Posts Tagged ‘burrial and mourning’

 

Yom HaShoah Prayers and Poems

Posted on: April 6th, 2013 by tobendlight

YomHaShoahCandleThis is a set of six prayers for Yom HaShoah. They can be used as private meditations or in a communal commemoration. Together they serve as a Yom HaShoah liturgy, listed below in suggested order. There are two memorial prayers: a general prayer evoking the unity of Israel, followed by a Shoah memorial prayer. The liturgy ends with our eternal bond to the land of Israel and an affirmation in our faith in the G-d of Israel. Each of the links below includes a brief description followed by a quote from the prayer. To read the full prayer, click on the title.

  • Tears of Crystal, Tears of Broken Glass” – Using the metaphor of Kristallnacht, this poem reminds us that G-d cries together with us over the suffering of the Jewish people. “My tears are crystal and broken glass. They sparkle, they cut. They heal, they wound. They are daybreak and midnight, hymn and dirge…”
  • For the Bereaved” – A general prayer of mourning that evokes the unity of Israel. “We the mourners of Zion and Israel comfort each other. We console the lonely and embrace the lost…”
  • Shoah Memorial Prayer” – A Yom HaShoah memorial prayer that echoes the traditional Yizkor prayer. “Creator of all, Source and shelter, grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace to those who perished in the Holocaust…”
  • After the Horror” – A meditation about reclaiming life in the shadow of unthinkable atrocity. “Hold fast to the breath of life. Hold fast to the song of life. Hold fast to the soul of life. This is my sacred duty…”
  • Israel: A Meditation” – On the love for the people and the State of Israel. “Israel, you are my brother in history, my sister in fortune, the mother of my spirit, the father of my heart, the child of my longing and the light of generations. To you…”
  • Affirmation of Faith” – An affirmation of faith built around the sine qua non of Jewish affirmations: the Shema. “Hear O Israel, the covenant we made together on Sinai ts a pledge for all time, a vow for the ages…”

© 2013 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: See also “At the Hand of Anti-Semitism: A Yizkor Prayer” and a prayer “For the Jews of France.”

Please check out my ELItalk “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: Highland Park Conservative Temple

Chayei Sarah 5773: Gather Me

Posted on: November 10th, 2012 by tobendlight

“And afterwards, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.”  – Genesis 23:19

“And Abraham expired and died in a good old age, old and satisfied, and he was gathered to his people.”  – Genesis 25:8

Both Sarah and Abraham pass away in this week’s parasha. Here’s another meditation on preparing for death, focused on the comfort in the idea of being gathered to our people. My other meditations in preparation for death include: “Remember,” “Near the End: A Meditation” and “Things Break.”

Gather Me
Gather me unto my people,
The house of my ancestors,
The dwelling of our fathers and mothers,
The generations of our people.

This is my comfort,
O My Rock,
This is my consolation,
O my Redeemer,
That my bones will not be left behind,
That I will join the millennium,
And will reside in Your loving embrace,
In the abode of comfort and grace.

Gather me unto my people,
Unto my history,
Unto my legacy and my longing.
Let my heart and soul
Rest in peace.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Note the reference to Genesis 50:25, in which the children of Israel vow to take Joseph’s bones out of the land of Egypt, and Exodus 13:19, which is Moses’ fulfillment of that oath. See also: “Remember,” “Near the End: A Meditation” and “Things Break.”

If you like this prayer, post a link to your Facebook page, your blog or as part of a tweet. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Credit: Chabad Jewish Center of Massachusetts.

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