A Personal Prayer

Dear Lord:

As the events of the next few weeks unfold, please allow me to be a better person than I am. This past week has shaken my faith in many things, and I will need lots of help in diminishing the awful feelings inside of me.

It is likely that within just the next few days there will be an explosion of violence that will devastate much of Gaza. The pictures will be awful, and very difficult to watch. Please help me Lord in remembering that there are innocent people caught in the crossfire. I don’t believe the presence of such people should alter the IDF’s plans in any way. Hamas has given Israel no choice, and Hezbollah and Iran are watching to see if Israel will limit its effectiveness to retain its humanity. That horrible choice means that it is guaranteed that thousands of civilians in Gaza are about to die.

If and when this happens, please help me Lord feel some semblance of remorse, for I can assure you those sentiments are hard to come by right now. As obscene as the pictures were from Southern Israel, the shots of Palestinians shouting “Allah u Akbar” and of Palestinian women in veils gleefully holding up automatic rifles were almost as bad. Some of those people are now among the Palestinians likely to die in the next few days. Please allow me to feel some remorse for their deaths.

At home I am a lawyer, trained to work within and trust a legal system. Clearly that now has failed. Already voices accusing Israel of War Crimes are gathering, even as Hamas demands that all civilians not evacuate a war zone. The airwaves and social media are filled with claims about international law that are boldfaced lies yet taken as truth. Help me not to lose all faith in a world ruled by law and not by men with hang gliders and assault rifles. Help me not to lose respect for those who allow the blatantly false claims about international law to go unchallenged. I can’t ask you to limit my revulsion for those who make such statements, for that would be impossible. But I can ask that you give me the strength to continue to fight this in every way I can, using every tool I can.

It has been a long week, and it will be a long next few weeks. Please give me the strength to maintain my equanimity as death swirls all around. You have forsaken the people of Israel this week, please don’t do that in the weeks to come. Keep them safe, and especially to the men and women of the IDF and the hostages of terrorists, let them all return from what they are going through and be united with their families.

For all this I pray dear Lord.

Amen