Ecclesiastes Chapter 3, 1-8

A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven:

A time for being born and a time for dying,

A time for planting and a time for uprooting the planted;

A time for slaying and a time for healing,

A time for tearing down and a time for building up;

A time for weeping and a time for laughing,

A time for wailing and a time for dancing;

A time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,

A time for embracing and a time for shunning embraces;

A time for seeking and a time for losing,

A time for keeping and a time for discarding;

A time for ripping and a time for sewing,

A time for silence and a time for speaking;

A time for loving and a time for hating;

A time for war and a time for peace.

A Man In His Life – Yehudah Amichai

Yehudah Amichai from The Selected Poetry Of Yehuda Amichai (Literature of the Middle East). (2013/University of California Press)

A man in his life has no time to have
Time for everything.
He has no room to have room
For every desire. Ecclesiastes was wrong to claim that.

A man has to hate and love all at once,
With the same eyes to cry and to laugh
With the same hands to throw stones
And to gather them,
Make love in war and war in love.

And hate and forgive and remember and forget
And order and confuse and eat and digest
What long history does
In so many years.

A man in his life has no time.
When he loses he seeks
When he finds he forgets
When he forgets he loves
When he loves he begins forgetting.

And his soul is knowing
And very professional,
Only his body remains an amateur
Always. It tries and fumbles.
He doesn’t learn and gets confused,
Drunk and blind in his pleasures and pains.

In autumn, he will die like a fig,
Shriveled, sweet, full of himself.
The leaves dry out on the ground,
And the naked branches point
To the place where there is time for everything.

Allow Your Heart to Break

Alden Solovy, Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe (2024/CCAR Press)

How courageous you must become

To allow your own heart

To break

Under the burden

Of your wrongs and misdeeds,

So that you might confess,

In earnest,

To yourself,

To others,

To God.

How courageous you must become

To allow your own heart

To heal

With the balm

Of amends and repair,

So that you might return,

In earnest,

To yourself,

To others,

To God.

How courageous you must become

To live your life

As a blessing,

To open your heart,

In the fullness of love

And dedication,

To yourself,

To others,

To God.

Loving-kindness Meditation Phrases:

May I be happy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be free.

May I be blessed with Peace.

May I be blessed with Joy.

May I be blessed with Lovingkindness

May I be blessed with Compassion.

Breathing In Love.

Breathing Out Love.

1. Ones who are easy to love – family, friends, pets

2. Ourselves

3. Neutral People – we see them often yet don’t know them well

4. Annoying or Difficult People

5. All beings

From Mi Shebeirakh to Birkat HaGomel

Rabbi Jennifer Gubitz

We pray, Mi Shebeirakh,
to the source of blessing
for healing of mind
healing of body
of spirit
wishing,
hoping,
begging
that it happen
speedily
painlessly
and fully—
that life should return to the way it was
before the illness,
before the injury,
before the brokenness…
or we pray
that healing comes in different ways…
wishing,
hoping,
begging
for relief,
for release,
for ease and liberation from suffering

In and of itself,
the latitude
we give to a definition of healing…
can bring us the comfort,
can bring us the healing we so desire.

And what of that day…
when that healing
for which we
wished
hoped
begged
prayed….
becomes reality?

What words do we have
to celebrate?
What words do we have
to praise our source of blessing
our source of strength
our source of healing?

Like bookends,
the words of Mi Shebeirakh
initiate and sustain the journey
and isolation that is illness…
and at the other end
of the heavy,
weathered stack of storied experience,
our liturgy offers us
a succinct prayer –
Birkat HaGomel –
a blessing made upon
deliverance from danger,
for that time when
one’s name can
joyously be removed from
the Mi Shebeirakh list…
as well as for other escapes from misfortune,
the Talmud teaches,
such as returning from sea voyage, journeying through the desert, surviving childbirth, being released from prison,
and living through the potential dangers of our lives

Also known in Yiddish as gomel benschen,
Birkat HaGomel
was historically recited in private…
but over time entered into the art and arc of public prayer…
recited in the midst of the Torah…
but more specifically…
in the midst of others,
in public,
amid a quorum of community…

We will soon have an opportunity
to experience this ritual of
Gomel Benschen,
this public act of gratitude for deliverance.
In some ways,
just being here as a witness is enough –
but actually, in this ritual,
it is not enough.
rather, it is incumbent upon us to respond aloud…

And why?

We all know illness,
We all know calamity…
in various gradations,
we all know the grievous
and grief-ridden blow
of brokenness…
how it is so isolating…
how it causes us to feel so alone,
how it seems that somehow
everyone else’s experience improves,
but ours…
isolated
such that no one else could ever understand our experience.
and this is true…
We don’t know another’s experience…
and yet
we do…
we do know.

Birkat HaGomel as a public ritual,
as a public response,
is our way of saying aloud,
before God and one another,
we know you suffered,
we know you felt isolated,
we know your family and friends felt this pain, too, we felt pain on your behalf…
and while we don’t know exactly what it was like for you…
from our own experience,
we do know…
and because we know,
we’re here now…
and we pray for you,
we give thanks for you,
we celebrate with gratitude the goodness bestowed upon you…
and we welcome you back into our midst…
healed,
or perhaps always healing…

and it will be our honor to respond and rejoice in your blessing:

Individuals Recite:
Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha’olam, ha-gomel l’hayavim tovot sheg’malani kol tov.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, ruler of the world, who rewards the undeserving with goodness, and who has rewarded me with goodness.

Community Responds:
Amen. Mi she g’malkha kol tov, hu yigmalkha kol tov, selah.

May the One who rewarded you with all goodness reward you with all goodness forever.

Amen

A Prayer for Compassion by Trisha Arlin

Barukh Atah Adonai
Berukhah At Shekhinah
Blessed One-ness, Blessed Connection,
Kadosh Barukh Hu:
We pray for all who are in pain
And all who cause pain.

We pray for those of us
Who are so angry
That we have lost compassion for the suffering
Of anyone who is not a member of our group.
And we pray for those of us
Who cannot see the suffering
behind the loss of that compassion.

We pray for the strength
To resist the urge to inhumanity
That we feel in times of fear and mourning.
We pray for the courage
To resist the calls to inhumanity
That others may make upon us in times of crisis.

Barukh Atah Adonai
Berukhah At Shekhinah
Blessed One-ness, Blessed Connection,
Kadosh Barukh Hu:
May we find relief from our hurts and fears.
And may we not, in our pain,
Lose our empathy
For the hurts and fears of others.
We pray for all who are in pain
And all who cause pain.

Amen

A Prayer for Israel – Hannah Ellenson

אלוהינו ואלוהי אמותינו ואבותינו

Eloheinu v’elohei imoteinu v’avoteinu,

Our God and God of our ancestors,

We ask your blessing for the State of Israel and for all of Israel’s inhabitants.

מקור חיים

Mekor chayim, Source of Life, bless and strengthen those who defend the land and ensure their safe and speedy return home.

Protect them and guide them.

הקדוש ברוך הוא

HaKadosh Barukh Hu, Holy and Blessed One, show Israel’s leaders your path so they may act with wisdom, courage, and dedication and that they may be unwavering in their pursuit of peace. Strengthen their hearts, but keep them from hardening.

מתיר אסורים

Matir asurim, Freer of the Captives, return all those who are kidnapped safe and sound to their homes, without the spilling of more innocent blood, without any more souls being tarnished by horrific acts.

 בעל הרחמים,

Ba’al rachamim, Master of Compassion, help us hold the humanity and the heartache of the Jewish people while also holding the humanity and the dignity of the Palestinian people.

As we are made in your image, remind us of your ways. Spread over us your shelter of peace and fulfill the vision of your prophets:

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war.”

 Together, we say: Amen

A Prayer for Our Country – Rabbi Ayelet Cohen

Our God and God of our ancestors, bless this country and all who dwell within it.
Help us to experience the blessings of our lives and circumstances
To be vigilant, compassionate, and brave
Strengthen us when we are afraid
Help us to channel our anger
So that it motivates us to action
Help us to feel our fear
So that we do not become numb
Help us to be generous with others
So that we raise each other up
Help us to be humble in our fear, knowing that as vulnerable as we feel there are those at greater risk,
And that it is our holy work to stand with them
Help us to taste the sweetness of liberty
To not take for granted the freedoms won in generations past or in recent days
To heal and nourish our democracy, that it may be like a tree planted by the water whose roots reach down to the stream
It need not fear drought when it comes, its leaves are always green.
Source of all Life,
Guide our leaders with righteousness
Strengthen their hearts but keep them from hardening
That they may use their influence and authority to speak truth and act for justice.
May all who dwell in this country share in its bounty, enjoy its freedoms and be protected by its laws.
May this nation use its power and wealth to be a voice for justice, peace and equality for all who dwell on earth.
May we be strong and have courage
To be bold in our action and deep in our compassion
To discern when we must listen and when we must act
To uproot bigotry, intolerance, misogyny, racism, discrimination and violence in all its forms
To celebrate the many faces of God reflected in the wondrous diversity of humanity
To welcome the stranger and the immigrant and to honor the gifts of those who seek refuge and possibility here,
As they have since before this nation was born
Let justice well up like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream
(Jeremiah 17:8; Isaiah 16:3–5; Amos 5:24)

© Rabbi Ayelet Cohen. This prayer was

originally commissioned for Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York, New York.

The Book of Living

Alden Solovy, Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe (2024/CCAR Press)

Remember and inscribe us

In the book of living:

The book of living in wonder,

The book of living in awe,

The book of living in righteousness,

The book of living Your Torah,

The book of living Your mitzvot,

The book of living tikkun olam,

The book of living tzedekah,

The book of living each day fully,

The book of living each day faithfully,

The book of living each day for You,

So long as we have breaths in our bodies

And sparks in our souls.

As long as we live

Let us be alive,

In service to our God,

Our people,

And all of humanity.