Healing Prayer for Victims/Survivors of Abuse

May God Who blessed our patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David and Solomon, and our matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah; Who hears our cries that are caused by our oppressors and Who knows our sorrows, bless, protect, strengthen and heal our brothers and sisters, fellow Jews, men and women, boys and girls, holy and pure souls, who are abused, tormented and violated in body and soul by parents or teachers, husbands or wives, neighbors, friends or strangers. May God protect them from the treacherous deeds and violent acts of their abusers, and from the perverseness of their tongues. May the Holy One guard those who cry out and save them from every distress and misfortune, from every trouble and illness. We join as a community to acknowledge and proclaim that a vile deed has been done in Israel which thing ought not to be done. May our God Who is close to the broken hearted and Who saves those whose spirits are crushed, save them and redeem them from their pursuers. May God make known to them the ways of peace and lead them in paths of justice. May there be peace in their homes and tranquility in their families. May they dwell in security, and may none make them afraid. And may the verse be fulfilled for them, "You shall forget your misery, and remember it like waters that pass away... And you shall be secure, because there is hope; you shall look around you, and you shall take your rest in safety" (Job 11:16, 18). May the Merciful One who answers the broken hearted, answer us. May the Merciful One who answers the humble of spirit, answer us. Now, swiftly and soon, and let us say, Amen Rabbi Mark Dratch

A prayer for aging with dignity Rabbi

Naomi Levy

I don’t want to grow old God. I don’t want any part of it. But since I have no power to stop the clock, my prayer is this: Let me age with grace. Show me the way, God. Be with me. Grant health to my body and clarity to my mind. Give me strength. Help me to overcome my vanity. Teach me to combat self-pity. Don’t allow me to become set in my ways. Shield me from isolation and from loneliness. May the love of my family and friends be my reward for all the struggles of my youth. Let all the blessings of age emanate from me. Let wisdom flow from my mouth, let compassion flow from my heart, let acts of kindness flow from my arms, let faith flow from my soul, let joy shine forth from my eyes. Amen.

A prayer for the strength to reach out for help

I don’t want to be a burden, God. I certainly don’t want pity. But I can no longer do it all alone. Help me, God. Teach me not to be afraid to rely upon others. Show me how to accept kindness, how to ask for help. Teach me, God, that my children still love me even though they’re grown. I still have so much to offer, God. Help me find the ways to transmit my wisdom, to share my love, to realize my talents, to offer my reassurance and support. Most of all, I place my trust in You, God; I place my body and soul in Your hands, and pray that You will be with me. Amen. Rabbi Naomi Levy

A Song of Endings and Beginnings

Let us sing of our completions, smooth, round, Silvered voices to praise Your Name. Every season holds starts and stops, Years of trees and spirits and souls, Days ripe with harmony and turning, Circled, cycled, to order our lives.

Inside each completion, We hear Your creation; Inside our creations, We resound with Your voice. Let us mold a new shape for our completions, Fluid and longing, subtle limbs That lead us onward to praise Your name. Every season casts away its jagged edges, Rubs away the torn moments

To rejoice in the realignment

Of old ways made straight. Inside each refitting, We renew again Your creation, Pulling it taut against us, A firm bound shield of Your affection.

Let us sing of our completions. Your hand hovers, blesses, Bids us move to new beginnings. Your hand moves us forward, Toward unimagined completions. D Perlman

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Thank You, God of Eternity, for the great wonder of Your creation, for the earth, the stars, the sun and the moon, and the beauty of Your universe, with which in Your great kindness You have blessed me.

Thank You for granting me life, in all its richness, for its brilliant moments of joy which allow me to soar as the birds, and even for its anguish and pain, which somehow seem to precipitate inner growth and change. For all these things, God, I am grateful.

But thank You, especially, God, in Your abundant love, for having chosen to make me a human being, blessed, among all the fruits of Your creation, with a mind to reason and seek truth and justice; with a soul which can feel pain, ecstasy, and compassion, and has the freedom to choose life and goodness over cruelty and destruction; and with a heart which can love and care, and reach out to touch the hearts of my brothers and sisters, as together we walk through the years of our lives.

Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, from All Breathing Life

To Return the Words to their Source

The purpose of all prayer is to uplift the words, To return them to their Source above. The world was created

By the downward flow of letters

The task of humanity is to form these letters into words

And take them back to God.

If you come to know this dual process, Your prayer may be joined

To the constant flow of Creation –Word to word, voice to voice, Breath to breath, thought to thought.

The words fly upward before the One. As God turns to look at the ascending word, Life flows through all the worlds And prayer receives its answer. All this happens in an instant And all this happens continually; Time has no meaning in the sight of God. The Divine spring is ever-flowing; One who is ready can make himself into a channel

To receive the waters from above.

Likkutim Yekarim 10a (trans. Arthur Green)

We are Grateful

We are grateful

Each morning

For the fresh promise of a new day

A day of new experience

Of warmth and friendship

Of new tasks undertaken, new fruits planted, Of efforts brought to fruition of bountiful harvests reaped. We are grateful

Each day

For the creative and nurturing capacities we have been granted. For the compassion to sense those in fear, in hunger and in pain. for the opportunity to share some of our bounty with those less fortunate. We are grateful Each evening

For the rest that comes after the day’s tasks are done. for the satisfaction of enjoying the fruits of our labors. And for the opportunity to share this completeness with our neighbors. V’Taher

Libenu

CHANT FOR THE UNIVERSE: AN INTERFAITH ANTHEM

Rejoicing in the richness of our differences

Together we preserve as priceless treasures, as gifts to one another, the arts, the songs and traditions of all our nations, peoples, and religions.

Let the creatures of this earth give thanks! Surrounded by song, enchanted by dance. Blessed by our stories, lifted up by our temples, ancient poems of great wisdom: the sun always rises.

With many hands and a single heart.

Together we reach out to the cold, to the hungry, the neglected, the hopeless.

When I see you cold, may I give you warmth. When I see you hungry, may I give you food. When I see you alone, may I give you friendship. Together we labor to preserve the earth, our living home, and all the delicate intermingling channels of life; the air and the soil and the water all are our single sphere of life.

Let rivers flow, orchards yield fruit, hills and mountains grace this earth. Let rains fall, pure, to give growth to earth’s gifts. May air be clean again, transporting sun and the light of the stars: And the round, cool moon appear above a universe at peace.

Each one of us stands alone, with differing power and strength.

We speak a thousand tongues, we honor the truth; we sing a million songs, the echo is one. Give me your books, teach me to hear. Give me your mind, a new galaxy swirls.

Together we teach one doctrine of compassion and love.

Prophet, sage, hero, saint, Bodhisattva, avatar, teach one blessing for all the earth, a thousand gold flames for everyone alive!

Many the paths we have taken, many the paths which point out the way.

Our way together is the pathway of peace. A wide, wide world, journeys as broad. A mountain to the sun. Hands clasped, hearts entwined: Peace within, a highway at our feet. Spirit affirms, the breath of life praises, the teachings live: Our way together is a pathway of peace.

The Global Village

If the world were a village of 1,000 people, it would include:

584 Asians

124 Africans

95 East and West Europeans. 84 Latin Americans

52 North Americans

6 Australians and New Zealanders

The people of the village have considerable difficulty in communicating:

165 people speak Mandarin

86 English

83 Hindi/Urdu . 64 Spanish

58 Russian. 37 Arabic

That list accounts for the mother tongues of only half the villagers. The other half speak (in descending order of frequency) Bengali, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese, German, French and 200 other languages. In this village of 1,000 there are:

329 Christians (among them 187 Catholics, 84 Protestants,

31 Orthodox) 178 Moslems

167 "non-religious'

132 Hindus

60 Buddhists .

Hanukah linda sta aki

Ocho kandelas para mi,

Hanukah linda sta aki,

Ocho kandelas para mi.

Una kandelika

Dos kandelikas

Tres kandelikas

Kuatro kandelikas

Sintyu kandelikas seysh kandelikas siete kandelikas ocho kandelas para mi.

45 atheists

3 Jews

8 all other religions

One third (330) of the 1,000 people in the world village are children and only 60 are over the age of 65. Half the children are immunized against preventable infectious diseases such as measles and polio. Just under half of the married women in the village have access to and use modern contraceptives. This year 28 babies will be born. Ten people will die, 3 of them for lack of food, 1 from cancer, 2 of the deaths are of babies born within the year. One person of the 1,000 is infected with the HIV virus; that person most likely has not yet developed a full- blown case of AIDS.

With the 28 births and 10 deaths, the population of the village next year will be 1,018. In this 1,000person community, 200 people receive 75 percent of the income; another 200 receive only 2 percent of the income. Only 70 people of the 1,000 own an automobile (although some of the 70 own more than one automobile).

About one-third have access to clean, safe drinking water. In the village of 1/000 people, there are: 5 soldiers 7 teachers; 1 doctor 3 refugees driven from home by war or drought. Donella H. Meadows

Ocho Kandelikas (Ladino)

plazer.

Muchas fiestas vo fazer, con alegrias i plazer. Los pastelikas vo kumer, con almendrikas i la miel.

Los pastelikas vo kumer, con almendrikas i la miel.

Muchas fiestas vo fazer, con alegrias i

The seed, planted in the dark, waiting in the dark of the year, the seed drawn to the light, the seed planted in the dark earth by our own hands, to be drawn from the earth by the light,

Beautiful Chanukah is here, eight candles for me. One candle, two candles, three candles, four candles, five candles, six candles, seven candles, eight candles for me. Many parties will be held, with joy and with pleasure. One candle... I will cook pastelikas (a Sephardic delicacy) with almonds and honey. One candle...

Kislev Meditation

which will return. Do the planted and the planter wait in despair in the dark for the return of the season of light? What if, we think, the light did not return if we waited in the dark and, at last, despaired of light. We could almost forget, in our winter’s darkness, that light will come again. We light the lights in the dark of the year to recall that all is in readiness, that we wait only for the warmth of light, that even in the absence of light, the work of creation is made ready

Ellen Dannin

Read chart from bottom to top – the top one, the most advanced, is what our community strives to be.