Prayer after a Mass Shooting at a Public School, by Rabbi David Dine Wirtschafter (2018)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=18752

open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license date_src_start: 2018-01-26 date_src_end: 2018-01-26 languages_meta: [{"name":"English","code":"eng","standard":"ISO 639-3"}] scripts_meta: [{"name":"Latin","code":"Latn","standard":"ISO 15924"}]

Date: 2018-01-26

Last Updated: 2025-05-09

Categories: Mass Shootings & Gun Violence

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., bloodshed, English vernacular prayer, Guns, Marshall County High School shooting, murder, North America, United States

Excerpt: Rabbi David Dine Wirtschafter writes, "Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Marshall County, Kentucky who, now have joined an ever growing list of places to experience a mass shooting at a public school. We grieve for the families of the two teenagers who were killed. May the 18 others who were injured speedily recover from their wounds. These incidents are terrible no matter where they happen but there is something all the more unsettling when they occur so close to home." . . .

Content:
Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Marshall County, Kentucky who, now have joined an ever growing list of places to experience a mass shooting at a public school. We grieve for the families of the two teenagers who were killed. May the 18 others who were injured speedily recover from their wounds. These incidents are terrible no matter where they happen but there is something all the more unsettling when they occur so close to home.
Contribute a translation Source (English)
God of Abel and Cain, Eve and Adam,
the victims and the victimizers.
In the depths of our heartbreak and pain we pray:
May this one be the last one.
May there be no next one.
No more murders, no more murderers,
No more parents burying their children.
No more funerals for fifteen-year-olds.
Help us to end this plague.
Give us the courage to work for real and lasting change.
The blood of our children cries out to us from the ground.[1] Cf. Genesis 4:10 
Rather than cover our ears,
make us listen to the cries.

Rather than closing our eyes,
let us give the bloodshed of this day a long hard look.

Rather than turning our heads,
grant us the wisdom to use our minds to finally bring an end to this plague.

Rather than throwing up our hands,
let us use them to reach out with a meaningful response.

Rather than hardening our hearts,
give us the compassion to turn the pain of others to a plea for justice.

This prayer was first shared by Rabbi Wirtschafter via his Facebook account, here.

 

Notes

Notes
1 Cf. Genesis 4:10

Contributor: David Dine Wirtschafter

Co-authors:

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