A prayer for our country after the election
Presidential candidate Joe Biden. Image by Getty
Our nation has chosen a new leader
To guide us forward in this challenging time.
Help us, God, to unite our great country
In the wake of a contentious election.
Teach us to listen to one another,
To heal our divisions and to restore hope.
The days that lie before us will not be easy,
But they are ours to shape.
Let them be days of repair,
Days when we will stem the tide of this horrific pandemic,
Days when we will join together
To build a new future.
For some of us the results of this election are a cause for great celebration,
For others the results are a deep disappointment.
Our charge today must be to rise above conflict,
To rise above our differences,
And welcome in a new time of understanding,
A new time of caring and empathy,
Decency and support.
Bless us God, with ears to hear,
Hearts to love,
And hands to reach across party lines,
So that we can ensure liberty and dignity for all.
Land of opportunity and dreams
We vow to protect our blessed democracy
And to safeguard the freedom that is our birthright.
We pledge our allegiance
To every soul in need
And every child praying for a better tomorrow.
Bless America, God,
With peace, prosperity, and with justice for all, Amen.
Rabbi Naomi Levy is the author of Einstein and the Rabbi and spiritual leader of Nashuva: The Jewish Spiritual Outreach Center.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
-
Community Readers help a ‘left-wing Zionist’ find their political tribe
-
Community You say matzah — and matzo and matzuh and matzee and more
-
Community Houdini, J.D. Salinger and Elvis: Your ideas for our list of Jews who made history
-
Community The great-granddaughter of a Hollywood pioneer called out Dave Chappelle, and we got mail
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
- 4
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history
-
Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.