Jewish Prayers for Gaza

For Gaza: Psalm 13

How much longer
will we look away?
How much longer
will we hide our faces?
How much longer
will we shut off our souls
to this sorrow and injustice?

Answer us with the courage
to see what must be seen,
to speak the words
that too many dare not
say out loud.

Awaken us from our slumber,
this terrifying sleep of the dead,
let your light shine upon truths
that must no longer be denied.

Save us from trauma and despair,
let us trust forever in your compassion,
let our hearts sing without shame
for the justice that is not yet lost
from your world.

January 14, 2024
Before Candle Lighting: A Blessing for Gaza

Blessed is the light
that illumines the path to Olam Haba
the World to Come:

where bombs falling from above
have long since melted into the spreading calm
of a distant horizon;
where the dispossessed and expelled
have no other memories than
the softness of arms reaching out
to welcome them home.

Blessed is the light
that shows us the way forward –
and blessed is Shabbat,
this moment filling us endlessly
with the vision of a world liberated,
inspiring us with the strength
to make it so.

January 11, 2024
For Gaza: Psalm 46

For the people of Gaza,
for the refugees,
for the dispossessed and displaced,
a song:

We will not look away
we see you everywhere
even as the bombs rain down
even as the earth gives way beneath you,
even as they drive you from your homes.

There is a river whose streams
will one day bring rejoicing back
to your land,
morning will dawn and light
will come streaming in to every home.

This nation that rages so mercilessly against you
soon will break under the weight of its own
overwhelming might
and you will find shelter and protection
at long last.

For there is a Power far mightier
than even the mightiest military,
bombs and tanks and drones
will be shattered into dust,
governments held to account
for their crimes against you.

I will bring you into the stillness
of my embrace
and you will know that I am with you
I will lift you up among the nations
I will return you in dignity and in love.

The One who abides with you
through this endless night
will accompany you through all harm
and bring you safely home.

January 9, 2024
El Male Rachamim for Gaza

El male rachamim shochen bam’romim
ha’metzei menucha nechonah
tachat kanfei ha’shechinah.

Oh, God filled with compassion,
whose loving presence ever surrounds us
bring perfect rest to those
who have been killed without pity in Gaza,
in refugee camps, in apartments,
in homes that provided no sanctuary,
as they worked, as they slept,
as they sat down to share meals together,
as they fled from the overpowering might
of rockets and bombs from above.

Receive their souls with the fulness of your mercy.
bind them to the souls of their ancestors
whose lives were unjustly taken
during the dispossession of the Nakba –
an injustice that continues
even as we call out to you now.

Source of all mercy, protect these precious souls
with the shelter they were denied in their lifetimes.
Gather them under the softness of your wings,
show them love, bring them home.

Remind us that no one is forgotten in your sight,
that all are welcome at your side,
that each and every one of their lives
is a story of sacred worth and meaning
that can never be lost.

As we rededicate ourselves to their lives.
Turn our grief and anger into resolve.
Filll us with strength and will and purpose –
inspire us to stand as one in solidarity,
that together we may end this injustice
once and for all.

Ba’al ha’rachamim tastireihem
b’seter kanfecha le’olamim.

Source of all compassion,
extend your shelter across the land
that the refugees may return home soon in our day –
that all who live between the river and the sea
may enjoy the blessings of equity,
of justice and of peace.

V’nomar,
and let us say,
Amen.

January 9, 2024