Comfort in Ruin: Tishah b'Av, a prayer-poem by Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=52191
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license date_src_start: 2023-07-27 date_src_end: 2023-07-27 languages_meta: [{"name":"English","code":"eng","standard":"ISO 639-3"}] scripts_meta: [{"name":"Latin","code":"Latn","standard":"ISO 15924"}] Date: 2023-07-27
Last Updated: 2025-04-11
Categories: Tishah b'Av
Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Prayers as poems
Excerpt: "Comfort in Ruin: Tishah b'Av" was written by Rabbi Menachem Creditor and shared by the author via the Open Siddur Project Discussion Group on Facebook, 27 July 2023. . . .
Content:
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Source (English) |
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We’ve always found You,
Holy One,
even in the ruins.
You were there,
cooing like a dove,
roaring like a lion.
There we find You still,
crying for Your children,
seeing what they
do to each other.
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You have never been
unaffected
by the brokenness
of Your world,
the brokenness
in Your children.
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We have never been
unaffected
by the brokenness
of Your world,
the brokenness within us.
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We’ve even understood
that universal brokenness
as a reality within You,
which is why,
when we’re in ruin,
we know we can find You.
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We offer You comfort
Holy One,
from our brokenness to Yours.
We ask for Your comfort too.
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Perhaps, finally, we might even learn
to be of comfort to each other.
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“Comfort in Ruin: Tishah b’Av” was written by Rabbi Menachem Creditor and shared by the author via the Open Siddur Project Discussion Group on Facebook, 27 July 2023.
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: Top northern corner of the Kotel Western Wall of the Temple complex
Caption: Top northern corner of the Kotel Western Wall of the Temple complex