From the Depths: A Prayer For Christchurch, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor (2019)
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=24225
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license date_src_start: 2019-03-15 date_src_end: 2019-03-15 languages_meta: [{"name":"English","code":"eng","standard":"ISO 639-3"},{"name":"Hebrew","code":"heb","standard":"ISO 639-3"}] scripts_meta: [{"name":"Latin","code":"Latn","standard":"ISO 15924"},{"name":"Hebrew (Ktav Ashuri)","code":"Hebr","standard":"ISO 15924"}] Date: 2019-03-15
Last Updated: 2025-04-11
Categories: Hateful Intolerance, Prejudice, and Bigotry, Mass Shootings & Gun Violence
Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Christchurch mosque shootings, prayers for municipalities
Excerpt: A prayer written in response to the massacre of Muslim worshipers during Friday prayers in Christchurch, New Zealand. . . .
Content:
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Dear God,
From the depths
we call to You.
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Our broken hearts,
shattered like glass,
like a windshield,
or a child’s glasses,
or a sanctuary window…
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This wounding moment – there, here,
to every ‘us’ imaginable,
Divine reflections fractured and bloodied
again and again, like a sick dream.
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Dear God,
how do You endure this madness?
How do we?
Look what Your children
are willing to do to each other…
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We collect these hard, cold, things,
glorify them like treasured keepsakes
forgetting their purpose is pure: to kill.
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Holy One, we’re devastated. Again.
It’s really hard to remember a world
without bulletproof backpacks and armed guards
outside of every sanctuary.
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Help us remember a world
that felt lighter than this one.
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Fill our torn hearts with Your spirit
as we do the impossible work
of burying our dead,
cut down during prayer.
Again.
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Remind us to show up at our neighbors’ mosque’s today,
with flowers and tears and outstretched arms.
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Help us heal.
Help us heal each other
and fix the very broken world you bequeathed us.
We need You. We really need You.
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Amen.
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“From the Depths: A Prayer For Christchurch” was written by Rabbi Menachem Creditor in response to the massacre of Muslims at worship during Friday services in Christchurch, NewZealand. He shared it through the Open Siddur Project via the Open Siddur Project’s Discussion Group on Facebook. #EndGunViolence #BuildOnLove
Contributor: Menachem Creditor
Co-authors:
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Name: Menachem Creditor
Bio: 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.
Website: http://rabbicreditor.blogspot.com
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/menachem-creditor
Featured Image:
Title: Glass Shattered Broken Window Hole Damage Sharp
Caption: Broken Window, Hole, Glass, Damage (credit: Maxpixel, license: CC0)