We've moved through the Days of Awe, the days of returning, the weeks of self-examination, and now, G~d willing, we turn outward, to see our world with truer, clear eyes, to understand how deeply we are a part of it All, how deeply we are embedded in the matrix of all life, how it fills us. I experienced the Yom Kippur fast this year on retreat at Mt. Madonna Center in Watsonville, CA, in the midst of the most intense drought the state of California has known since weather began to be recorded. Temperatures on the mountain above Monterey Bay soared to 100 degrees; fasting without food or water, our small community of retreatants sang, moved, prayed, chanted Torah, drummed, meditated, and sweated together, melting down to an essential place of truth. This year I was inspired to translate the traditional prayer for a time of drought in the land of Israel and to bring that into our prayers of At-Onement. Feeling the dryness of the land in our bodies, could we begin to understand how responsible we are to and for this Earth, our sacred home, even as She nurtures, cares for, and loves us? I offer my translation/adaptation of the traditional prayer here as a plea for consciousness and a siren call to action. As we move into the season of rains, both is Israel and California, may we indeed be blessed with streams of living water and showers of snow, and may this water strengthen us this year and in all the years to come, to partner with the Life Force of the Cosmos to tip the balance in Earth's favor, and in our own . Sukkot samey'akh, a joyful Harvest Festival to all.
PRAYER IN A TIME OF DROUGHT
We implore the Generative Force
of this Cosmos
to grace humankind with
compassion, with mercy,
and with the wisdom
to see and to steward
the splendid beauty
of this gorgeous and
fragile world
with which we have
been gifted.
Hear our prayer--
teach us to hear
our own prayers!--
bring dew and rain
to our parched land!
Shower our world
with Your goodness;
let our hands overflow
with blessings,
gift us with abundance.
Protect this year
from every badness
and violence;
fill it with hope
and with wholeness.
Be gracious, have compassion
upon us, our crops, our fruit.
Bless us with streams
of blessing.
May we meet Your gifts
with wise actions,
good decisions,
so that we may join You
in co-creating
life and satisfaction and peace,
as in the best of years.
Spare humankind
from plague and war and famine,
from vicious beasts, evil intentions,
from harshness and deprivation.
School us to see with Your eyes of compassion
so that our actions in the world
are steeped in goodness.
Hear, accept, and help us manifest
this prayer.
(adapted from the traditional prayer in a time of drought by R. Diane Elliot, Yom Kippur, 2014/5775)
PRAYER IN A TIME OF DROUGHT
We implore the Generative Force
of this Cosmos
to grace humankind with
compassion, with mercy,
and with the wisdom
to see and to steward
the splendid beauty
of this gorgeous and
fragile world
with which we have
been gifted.
Hear our prayer--
teach us to hear
our own prayers!--
bring dew and rain
to our parched land!
Shower our world
with Your goodness;
let our hands overflow
with blessings,
gift us with abundance.
Protect this year
from every badness
and violence;
fill it with hope
and with wholeness.
Be gracious, have compassion
upon us, our crops, our fruit.
Bless us with streams
of blessing.
May we meet Your gifts
with wise actions,
good decisions,
so that we may join You
in co-creating
life and satisfaction and peace,
as in the best of years.
Spare humankind
from plague and war and famine,
from vicious beasts, evil intentions,
from harshness and deprivation.
School us to see with Your eyes of compassion
so that our actions in the world
are steeped in goodness.
Hear, accept, and help us manifest
this prayer.
(adapted from the traditional prayer in a time of drought by R. Diane Elliot, Yom Kippur, 2014/5775)