Love of daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters for their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother preparing to bid her “Good-bye, until we meet again on the other side . . .”
Love of a dog for his master,
Love of a grandson for his grandfather,
Love of a caregiver for the one to whom she tends.
There were happy tears.
There were sad tears.
In every teardrop there was love,
A love that only the salt in their tears could express.
May each and every one feel blessed
For they learned the most important lesson of this life journey
How to give and take love,
How to know both happy and sad tears
How to live with that love
In good times and in bad
In happy and in sad
For love is the bread of life,
The yolk of all that is, was and ever will be.
May you have the strength to risk loving and losing
So that in the end you will have known and sown love.
Selma March March 21, 1965 – Photo from Jewish Women’s Archive
Dear Creator of All Things Great and Small,
You see everything transpiring on our little planet
Every moment
Of every day.
You see the hate growing
Spreading like wildfire
Consuming everything and everyone in its path.
You have witnessed time and time again this very same hate nearly destroy the Jewish people only 72 years ago
And yet . . . as the survivors of that hatefest return to You in the heavenly heights,
That very same hate that grew in the hearts of that generation has been reborn in the hearts of this one.
Radical Islamists in Iran, Gaza, the West Bank, and worldwide seek not just our destruction, but the destruction of all peoples who dare not agree with their religious and cultural philosophy, so they hate and they teach their children to hate.
Leftist liberal groups who have decided to swallow hook, line and sinker the false histories and narratives taught by anti-Israel, anti-Semitic professors worldwide now hate and are teaching their children to hate.
Our black friends, neighbors and relatives with whom we marched in 1965 to protest hate and discrimination are now standing against us merely because we want to continue to live in our very own homeland: Israel.
God, You know our hearts.
You know that we, The Jewish People, just want peace on Earth,
We want nothing more than to live alongside our neighbors in harmony
You know that we don’t care what religion, skin color or sexual preference our neighbors may be.
You know that we recognize with complete clarity of vision that we are all Your children,
That we are all connected to You,
For You are the Creator of us all,
Therefore, God, we stand here before with our heads bowed low humbly asking that You pull the hate from the hearts of all those who have chosen to hate us.
And we ask that You show us what we may do in order to teach kindness, love, and peaceful coexistence, because we learned in World War II that you walk beside us, but that we must lift up our hands, our pens, and our feet in order to be the creators of change;
For You know that each of us bleed the same color: RED.
You know that each of us breathe the same thing: OXYGEN.
You know that each of us nourish our bodies with the same things: FOOD AND WATER.
Thus, we ask that You help us extinguish hate once and for all, such that
The hearts of every man, woman and child on Planet Earth may finally beat as one.
Please send strength, healing, love and light to (____________), who is grieving the loss of his/her/my/our loved one.
Help him/her/me/us awaken every morning remembering
All the good times and all the loving moments
(S)he/I/we had the opportunity to share with (______________), who now resides with You in Your Heavenly abode.
And help him/her/me/us find strength, solace and healing in each blessed memory.
For listening to his/her/my/our prayer and helping (__________________) get through these difficult days, I/we thank you with all my/our heart and soul.
Be with every human being who is seeking freedom from an abusive relationship, whether it is husband>wife, wife>husband, boyfriend>girlfriend, girlfriend>boyfriend, mother>child, father>child, girlfriend>child, boyfriend>child, girlfriend>girlfriend, boyfriend>boyfriend . . . any abusive relationship.
Please, God, give him/her the strength, the courage and the ability to find a path to freedom.
Chaplain Tamar 