Hafsakat Aish

As the fear in our hearts intensified these past weeks…

We petitioned you O God,

that the fear, the fires, the forces of war might cease…

As our anxieties have eased,

With word of Hafsakat Aish – a cease fire - these past few days…

We praised you O God

For the respite and relief…

As our hopes for peace are again restored

May our hearts never cease to be afire with a love for

Our land…

Her people…

Peace with her neighbors…

And we thank you, O God –

For your unceasing love of your People Israel.

Baruch atah Adonai Ohev Amo Yisrael.

Am Chai

What exactly does it mean that “Am Yisrael Chai” - the People of Israel live?

Perhaps it is a song of joy and relief!  The People of Israel Live - because there were times when our living, when our survival was unclear.

Perhaps it is a refrain of power and dominion!  The People of Israel Live - because for only 64 years have we had a modern land to call our own, sustaining our survival.  

What exactly does it mean that “Am Yisrael Chai” - the People of Israel live?

Perhaps it is a chorus of clarity and crisp purpose.  The People of Israel Live - in order to bring healing and justice to the world.

And perhaps it is a prayerful prediction - that the People of Israel should always live...and should always feel enlivened...

But it is not only about our people and our lives, for in this three word utterance, we, Yisrael, are bookended by Am and Chai.  

Our people value life - all life - above all else.  

So what exactly does it mean that “Am Yisrael Chai” - the People of Israel live?  

Perhaps it is a song, a refrain, a chorus, a prayer - that Israel, her inhabitants, her neighbors, and those on all sides who crave peace, should live, not in bomb shelters, but in a sukkah of shalom, a shelter of peace.  

Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Shlomecha...

O source of shelters, O source of peace - we pray for the safety of everyone in this fractured land, and we pray that Am Yisrael Chai - that the People of Israel Live and that All People Live together in enduring peace.

M'kor Kesher

Usually the phone calls go the other way -

We saw on the news!  Are you okay?

This week, Jerusalem was calling us.

We saw on the news!  Are you okay?

O source of phone lines,
We ask for your blessing on Jerusalem,
We ask for your blessing on all her people,
and we pray
that those of us over here
always be connected to those of us over there...
with the comfort and safety to travel from here to there often
under a shelter of enduring peace.