A Prayer for Veterans Day, by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Chaplain, USN (Retired)

Contributor(s):

Arnold E. Resnicoff

Shared on:

11 November 2020 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Armistice Day, November 11 (Veterans Day, US)

Tags:

United States, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Almighty God, on this day in 1918, —11th day, 11th month, 11th hour of that day— we signed the armistice to end the war: “the war to end all wars,”^[1] A term originating from a series of articles by H.G. Wells published in 1914, referring to what eventually came to be known as the First World War of 1914–1918. Find “The War to End War” (Wikipedia). we prayed.
	But other wars would come and many more would serve. So Armistice Day—renamed, reborn—now Veterans Day^[2] Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 at the behest of a number of US Veterans organizations. to recognize, salute, all who answered duty’s call.
	We know too well there have been times we did not honor those who honored us through sacrifice and service during times of deadly war and all-too-fragile peace.
	Today we hope, we pray, that we have learned to offer thanks, to show support, respect, and gratitude to veterans, their families, to those who serve today.
	May we welcome home all those who serve, with open arms, with grateful hearts, and caring, healing hands; taking time to hear their stories, giving time to ease their pain, knowing that some wounds of war will never fully heal.
	Grant us strength, we pray, to keep our faith that thanks to those we honor with our words and prayers today, one day we’ll beat our swords to plowshares and war will be no more.^[3] Cf. Isaiah 2:4. …and let us say, amen.

This Veterans Day Prayer was first published by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Chaplain, USN (Retired), on his twitter page. He writes, “Because of COVID this is the first Veterans Day in a long time I am not part of a ceremony — and I know that’s the situation for many fellow vets. So I wrote it yesterday to share today as a virtual prayer for Veterans Day 2020.”

Source(s)

A prayer for #veteransday. Please Retweet to share as widely as possible to remind ourselves to #supportourvets. Let’s all take a moment today to salute those who serve and have served. Hear and tell their stories. pic.twitter.com/Dessk68aHn

— Arnold Resnicoff (@ArnoldResnicoff) November 11, 2020

Notes[+]

Notes
1	A term originating from a series of articles by H.G. Wells published in 1914, referring to what eventually came to be known as the First World War of 1914–1918. Find “The War to End War” (Wikipedia).
2	Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 at the behest of a number of US Veterans organizations.
3	Cf. Isaiah 2:4.

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“A Prayer for Veterans Day, by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Chaplain, USN (Retired)” is shared by the living contributor(s) with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Arnold E. Resnicoff

Arnold E. Resnicoff (born 1946) is a Conservative rabbi who began his career serving as a military officer and then as a military chaplain. He served in Vietnam and Europe before attending rabbinical school after which he was a U.S. Navy Chaplain for almost 25 years. After the Vietnam War, he promoted the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and delivered the closing prayer at its 1982 dedication. Rabbi Resnicoff was present at the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and the following year, President Ronald Reagan shared Rabbi Resnicoff's eyewitness account. After retiring from the military he became the National Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee and served as Special Assistant (for Values and Vision) to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, serving at the equivalent military rank of Brigadier General. Resnicoff holds several degrees, including an honorary doctorate. His awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Department of the Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, and the Chapel of Four Chaplains Hall of Heroes Gold Medallion.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established."–Psalms 90:17