Prayer for Peace by Landow House Residents

I want to share with you a Prayer for Peace in the words of the residents of Landow House Assisted Living, part of the Charles E Smith Life Communities of Rockville, MD
We had a prayer service on Tuesday 10/10/23 and then spent time talking and sharing. I took their words and turned them into a prayer.

Feel free to use this if it moves you.

Prayer for Peace

Words of the residents of Landow House Assisted Living, Charles E Smith Life Communities,

Dear God,
Creator of the Universe and all who are in it,
Wake up!
I am so angry. We are so angry.
How did this happen?
Open your eyes to see how your children need your help.
Bring the hostages home!
Stop the killing of babies and children and teenagers and elderly
Protect all our children and grandchildren
All your children and grandchildren

Please help me to continue to recognize the good
Teach me to turn the bad into the good

We’ve been beaten down before and likely will be again,
but we will always prevail
And make the most of life – again and again and again

Let security replace hopelessness and helplessness
Let love replace hate
Let peace replace war
Let understanding replace fear
For Israel and for the entire world

And let us say, Amen

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova!

Yesterday as I was flying from Tel Aviv to Philadelphia I saw the most amazing sight out the window. A moment before the sky had been dark. Then all of a sudden, the tiniest bit of light peaked through the clouds. As I watched, the light grew brighter and brighter and gradually encompassed not only all the clouds but also pierced though to the land below. It was a dazzling sight. And it reminded me of why I was flying home from Israel on this visit - for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. To feel and experience Gd's presence on earth, in all of us, in a very immediate and personal way. The sun peaked through the clouds and then slowly slowly filled the heavens and the earth with its radiance, just as the Spirit of the Shechina is present in the universe and in all of us and slowly slowly makes herself seen/heard/felt in our lives. 

May we all blessed in this new year of 5770 with love, happiness, health, parnassa, and all that is good and important. May the world we live in also experience a bright new year filled with peace - lots and lots of peace.  Amen.