Rosh Hashana Prayer for Jewish Communal Pros

It’s not that our jobs were easy to begin with. But in successive waves, we have supported our communities, our students, our members through:

• Global Pandemic
• Racial and Social Unrest
• Political Conflicts
• The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
• The Hamas Terrorist Attack on Israel
• The Ongoing War Between Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthis and Israel

And while we personally were not on the front line of all of these, we were impacted severely by each. And many of us lost friends, colleagues and family in some of these.

So here we are now, looking at the Hebrew year 5784, and imagining the coming year, 5785. And taking stock of where we are personally and professionally. Those who are mid-career have it tough. But at least they remember years that were relatively calm, and in which they could do their work without major distraction. But I especially feel for those who are early in their careers for the Jewish people: to use the common adage – they did not sign up for all this. Their performance evaluations have been full of “planned a great [fill in the blank] but weren’t able to implement it this year because of [choose from the bulleted list above] .

And the other group I need for is the group I belong to: late career Jewish professionals, who had a professional lifetime of making a difference through their work, generally without major interruption. And in the midst of doing important work and also helping the up-and-coming younger professionals to take on that work, found that we were all diverted to the many crises that kept arising. And just as the younger professionals “didn’t sign up for this”, we “must have missed the class about how to lead during a global pandemic [or a long term war in the Middle East, or any of the other issues].

None of us know what the coming year will bring. Can we resume bringing teens and adults to Israel in the way we used to? Are we going to have to continue emergency fundraising, or will we be able to use funds for building our own communities and responding to local needs? And, we need to have a prayer.

So, this is my wish and my prayer:

Eternal Force of Life and Meaning: Restore our strength. Give us a calm year. Help us to remember those who have been killed in terrorist attacks and in war, and to be inspired by their memoriesbut not to allow our mourning to cripple us. Enable us to gather our Jewish people and to give them the Jewish, Israel, and human experiences that they deserve. Bring peace to Ukraine, to Israel, to all who live in Israel and in Palestinian territories. Grant us a year free from the anger that so often exists in our countries and online. One year, in which we can once again be able to do all the wonderful things we signed up for; a year when we can fulfill the professional aspirations of our hearts and the needs of our Jewish communities. May it be Your will, Amen.