Prayer for a Nation in Crisis, by Rabbi Barry Block (2021)

Contributor(s):

Barry Block

Shared on:

8 January 2021 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Insurrection, United States of America

Tags:

116th Congress, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, United States, Donald Trump, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, 45th President of the United States

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Gracious God, we come before You as supplicants today, seeking comfort and hope, as terror reigns at our nation’s Capitol, spreading fears of violence throughout our land.
	We beseech You on this terrifying day: spread your shelter of peace over the United States of America, upon all who dwell within its borders.
	Embolden every American to defend democracy, to uphold our Constitution, to protect the First Amendment right to assemble in protest, and to eschew violence and mayhem.
	Sustain us in faith that the “better angels of our nature”^[1] President Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861. will be victorious, that democracy will triumph, that peace will prevail.
	Bless the Capitol Police, and all who are entrusted with restoring peace in Washington and throughout this land.
	Grant wisdom to the President, the Vice-President, and to every Senator and Member of Congress.
	Be with the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect, charged with unifying this divided country in the days and weeks ahead.
	We Jews have always been “prisoners of hope.”^[2] Zechariah 9:12. restore us to hope today. Grant us trust, even on a terrible day, that we may look forward to a new day dawning, speedily and soon. Amen.

Rabbi Block’s “Prayer for a Nation in Crisis” was first published on 6 January 2021 on RavBlog, the blog of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Notes[+]

Notes
1	President Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.
2	Zechariah 9:12.

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“Prayer for a Nation in Crisis, by Rabbi Barry Block (2021)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Barry Block

Rabbi Barry Block is the rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock, Arkansas. A Houston native, Rabbi Block was ordained in 1991 at the New York Campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, after having been awarded the degree, Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters, at the Los Angeles Campus in 1988. Rabbi Block previously served Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Texas, beginning in 1992 as Assistant, then Associate, Rabbi; and as Senior Rabbi from 2002 to 2013. Rabbi Block has served Reform Judaism nationally and regionally as a member of the Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and Chair of its Resolutions and Nominating Committees, and as President of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis. For 21 years, he represented his colleagues throughout Texas and Oklahoma as Rabbinic Advisor of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Greene Family Camp for Living Judaism in Bruceville, Texas. He is a member of the President’s Rabbinic Alumni Council of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Block is the author of "Unplanned Fatherhood,” slated for 2013 publication by CCAR Press in The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality. Rabbi Block is Past Board Chair of the Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas. In 2013, he completed long service to Methodist Healthcare Ministries, the largest non-governmental provider of indigent health care in south Texas, and Methodist Healthcare System, the largest hospital group and second largest private employer in San Antonio. His service there included several terms as Chair of the Healthcare System’s Ethics and Compliance Committee. In 2012, Human Rights Campaign bestowed its Equality Award upon Rabbi Block at its annual gala in San Antonio.

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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