Shelter-in-Peace

Shelter-in-place, you told us...

be vigilant

be calm

Shelter-in-place, you told us...

be careful

be caring

Shelter-in-place, you told us...

rest assured

rest with ease

Whether in Israel or Boston,

we praise You

O source of sheltered places,

and we thank You

O source of people who shelter us

for the sense of safety you allow us to feel inside our homes,

for the sense of safety you allow us to feel inside our shul,

and 

for the sense of safety you allow us once more to feel in our city...

Shelter-in-place, you told us,

but perhaps, O source of shelter,

You have enough experience with this

to know

what You really meant to say, 

what You really meant to pray for us

was

shelter-in-peace.

M’kor Sefirah

We count the omer

every night
this is one

this is two

days until we receive Torah...

We count the omer

every night

this is three

this is four

days until we finally get to Sinai...

We count the omer

every night

this is five

this is six

days until revelation...

What will the Torah at Sinai reveal to us this time?

Who will stand with us at the foot of the mountain?

Who will join us as we journey to the Promised Land?

M’kor Sefirah -

O source of counting...

as we count the omer

every night

shelter us,

protect us,

bless your children Israel

with the courage to stand and journey and receive

and grow and build

a land of Israel worthy of your revelation.  

For a daily Omer count - visit Shir Tikva's Facebook page.

M'saderet Tikva

Yesh Tikva -

there is hope

for peace in Israel

Yesh Tikva -

there is hope

that it will come

and soon

Tikva - 

hope

for embracing friends

hope for embracing foes

hope for renewed leadership

hope for renewing promises

M’kor Tikva, O source of hope,

M’saderet Tikva, O

orderer of hope,

help us embrace and renew

all possible paths to peace,

such that around our seder tables

for many years to come

we can recite with confidence

that "Next Year in Jerusalem"

there will be peace!

M’kor Tzarut v'Rochav

We children of Israel
find ourselves perched
on the cusp of freedom.

Hodesh Nissan,
it is the month of Mitzrayim,
of narrow straits...
and the only way to get out
of Egypt
is through.

What’s on the other side, remains the question?
Is it Israel, the land of our hopes and dreams?
Is it Israel, the land of complications and war?
Is it Israel, the home of one people?
Or is it Israel, the home of many?

What if it is Israel,
but what that means is different for you and different for me?
If it doesn’t look like what we hoped and dreamed it would look like,
can we turn back?  

Surely we cannot turn back,
surely we cannot turn our backs
even if it's not where we thought we were going.

For
we are the children of Israel -
and we find ourselves perched
on the cusp of freedom.  

And in this month of Mitzrayim,
we will work together to widen those narrow straits.

M’kor Tzarut v’Rochav,
O source of narrowness and width,
guard our land,
guard her people,
guard all her inhabitants,
and protect us as we build together our most Promised of Lands.