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A Prayer for the Steadfast on the Global Shabbat Against Home Demolitions, by Rabbi Brant Rosen (2016)

https://opensiddur.org/?p=37412 A Prayer for the Steadfast on the Global Shabbat Against Home Demolitions, by Rabbi Brant Rosen (2016) 2021-06-03 16:18:00 A prayer for the Global Shabbat Against Home Demolitions in response to the State of Israel's policy,under the military occupation of Area C in the West Bank, of demolishing structures without building permits. Text the Open Siddur Project Brant Rosen Brant Rosen https://opensiddur.org/copyright-policy/ Brant Rosen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession Homes & Community Centers فلسطين Filasṭīn Palestine ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael 21st century C.E. 58th century A.M. English vernacular prayer Needing Translation (into Hebrew) Needing Translation (into Arabic) Israeli–Palestinian conflict מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael
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This is a prayer for the steadfast,
the ones who stand firm,
the ones who say:
you can destroy my house
but you will never destroy my home.

This is a prayer for the ones
who lose their fields
only to clear new ones,
uprooting weeds, moving stones,
planting zatar seedlings
in the hot summer sun.

This is a prayer for the ones
who sift through the rubble of their homes
and find dolls, blankets, tea canisters,
photos of ancestors gazing at them
through shattered glass.

This is a prayer for the ones
who live in tents
next to twisted steel and broken concrete
knowing they will have to rebuild
before winter comes again.

This is a prayer for the ones
who issue appeals
and stays and petitions
to courts that issue no justice.

This is a prayer for the ones
who put their children to bed at night
in huts of corrugated metal,
praying they will not awaken
to the sounds of bulldozers.

This is a prayer for the ones
who stand amidst the ruins
once the soldiers have gone
and silently vow:
demolish our houses again
if you choose
but we will never leave.

We will rebuild, we will replant,
we will remain.

Our very existence
is resistance.

“A Prayer for the Steadfast” was first published by Rabbi Brant Rosen on his blog on 10 August 2016 for the Global Shabbat Against Home Demolitions and in response to demolitions of structure that had not been granted building permits by the IDF Civil Authority in Umm al-Kheir and elsewhere in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

 


 

 

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