קֹהֶלֶת לֹא צָדַק | Qohelet Lo Tsadaq ("Ḳohelet Wasn't Right") — a prayer by Rabbi Oded Mazor (24 November 2023)
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=53500
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Date: 2023-11-29
Last Updated: 2025-03-27
Categories: Slavery & Captivity
Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.
Excerpt: This prayer was written on Friday, November 24th 2023, 11th of Kislev 5784, early afternoon (Israel Time), when we were all waiting to witness the first group of hostages come back home from captivity in the hands of Hamas. Having close friends who have relatives kidnapped who do not fit into the criteria of being released now, I was looking for words to pray at this moment. Referring to the words of Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai z"l, and his "remarks" on Kohelet's "For everything there is a season", I tried to describe how all feelings are mixed in these awful hours, and in the days since. I am thankful to Rabbi Ayelet Cohen for her translation of this prayer into English. --Rabbi Oded Mazor . . .
Content:
This prayer was written on Friday, November 24th 2023, 11th of Kislev 5784, early afternoon (Israel Time), when we were all waiting to witness the first group of hostages come back home from captivity in the hands of Hamas. Having close friends who have relatives kidnapped who do not fit into the criteria of being released now, I was looking for words to pray at this moment. Referring to the words of Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai z”l, and his “remarks” on Ḳohelet’s “For everything there is a season,” I tried to describe how all feelings are mixed in these awful hours, and in the days since. I am thankful to Rabbi Ayelet Cohen for her translation of this prayer into English. –Rabbi Oded Mazor
| Source (Hebrew) |
Translation (English) |
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קֹהֶלֶת לֹא צָדַק
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Ḳohelet wasn’t right.
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בְּיָמִים בָּהֶם כָּל הָעִתִּים קוֹרְסוֹת אַחַת אֶל תּוֹךְ רְעוּתָהּ,
וְאֵין בְּרֵרָה אֶלָּא לִבְכּוֹת וְלִשְׂחוֹק בְּאוֹתָן עֵינַיִם,
לִסְפֹּד וְלִרְקוֹד גַּם יַחַד,
וְהִיסְטוֹרְיָה אֲרֻכָּה נִדְחֶסֶת אֶל יוֹם וְשָׁעָה אַחַת,
נְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת הַכּוֹחַ לְהָכִיל
אֶת עָצְמַת הַלְּבָבוֹת הַמִּתְפַּקְּעִים.
לִשְׂמֹחַ עִם הַזּוֹכִים לַחֲבֹק כְּבָר הַיּוֹם,
לַעֲטֹף אֶת הַמִּתְכַּנְּסִים בִּכְמִיהָתָם וְנַפְשָׁם נִרְעֶדֶת,
לֶאֱחֹז בַּתִּקְוָה בְּלִי לְהַרְפּוֹת,
וּלְהוֹתִיר מֶרְחָב שֶׁל שֶׁקֶט לַזְּעָקָה שֶׁאֵין לָהּ קוֹל.
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In the days when each hour collides with the next
We have no choice but to cry and to laugh with the same eyes
To mourn and to dance at the same time
And the long arc of history is compressed into one day and one hour
We ask for the strength to contain
The intensity of our bursting hearts.
To rejoice with those who will be able to embrace today,
To enfold all of those leaning into their longing, souls trembling,
To hold on to hope without letting go,
And to leave some quiet space for a silent scream.
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אָנָּא, תֵּן לָנוּ מָקוֹם לְהִשָּׁבֵר בּוֹ לִרְסִיסִים,
וְרוּחַ לְהִבָּנוֹת שׁוּב, מֵחָדָשׁ.
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Please, grant us the room to shatter into pieces,
And the spirit to be rebuilt, anew.
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This prayer was written by Rabbi Oded Mazor and disseminated widely by social media in its original Hebrew and in its translation by Rabbi Ayelet Cohen. Here we have set both the prayer and its translation side-by-side.
The title of the prayer and its petiḥah (“קהלת לא צדק“) both point to a line near the beginning of Yehudah Amichai’s poem, אדם בחייו (“A Man in His Life”). The theme of Amichai’s poem is that a human being’s life isn’t long enough to experience every season established for every purpose under heaven. –Aharon Varady
Contributor: Oded Mazor
Co-authors:
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Name: Oded Mazor
Bio: Rabbi Oded Mazor, born and raised in Israel, received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Jewish Philosophy in the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and rabbinic ordination from the Israeli program of HUC-JIR. Oded co-edited the Israeli Reform Three Regalim (Pilgrim Holy Days) prayer book, HaSimcha Sh'Balev, and is part of the editorial committee of Tfilat HaAdam. After nearly a decade as rabbi and educator in the Leo Baeck Education Center, Haifa, and living in the renewed Kibbutz Ḥannaton, Oded and the family are back in Jerusalem, where he serves as the rabbi of Ḳehilat Ḳol HaNeshama.
Website:
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/oded-mazor
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Name: Ayelet Cohen (translation)
Bio: Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen is Senior Director of the New Israel Fund’s New York/Tri-State Region. Previously, she was Director of The Center for Jewish Living and The David H. Sonabend Center for Israel at The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. She served for 10 years at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the world’s largest LGBT synagogue serving people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Passionately committed to progressive and feminist Judaism, she is an activist and an advocate for full inclusion and celebration of LGBT Jews in the Jewish world, and an advocate for LGBT civil rights. Rabbi Cohen has been profiled in the New York Times, was named one of the “Heeb 100,” Heeb Magazine’s “hundred people you need to know about,” and was honored at the 2005 Ma’yan Seder as a leading young Jewish feminist activist. She is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly and the New York Board of Rabbis.
Website: https://truah.org/people/rabbi-ayelet-cohen/
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/ayelet-cohen-translation
Featured Image:
Title: Bring_Them_Home_Gedera_03
Caption: A rally calling for the release of the Israeli abductees in the Gaza Strip, Gedera (credit: Nizzan Cohen, license: CC BY-SA)
