Prayer in a Time of Drought

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)