Tag Archive for "fear" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘fear’

Loose the Angels of Peace

Posted on: January 16th, 2025 by Alden

A prayer of fear, hope, and longing as Israel moves toward a ceasefire deal to bring hostages back home.

Loose the Angels of Peace
God of eternity,
I am afraid
To allow hope
Into my heart
Or joy
Into my soul.

How I long
To see our hostages released.
How I yearn
For the captives to be redeemed.
How I pray
For the kidnapped to be free.

Prepare my heart
To receive our loved ones,
Released from the tunnels,
With the fullness of compassion and joy,
Even as You require that my heart
Stay broken
For those who remain in captivity
And to mourn the lost.

God of history,
Open the gates of freedom
For the innocent.
Wash away their pain
With a river of healing.
Wash away their nightmares
With the secret light
That You stored upon creation
For the righteous.

Source and Shelter,
Let loose the angels of peace.
For certainly they, too,
Must be held in captivity.
Then, God of life,
Hope will flow unbound,
And songs of rejoicing
Will shatter the heavens,
When the words of the prophet
Are fulfilled:

ויש־תקוה לאחריתך נאם־יהוה ושבו בנים לגבולם׃
And there is hope for your future, declares Adonai,
Your children shall return to their country.

Amen

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
Share the prayer! Email this to a friend.

Please check out Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe and 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.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: www.kidnappedfromisrael.com/candles

20 Years: A Liturgy for 9-11

Posted on: September 9th, 2021 by Alden

It’s been 20 years, and this anniversary of 9-11 falls on Shabbat Shuvah. Part of this liturgy was composed for the 10th anniversary of the attacks, and now includes newer prayers written to deepen the liturgy. Here’s a link to a video of “For 9-11 Survivors.”

For 9-11 Survivors
G-d of the survivor,
G-d of the mourner and the witness,
Grant solace and peace to those still held by physical, emotional and spiritual distress from the attacks of 9-11. Release them from visions of death and destruction, from guilt or shame, from fear or anger. Bind their wounds with Your steadfast love. Lift them on Your wings of kindness and grace.

Blessed are those who have found peace.
Blessed are those without tranquility.

Blessed are those who speak.
Blessed are those who stay silent.

Blessed are those who have healed.
Blessed are those who suffer.

Blessed are those who forgive.
Blessed are those who cannot forgive.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d, Source of strength for survivors of violence and tragedy in every land and in every age. Blessed are You, Rock of Israel, Source of hope and comfort.

To the Terrorist
You who would hold the sky captive,
The sea prisoner,
The land in chains…

You who hide in caves,
Retreat to the wilderness,
Disappear behind false names and forged papers…

You who smuggle guns and arms,
Hide rockets in cities and bombs in homes,
Build weapons against the innocent and the bystander…

You whose designs are destruction,
Whose plans are fear,
Whose joy is hate…

You who harden your hearts
And wrap yourselves in death…

What evil has robbed you of your love,
Your compassion,
Your goodness,
Your humanity?
What lies have invaded your minds
So that you choose to die in order to kill?

We who love our lives and liberty
Stand firm and strong against terror.
We will defend our nation and our people.
We will protect our land and our homes.
And we pray for you to find hope and comfort
In lives of peace.

At the Hand of Terror: A 9-11 Yizkor Prayer
Creator of all,
Source and shelter,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To ______________________ (name),
My [ father / mother / sister / brother / child / wife / dear one/ friend ]
Who died [ in / during / because of ]
The 9-11 attacks on the United States.
Remember the works of his/her hands
And the message of his/her heart
Remember all those who were lost in the terror of that day.
Grant their families peace and comfort for Your name’s sake
And for the sake of those who perished.
Bring an end to violence and terror,
Speedily, in our days.
May the memory of _____________________ be sanctified with joy and love.
May his/her soul be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

____________________

At the Hand of Terror II: A 9-11 Memorial Prayer
Creator of all,
Source and shelter,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To those who died in the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Remember the works of their hands
And the message of their hearts.
Grant their families peace and comfort for Your name’s sake
And for the sake of those who perished.
Bring an end to violence and terror,
Speedily, in our days.
May their memories be sanctified with joy and love.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

Memorial Prayer for 9-11 First Responders

G-d of the selfless,
G-d of the strong and the brave,
Grant a perfect rest among the souls of the righteous
To those who died in service to others because of
The 9/11 attacks on the Unites States.
May their dedication to protecting life serve as a shining lamp of love
And the works of their hands bring us all merit in heaven.
Bless the souls of all who have died to save others,
Civilians and professionals,
The trained and the untrained,
In every age and in every land,
Men and women who answered the call of honor, duty and service.
May their memories be sanctified with joy and love.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

____________________

Yizkor for First Responders
G-d of the selfless,
G-d of the strong and the brave,
Grant a perfect rest among the souls of the righteous
To ______________________ (name),
My [ father / mother / sister / brother / child / wife / dear one/ friend ]
Who died in service to others [ in / during / because of ]
_________________________________________________ [name of event such as:
[the 9/11 attacks on the Unites States, the Mount Carmel forest fire, etc.].
May his/her dedication to protecting life serve as a shining lamp of love
And the works of his/her hands bring us all merit in heaven.
Bless the souls of all who have died to save others,
Civilians and professionals,
The trained and the untrained,
In every age and in every land,
Men and women who answered the call of honor, duty and service.
May the memory of _____________________ be sanctified with joy and love.
May his/her soul be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

Other prayers that may be useful in tailoring a 9-11 commemoration to your community are:

“Against Tyranny” – A prayer against oppressive regimes
“At the Hand of Violence: A Yizkor Prayer” – For those who died by violence
“For Bereaved Children” – A prayer of mourning and hope for children who’ve lost parents
“For the Bereaved” – A prayer of mourning for all
“After Shiva” – When the shiva is over, what next?

Postscript: They original liturgy written at the request of Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, Ph.D., for the HUC-JIR publication Tzeh U’limad. Thanks to my sister Mara Lund for her insightful comments on drafts of these prayers.

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Joyous Soul , This Grateful Heart, and This Precious Life. Here’s a link to my ELItalk, “Falling in Love with Prayer..” 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.

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

For Surfside, Florida

Posted on: June 29th, 2021 by Alden

A prayer for hope and survival as time passes after the devastating condo collapse in Surfside, Florida. May we all know safety and peace of mind in our homes.

For Surfside, Florida
This waiting is exhausting,
This watching is devastating,
This wondering is heartbreaking,
As the painful and grueling work
Of digging through rubble
Feels endlessly slow.

G-d beyond understanding,
We pray for the dead and the lost
After the calamity and catastrophe
In Surfside, Florida,
Hoping against the destruction and tears
For moments of rescue and reunion.
For the dead, grant them peace under your wings.
For the lost, grant them delivery, life, and health.
For their families, grant them strength and endurance.
For the community, prepare a path to healing.
Of all places, let us feel safe in our homes and dwellings,
With our families, friends, and dear ones.

Bless the first responders with endurance
To be of maximum service in this moment of immeasurable need.
Bless their limbs with strength,
Their eyes with courage,
Their hands with gentleness.
Protect them from physical harm,
Shield them from emotional pain,
And guard them from taking this trauma into themselves.

G-d of heaven and earth,
Heavenly Guide,
Hand of love and shelter,
Grant the people of Surfside, Florida,
Your protection,
Your radiance,
And Your peace.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
Share the prayer! Email this to a friend.

Photo Source: News sources

Prayer for the Jews of Germany

Posted on: October 11th, 2019 by Alden

A prayer for the Jews of Germany after the Yom Kippur attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany. This prayer incorporates a line added to the liturgy for the Aseret Yamai Teshuvah, the 10 Days of Repentance/Return. A line from the classic Yom Kippur liturgy: וכתב לחיים טובים כל בני בריתך, And write for a good life all the children of Your covenant. At Ne’ilah, the final service of the day, the line changes to וחתום לחיים טובים כל בני בריתך, “And seal for a good life all the children of Your covenant,” as it does at the end of this prayer.

For the Jews of Germany
Author of life,
Man has turned violent,
Attacking the heart of prayer
In Halle, Germany,
Murdering and wounding innocents
In the name of antisemitism,
With a passion for bloodshed
And the destruction of the Jewish people.

וכתב לחיים טובים כל בני בריתך
And write, for a good life, all the children of Your covenant
Uc’tov l’chaim tovim kol b’nai britecha

To the traumatized in Halle,
We pray for healing,
For the Jews of Germany,
And all of the Jews of the world,
We pray for an end to antisemitism.
For the people of Germany,
And all of the people of the world,
We pray for shelter and solace,
Comfort and consolation,
Blessing and renewal.

וכתב לחיים טובים כל בני בריתך
And write, for a good life, all the children of Your covenant
Uc’tov l’chaim tovim kol b’nai britecha

Heavenly Guide,
Hand of love and shelter,
Put an end to anger and hatred,
Bigotry and fear,
And lead us to a time when no one
Suffers at the hand of another.

For the sake of our people,
And for the sake of Your Holy Name,
Grant the Jews of Germany Your protection,
Your wholeness and healing,
And Your peace.

וחתום לחיים טובים כל בני בריתך
And seal, for a good life, all the children of Your covenant
U’chatom l’chaim tovim kol b’nai britecha

Postscript: This is an adaptation of “For the Jews of France.”

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 on Facebook and Twitter. Please take a moment to explore my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Photo credit: Associated Press

Dance in the Madness

Posted on: May 27th, 2018 by Alden

A song of the spiritual traveler about the dance between spiritual forces that uplift and those the can crush us. This is one of just a handful of my pieces that rhyme, including “Come Walk,” another song of the spiritual traveler.

Dance in the Madness
Joy is a bird that lifts you in flight.
Prayer is a beacon that pierces the night.
Faith is a prism that opens the light.
G-d is the answer of joy and delight.

Fear comes calling, a poisonous art.
Judgement, a knife that cuts you apart.
Sorrow, a clamp that crushes the heart.
Loneliness threatens to never depart.

On this journey, it’s certain, one thing is true,
Both joy and sorrow sit next to you
So dance in the madness,
There is nothing new,
And love everyone who is dear to you.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
Share the prayer! Email this to a friend.

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.

Photo Source: Dale Robbinete/Lionsgate

Guest Writers: Avi Dell and Ze’eva Berman

Posted on: March 16th, 2018 by Alden

This is a mash-up of two prayers written in my “Introduction to Creative Liturgy” class at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. Ze’eva Berman (cantorial) and Avi Dell (rabbinical) are first-year students there. The first in-class assignment was to write a prayer for a moment of personal challenge. After hearing the prayers separately, I asked them to read the prayers together, alternating between them line-by-line. It fit. Afterward, Avi and Ze’eva reworked the combined prayer slightly, using it in student-led t’fillah. To capture in print the feeling of hearing it out loud, the alternative verses are in standard type (Ze’eva) and italics (Avi). This post is part of new addition to this space: occasionally featuring guest writers.

Untitled
I feel shaken and I feel scared.
Spiritual awakening is at your door.

I don’t know what will happen
And I don’t know how it will feel.
Cling not to whom you were before.

Stay with me through my grief, my joy, my emptiness.
Steady me with your constant presence of love.

Knowing that in your final scene,
You deserve to be anywhere but in-between.

Hello! New here? Want more? Subscribe here to receive my newest prayers by email.

Postscript: Read the prayer of my first Guest Writer, Eliza Scheffler, also an HUC-JIR student, by clicking here, and my second guest writers, pupils at Temple Beth Jacob, Concord, NH, by clicking here.

Photo Source: DevPolicyBlog

For Manchester and England

Posted on: May 23rd, 2017 by Alden

This is prayer of hope and courage for the victims of the terrorist attack in Manchester. It’s based on a memorial prayer that I wrote for the 7 July London bombings. This prayer refers to that attack, as well as the recent attack at Westminster. Here’s a link to the original prayer “For the People of London.”

For Manchester and England
Author of life,
Grant peace and consolation
To the victims and the injured
After the attack in Manchester,
Where youths, teens and their parents were murdered
In an act of calculated terror.

Source and Creator,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To the victims of this attack,
Whose lives were cut off
In an act of witless aggression.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.
May they rest in peace.

Remember the survivors of this horror.
Grant them shelter and solace,
Comfort and consolation,
Blessing and courage.
May their healing —
And the healing of this nation —
Continue with devotion and courage.

We also remember the victims
And survivors of the 7/7 and Westminster attacks,
Praying for their souls and their healing.

Heavenly Guide,
Hand of love and shelter,
Put an end to anger and hatred,
Bigotry and fear.
Let terrorists put down their weapons
To discover a new path.
May the victims of all violence
Find hope and renewal.
Lead us to a time when no one
Suffers or dies at the hand of another.

,עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו, הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ
וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְעַל כָּל יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵּבֵל, וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן

Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu,
V’al kol Yisraeil, v’al kol yosh’vei teivel, V’imru, Amen.

May the One who creates harmony above, make peace for us,
For all Israel, and all who dwell on earth. And say: Amen.

Postscript: Here’s my “Liturgy after Terror Attacks.”

Photo credit: Times of Israel

Attack at Westminster: For London and England

Posted on: March 23rd, 2017 by Alden

This is prayer of hope and courage for the victims of the terrorist attack at Westminster. It’s based on a memorial prayer that I wrote for the 7 July London bombings. Here’s a link to the original prayer “For the People of London.”

Attack at Westminster: For London and England
Author of life,
Grant peace and consolation
To the victims and the injured
After the attack at Westminster,
Where the heart of a democratic nation was attacked
In an act of calculated terror.

Source and Creator,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To the victims of this attack,
Whose lives were cut off
In an act of witless aggression.
Remember the survivors of this horror.
Grant them shelter and solace,
Comfort and consolation,
Blessing and courage.
May their healing —
And the healing of this nation —
Continue with devotion and courage.
We also remember the victims
And survivors of the 7/7 attack,
Praying for their souls and their healing.

Postscript: Here’s my “Liturgy after Terror Attacks.”

Please check out my Meet the Author video 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: WikiMedia Commons. The photo is from the 7/7 attack.

15 Years: A Liturgy for 9-11

Posted on: September 7th, 2016 by Alden

It’s been 15 years. This is a 9-11 liturgy composed for the 10th anniversary of the attacks, including newer prayers written to deepen the liturgy. They were written at the request of HUC-JIR’s Tzeh U’limad editor Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, Ph.D. Here’s a link to a video of “For 9-11 Survivors.”