Photo credit: Thomas Coex AFP – Getty Images
Dear Gd.
I want You to know that I trust You.
I believe in You.
I love You.
I’m also a little scared.
Not of You.
But of the heaping doses of free will you’ve allowed us all down here.
I imagine it pains You too; to bear witness to whole pockets of humans created in your image, using their free will to raise blood-stained fists in violence.
Calling for more violence.
It’s out of hand.
We could use a few old school miracles about now.
I have ideas.
I ask You, with as humble a heart as I can muster.
With as much clarity and pureness of heart as I have.
Please protect the Children of Israel.
All of us.
Our children. Our parents. Our partners. Our neighbors.
Our homes.
Our lives.
Protect our holy soldiers.
Bless every step they take.
Bless every inch of land they roam.
Every wave they ride.
Every flight they take
Every turn of every wheel.
Blanket them in shields light.
Let them emerge whole in body and mind, hearts alive with victory.
With our children, our sisters, parents, and grandparents – once held hostage, soon to be free – clutched tightly to their chests.
Grant them success in every possible way.
Open reservoirs of strength within them.
Let Your protection be a wellspring they drink from.
L’chaim.
Also.
Place words in the mouths of the silent.
It is time for them to speak and reveal where they stand; where they align themselves.
Good or evil.
It’s time to choose.
Sweet Gd, I beg you.
Let goodness rise and flood this earth.
Let us see it, let us know it, hold it tight and inhale it like the smell of a lover’s shirt.
Kol od balevav p’nimah Nefesh Yehudi homiyah
Ulfa’atey mizrach kadimah Ayin l’tzion tzofiyah
Od lo avdah tikvatenu Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim
L’hiyot am chofshi b’artzenu Eretz Tzion v’Yerushalayim
As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart,
With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion,
Then our hope – the two-thousand-year-old hope – will not be lost:
To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.
Amen.
Inspirational videos for you:
WATCH: Soldiers from the 7th Armored Brigade, singing HaTikva (The Jewish National Anthem) before entering Gaza
WATCH: IDF soldiers training and singing Translation: For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.
WATCH: (Hebrew) Stirring call to battle to IDF forces from the Southern Troop Commander
(lmk if you can translate this – it says everything about who we are and how we go to war).
WATCH: our friend and neighbor, IDF Major (Res.) Yaakov Selavan