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Chaya Lester

A Prayer for the 3

A Prayer for the 3 #BringBackOurBoys

I’m sitting here shocked that the sun rose today. Going about my automatic daily tasks…all the while, framed with a backdrop of uneasy angry grief over the kidnapping of these 3. Our boys. Fluctuating between prayerfulness & anguish…disturbed and stirred. With little left to do but give word…. *

Days like today I am weary of preaching peace

can not talk about forgiveness

I only want vengeance

for these innocent stolen treasures.

I am deeply triggered for my people…

post traumatic stress disorder-ed

from Hitler to Hamas – will there be no end to the horrors.

We are the haunted, the hunted

sons and daughters of prophets

the parents of soldiers and students abducted

— for no fault of their own…

Dear Lord bring them home…

Unscathed unstoned – bring them home…

*

Guard them, guide them

let their captors stumble like blind men

that we might find them

lift them safely gently seamlessly

as the streams of prayers flow endlessly

from our mouths as we learn your Torah

as we walk your streets and weep with every eye we meet.

Reminded that we are bound together

in this endeavor of care and prayer…

wasted and weathered with despair

* What else can we do?

I don’t know…

Write a poem? Rip your clothes?

Go to the Kotel? Pray it’s gonna end well…

Let your voices swell…

For we are the disturbed the greatly stirred.

Let us – at the very least – give word….

Let’s be forces of friendship of godliness, of justice

with a breathless wish for the end to this horror flick.

Return our sons

they’re only kids…

Return our sons

they’re only kids…

About the Author
Psychotherapist, inspirational speaker, wordsmith, performance artist & Co-Director of Jerusalem's Shalev Center. Chaya lives in the heart of Jerusalem with her husband R'Hillel & their 4 energetic children. Read more pieces like this in real-life book form: https://www.amazon.com/Lit-Poems-Ignite-Jewish-Holidays/dp/1623930219