.
You speak to some through Mohammed.
We are one family, cousins and kin.
Holy One,
Light of truth,
Source of wisdom and strength,
In the name of our fathers and mothers,
In the name of justice and peace,
Help us to remember our history,
To mourn our losses together,
So that we may,
Once more,
Lay down our weapons and live.
G-d of All Being,
Bring peace and justice to the land,
And joy to our hearts.
Postscript: The repetition in this prayer is deliberate–asking “have you forgotten?”–and calling on readers to “remember.” Another deliberate repetition: the use of the words “peace” and “justice,” which resonate for all sides of the conflict. This was originally posted for Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, and Yom HaAtzma’ut, Israeli Independence Day, April 19 and 20, 2010. Could there be a better way to honor fallen soldiers — or to celebrate independence — than to make peace? Special thanks to Rabbi Peter Knobel for his guidance. For more prayers about Israel and prayers for peace, please click here.
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 onFacebookandTwitter.
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