Posts Tagged ‘suicide’

 

For Bereaved Children, Revisted

Posted on: December 2nd, 2024 by Alden

This prayer is dear to me. I wrote it on behalf of my daughters 15 years ago as I witnessed them struggling to cope with the loss of their mother. My wife Ami z”l died after of traumatic brain injury, most likely suicide. As a prayer for healing, this prayer echoes the themes in the Mourner’s Kaddish, recalling G-d’s majesty and holiness. It appears in my book, Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe. Writing this prayer-poem cracked me open, and opened the well of my liturgical writing. I’m reposting it for all of the children who have lost their parents on and after October 7, 2023.

For Bereaved Children
Father of Jacob,
Mother of Rachel,
Source of awe and wonder,
Cradle and Shelter,
Our children are lost in tears,
Crushed in sorrow,
Erased in loneliness,
Bent and broken,
Their hopes, dust…
Their joys, cinders…
Their dreams, shadows.

You who comfort Zion and Israel,
Comfort our children in this moment of grievous loss,
And show them the path from darkness to light.
Renew their hope,
Rekindle their joy,
Spark their dreams,
So that they, too, will know Your healing Power,
Your salvation and grace,
Your loving kindness.
Hold them,
Lift them,
Carry them,
Until, refreshed by Your spirit,
They walk upright once again,
Toward holiness and love,
With charity and thanksgiving,
Humility and strength,
In awe and righteousness,
To sing Your praise.

© 2024 CCAR Press from Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe

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

Postscript: This piece appears in Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe from CCAR Press. It also appears in my first self-published book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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 by Alden Solovy

For an Alcoholic or Addict

Posted on: June 7th, 2021 by Alden

A prayer to be said those suffering from alcoholism, addiction, or both. Optional language is in [brackets], with choices separated by a slash (“/”). This prayer and three others on addiction and mental illness appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. A list of many of my related prayers can be found in the postscript at the end of this post.

For an Alcoholic or Addict
G-d of Old,
I call out to You
From the depths of despair.
My [father/mother/sister/brother/son/daughter/friend/husband/wife/partner/loved-one]
Suffers from the disease of [alcoholism / addiction / alcoholism and addiction,]
[Compounded by mental illness,]
Causing emotional, spiritual, and physical self-harm.
I am afraid and ashamed.
I am sad and lost.
The disease is powerful.
The possibilities are frightening.

G-d of health and well-being,
Teach me to care for myself
In the midst of crisis and chaos.
Teach me to bring love and kindness into my day,
Serenity and perspective into my life,
Especially when I feel hopeless or lost.
Teach me to trust Your will.

G-d of healing,
Bring my loved-one,
In mercy,
To recovery.
Show Your awesome works
And Your marvelous ways.
Grant healing of body
And healing of spirit.
Grant relief to all who suffer from alcoholism or addiction
So that they may become
Living reflections of Your divine gifts
And Your healing power.

Blessed are You, G-d of health and healing.

© 2013 Kavanot Press and Alden Solovy from Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing

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

Postscript: My wife Ami z”l died of her alcoholism 12 years ago. It might have been suicide. We’ll never know. See also: “My Depression,” “Mental Illness,” “Cutting: A Prayer to End Self-Mutilation,” “My Child’s Self-Inflicted Wounds,” “These Troubled Children,” “Suicide Attempt by My Spouse/Partner,” “My Child’s Suicide Attempt,” “Yizkor after My Child’s Suicide,” and “Yizkor after a Suicide.”

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.

Photo Source: Canyon Vista Recovery Center

“Alden has become one of Reform Judaism’s master poet-liturgists…" - Religion News Service, Dec. 23, 2020

“Mesmerizing, spiritual, provocative, and thoughtful, Alden was everything you would want in a guest scholar and teacher.” – Rabbi Denise L. Eger, Congregation Kol Ami, Los Angeles, and Past President, CCAR

"Alden Solovy has become one of the most revered liturgists of the last decade…" - Jewish Post & Opinion, March 29, 2023

“Alden left everyone feeling inspired.” – Cantor Jeri Robins, Shabbat Chair, NewCAJE6