A Prayer for Pittsburgh [after the Tree of Life synagogue massacre], by Rabbi Menachem Creditor (2018)

Contributor(s): Menachem Creditor

Shared on: 27 October 2018 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories: Mass Shootings & Gun Violence, Terror

Tags: 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, mass murder inside a synagogue, prayers for municipalities

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Dear God,
	Your precious Children are crying. We have every reason to become numb, to become used to this blasphemous trend, to barely even register that Your Images are being erased by cold guns wielded by hurtful hearts.
	God, we know we must act, and we know that, in order to act, we must feel the urgency – Your Urgency. We must channel Your pain at the deaths of Your children – in Your Holy Home – and remind ourselves and our leaders to look to the Tree of life
	and choose life
	We’ve been too quiet, mistaking status updates and reactionary prayers for repentance. Our nation has endured the epidemic of Gun Violence for far too long.
	And so, God, as we feel the beginnings of our own weariness after two mass shootings within four hours we remember the wisdom of Your Prophet, who taught that:
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ יַעֲלוּ אֵבֶר כַּנְּשָׁרִים יָרוּצוּ וְלֹא יִיגָעוּ יֵלְכוּ וְלֹא יִיעָפוּ׃ (ישעיה מ:לא)	“…those who hope in God will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”^[1] Isaiah 40:31
	We pray to You for renewal as we spread our protective wings over one another again, running to justice, refusing weariness, and choosing life.
	May we sing louder than weapons and merit to see You in each other’s eyes, sanctifying Your Name by standing together by rising up again, this time rebuilding Your World by saving each other.
	Amen.

“A Prayer for Pittsburgh” was first published by Rabbi Menachem Creditor at his website, and shared with the Open Siddur Project via our Facebook discussion group.

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Isaiah 40:31

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“A Prayer for Pittsburgh [after the Tree of Life synagogue massacre], by Rabbi Menachem Creditor (2018)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Menachem Creditor

Rabbi Menachem Creditor serves as the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA-Federation New York and was the founder of Rabbis Against Gun Violence. A frequent speaker in communities and campuses around the United States and Israel with over 1 million views of his online videos and essays, he was named by Newsweek as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in America. His 22 books and 6 albums of original music include the global anthem "Olam Chesed Yibaneh" and the anthologies "When We Turned Within" and "None Shall Make Them Afraid." He has been involved in the leadership of American Jewish World Service, AIPAC, the Rabbinical Assembly, and the One America Movement, an organization dedicated to bringing together Americans of different faiths and opinions. He and his wife Neshama Carlebach live in New York, where they are raising their five children.

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Works of related interest:

Gratitude Prayer, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor on the first anniversary of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life massacre (2019)

Governor Wolf Gives Remarks Regarding Pittsburgh Shooting and Participates in Vigil [for] Pittsburgh synagogue shooting (credit: Governor Tom Wolf, license: CC BY)

תפילה לארצות הברית לאחר הטבח בפּיטסבּורג | Prayer for the United States after the Pittsburgh Massacre, by Rabbi Stephen Belsky (2018)

אֵלֶּה אֶזְכְּרָה, נוּסַח פִּיטְסְבּוּרְג | Eileh Ezkarah for Pittsburgh, by Rabbi Jonathan Perlman with Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum & Rabbi Martin Cohen (2019)

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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