This is a prayer for democracy everywhere, with Ukraine foremost in mind.
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Source (Hebrew) | Source (English) |
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תְעַקֵּר טִירוּנִיָא וָעָרִיצוּת וּתְשַׁבֵּר רַמַאִים וּתְמַגֵּר עֹשְׁקֵי נִדְכָּאִים תַעֲבִיר מֶמְשֶׁלֶת זָדוֹן מִן הָאָרֶץ וּתְכַשֵׁל פּוֹגְעִים בְּדֵמוֹקרָטִיָה וְתָּפֵר תַחְבּוּלוֹתָם תְכַלֵּם וְתַשְׁפִּילֵם וְתַכְנִיעֵם בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ |
May You tear out tyranny and despotism, ruin those who cheat and deceive, and break those who oppress the vulnerable. Make the reign of the arrogant disappear from all lands. May those who attack democracies everywhere stumble and fail, and may their plans be as nought. Destroy them, humble them, bring on their downfall, soon, in our days. |
תִּתֵּן לְכָל אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם הָכֹּחַ וְהַרָצוֹן לִרְדֹף צֶדֶק וּלְבַקֵּשׁ שָׁלוֹם כְּאַגֻדָה אַחַת לֲעַקֹר חָמָס וּלְהַצְמִיחַ רְפוּאָה וְחַיִים טוֹבִים וְשָׁלוֹם בְּכָׇּל הָעוֹלָם׃ |
May You give to all peoples strength and will to pursue righteousness and uproot violence, and to seek peace as a unified force. Make healing, good life and peace flourish, throughout the world. |
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.
A pdf of this prayer with Hebrew and English may be downloaded directly from neohasid.org.
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 by the living contributor(s) with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
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