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

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=37412

open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license date_src_start: 2016-00-00 date_src_end: 2016-00-00 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: 2021-06-03

Last Updated: 2025-05-08

Categories: Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Homes & Community Centers

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Needing Translation (into Arabic), Needing Translation (into Hebrew), ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael, فلسطين Filasṭīn Palestine

Excerpt: 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. . . .

Content:
Contribute a translation Source (English)

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.

 

Contributor: Brant Rosen

Co-authors:

Featured Image:
Demolition of a temporary structure in Umm al-Kheir
Title: Demolition of a temporary structure in Umm al-Kheir
Caption: Demolition of a temporary structure in Umm al-Kheir (2016)