A Prayer for Democracies Everywhere with the Welfare of Ukraine Foremost in Mind, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org, 2022)

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg and neohasid.org

Shared on:

25 February 2022 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Government & Country, International Day of Democracy (September 15th), Ukraine

Tags:

democracy, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

A prayer for democracy everywhere, that it may not fall or fail, with Israel, Ukraine and U.S. foremost in mind. May we gain inspiration and power from the mass movement to protect Israeli democracy and an independent judiciary, and may all Israel realize that occupation is inimical to democracy:

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Source (Hebrew)	Source (English)
תְעַקֵּר רוֹדָנוּת וְטִירוּנִיָא וָעָרִיצוּת וּתְשַׁבֵּר רַמַאִים וּתְמַגֵּר עֹשְׁקֵי נִדְכָּאִים תַעֲבִיר מֶמְשֶׁלֶת זָדוֹן מִן הָאָרֶץ תַּכְשִׁיל פּוֹגְעִים בְּדֵמוֹקרָטִיָה וְתָּפֵר תַחְבּוּלוֹתָם תְכַלֵּם וְתַשְׁפִּילֵם וְתַכְנִיעֵם בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ כִּי מַכְנִֽיעַ זֵדִים אַתָּה	May You tear out autocracy, tyranny and despotism, rend the power of those who cheat and deceive, and upend those who oppress the vulnerable. Make the reign of the arrogant disappear from all lands. May the people attacking democracies everywhere stumble and fail, and may their plans be as nought. Stop them, humble them, bring on their downfall, soon, in our days, for You humble the arrogant.
וְכֵן תִּתֵּן לְכָל אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם הָכֹּחַ וְהַרָצוֹן לִרְדֹף צֶדֶק וּלְכוֹנֵן מִשְׁפָּט וּלְבַקֵּשׁ שָׁלוֹם כְּאַגֻדָה אַחַת לֲעַקֹר חָמָס וּלְהַצְמִיחַ רְפוּאָה וְחַיִים טוֹבִים וְשָׁלוֹם כִּי אַתָּה הוּא מֶֽלֶךְ אֹהֵב צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט (וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן)	May You give to all the peoples of the world the strength and will to pursue righteousness and establish justice, and to seek peace as a unified force, so that violence be uprooted, and healing, good life and peace may flourish, for You are the Ruler who loves righteousness and justice. (And let us say: Amen.)
	May God protect Volodymyr Zelenskyy^[1] Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy[a] (Ukrainian: Володимир Олександрович Зеленський, pronounced [woloˈdɪmɪr olekˈsɑndrowɪdʒ zeˈlɛnʲsʲkɪj]; born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician, former actor and comedian who began serving as the president of Ukraine in 2019. and let his country triumph over Russian imperialism.

This prayer is based on a prayer before voting (also by Rabbi Seidenberg). The sections adapted for this prayer here derive directly from supplements added during the 2020 Presidential election, when Donald Trump sought re-election. The anti-democratic orientation of Trump’s presidency had by then become widely apparent. This prayer was last updated on 26 July 2023.

A pdf of this prayer with Hebrew and English may be downloaded directly from neohasid.org.

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy[a] (Ukrainian: Володимир Олександрович Зеленський, pronounced [woloˈdɪmɪr olekˈsɑndrowɪdʒ zeˈlɛnʲsʲkɪj]; born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician, former actor and comedian who began serving as the president of Ukraine in 2019.

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“A Prayer for Democracies Everywhere with the Welfare of Ukraine Foremost in Mind, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org, 2022)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

David Seidenberg

Rabbi David Seidenberg, founder of NeoHasid.org, teaches text and music, Jewish thought and spirituality, in their own right and in relation to ecology and the environment. With smikhah (ordination) from the Jewish Theological Seminary and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he has taught at over 100 synagogues, communities, retreats and conferences across North America (and a few in Europe and Israel). Rabbi Seidenberg's teaching empowers learners to become creators of Judaism through deep study and communion with texts and tradition. Areas of specialty include Kabbalah and Ḥasidut, Talmud, davenning, evolution and cosmology, sustainability, Maimonides, Buber, and more. Rabbi Seidenberg has published widely on ecology and Judaism and is the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World (Cambridge University Press, 2015).

neohasid.org

NeoHasid.org was created by Rabbi David Seidenberg to help folks integrate ḥasidic song, learning, and nusaḥ into their davenning and communities and to explore embodied Torah. It evolved to focus on eco-Torah and to share liturgy that honors our relationship with the Earth and/or expresses gender parity.

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Works of related interest:

תפילה לשלום העם האוקראינה | Prayer for the Welfare of Ukraine and the Ukrainian People (Masorti Movement in Israel 2022)

תְּפִלָּה לִשְׁלוֹם הַמְּדִינָה | Prayer for the Peace of the State of Israel, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org 2018)

Prayer for the People of Ukraine (Office of the Chief Rabbi 2022)

Prayer for the People of Ukraine, by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UK & the Commonwealth, 2022)

Brodsky synagogue Kyiv 2007 (credit: Thez, license: CC BY-SA)

A Prayer for Peace in Ukraine and Beyond, by Rabbi Dr. Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi (2022)

Independence Monument Berehynia Kyiv (US State Department website, PD)

Prayer for Ukraine, by Rabbi Dr. Reuven Kimelman (2022)

[Desktop Wallpaper] (credit: n/a, ca. 2014)

A Prayer for Ukraine, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor (2022)

Artsyz'kyi district, Odessa Oblast, Ukraine (credit: Anatoly Zubanyuk, license: CC BY-SA)

תפילה לאוקראינה | Молитва за Україну | Prayer for Ukraine, by Miriam Klimova (2022)

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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