A Prayer for Justice, Blessing, and Praise on Shabbat Shoftim, by Virginia Spatz (2015)

Contributor(s): Virginia Spatz

Shared on: 21 August 2015 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories: Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty, Mass Shootings & Gun Violence

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Gun violence in the United States, Needing Translation (into Hebrew), Neighborhood Violence, פרשת שפטים parashat Shoftim, United States

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Contribute a translation	Source(English)
	How lovely are these tents!^[1] Numbers 24:5 not far from housing that has seen better days and housing that has seen too many awful ones.
	I love the place of Your house, reached through streets collecting cigarette butts, the odd chicken wing, echoes of homicide.
	Through Your abundant love, I enter Your house, where these peaceful walls remind us: “If I am for myself alone, what am I?”^[2] Hillel the Elder, Pirkei Avot 1:14 while a few miles away homes reel from gunshots and mourning, makeshift memorials of teddy bears and candles pooled with tears and rain. Meetings and vigils and “let this be the last.”
	My prayer seeks a favorable time – Does joy come in the morning, where weeping has not tarried for the night? Can we dance together, if we have not yet joined in lament?
	You answer with your saving truth: Your glory’s dwelling-place spans mountain top and pit. We are shaken and we stand firm. Remove our sackcloth and dress us to praise You, Source of Healing and Help.

This prayer is a kavvanah for the morning blessings, using language and images from the prayer “Mah Tovu” [how lovely are your tents], commonly recited in the early morning blessings, and Psalms 30. Offered with special intention for the healing of Congress Heights, Capitol View, and other neighborhoods in Washington, DC, rocked by persistent violence.

A photo of a street side homicide memorial in Buffalo, New York.” Memorials like these are common in the city of Buffalo. (credit:Joseph Augstell , license: CC BY-SA)

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Numbers 24:5
2	Hillel the Elder, Pirkei Avot 1:14

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“A Prayer for Justice, Blessing, and Praise on Shabbat Shoftim, by Virginia Spatz (2015)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Virginia Spatz

Virginia Avniel Spatz lives and writes in DC, with a focus on Torah and justice, and works with We Act Radio and Charnice Milton Community Bookstore (CMCB) in Historic Anacostia. Her book, Rereading Exodus Along the Anacostia, supports the literacy programs of CMCB while highlighting the need for new perspectives on race, Jews, and power. She is also active in Tzedek Chicago, Hill Havurah (DC), SVARA, and a variety of other communities. Her journalism has appeared on We Act Radio and Capital Community News, and her fiction and nonfiction appears in variety of publications.

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1 comment to A Prayer for Justice, Blessing, and Praise on Shabbat Shoftim, by Virginia Spatz (2015)

lovedonesofowenandabby
2015-09-14 at 6:11 pm · Reply.
Thank you, Virginia.

Comments, Corrections, and QueriesCancel reply

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Shacks, put up by the Bonus Army on the Anacostia flats, Washington, D.C., burning after the battle with the military. The Capitol in the background. 1932.

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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