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A Prayer for the New Year 5784

In this New Year 5784, / may we nurture compassion in our hearts / and increase empathy towards all who suffer / injustice, tyranny, war, terror, oppression, hate, bigotry, and cruelty, / and endeavor every day to alleviate their suffering.

May we recognize our solidarity with every immigrant and stranger, / and affirm that no human being ought ever to be treated as an “other,” / that our common humanity weaves us together / in one fabric of mutuality and one garment of destiny.

May we pursue the biblical prophet’s vision of justice and peace / and strive for the day when all will live together / harmoniously, equally, and safely, / respecting differences, cherishing diversity / and revering Divinity that sparkles within every human soul.

May we struggle against climate-change denial, ignorance, and intolerance, / neither despising nor defrauding nor abusing nor insulting any human being. / Rather, may we honor and support and nurture through word and by deed / all those in need and every creature of the earth.

May Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, / in their homes, villages, cities, farms, and holy places, / in the Lands of Israel and Palestine / live peacefully and securely side-by-side / in two states for two peoples in their shared Homeland.

May humanity thrive everywhere under a democratic form of government / in which human rights are protected and freedom is preserved, / the uniqueness of every human being is cherished, / and all are allowed to blossom and grow to reach their full potential.

In this New Year 5784, / may we Jews admit and confess wrongs we committed, / and seek forgiveness, and do repentance, and restore relationships of meaning, / and be renewed with open hearts, new eyes, and refreshed spirits.

L’shanah tovah u-m’tukah.

Composed by Rabbi John L. Rosove

 

About the Author
John L. Rosove is Senior Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Israel of Hollywood in Los Angeles. He is a national co-Chair of the Rabbinic and Cantorial Cabinet of J Street and immediate past National Chairman of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA). He serves as a member of the newly created Union for Reform Judaism's Israel and Reform Zionism Committee (IRZC). John was the 2002 Recipient of the World Union for Progressive Judaism International Humanitarian Award and has received special commendation from the State of Israel Bonds. In 2013 he was honored by J Street at its Fifth Anniversary Celebration in Los Angeles. John is the author of two books - “Why Judaism Matters – Letters of a Liberal Rabbi to his Children and the Millennial Generation with an Afterword by Daniel and David Rosove” (Nashville: Jewish Lights Publishing, a division of Turner Publishing Company, 2017) and "Why Israel [and its Future] Matters - Letters of a Liberal Rabbi to his Children and the Millennial Generation with an Afterword by Daniel and David Rosove" (New Jersey: Ben Yehuda Press, 2019). Both are available at Amazon.com. John translated and edited the Hebrew biography of his Great Granduncle – "Avraham Shapira – Veteran of the Haganah and Hebrew Guard" by Getzel Kressel (publ. by the Municipality of Petach Tikvah, 1955). The translation was privately published (2021). John is married to Barbara. They are the parents of two sons - Daniel (married to Marina) and David. He has two grandchildren.
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