Prayer for the workers: the drivers, the farm laborers, the delivery men

A food delivery rider poses for a photograph while wearing a N95 respirator on March 8, 2020 in Cardiff, United Kingdom Image by Getty Images
Editor’s note: This is part of our series “Prayers for a Pandemic.” Read more here.
Our God, and God of all Life,
We call you Oseh, Maker
Yotzer, Crafter
Poel, Worker.
You, Who labored to build this world in which we live
Who calls us to be Po’alei Tzedek, workers of justice —
We call to you
Be with all those who labor in the midst of this global pandemic.
Shelter those who grow our food in the field.
Guard those who bring healing in lab and clinic, in hospital and pharmacy.
Guide in peace those who deliver basic needs by road, track, and air.
Uplift those bent low bearing loads in manufacturing and sanitation.
Send love to those who connect us through wire, wave, and cable.
Provide companionship to those who work in solitude,
ease to those who work in anguish,
safety to those who step into harm’s way,
dignity to all whose labor benefits us.
As they raise up their souls to grant us all life
may we repay them in fairness and righteousness.
May our lawmakers and employers assure them a living wage,
health care and sick leave
education, documentation, citizenship
and the right to organize.
All the rights,
human and Divine
due to all beings
created in Your image.
And let us say: Amen
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 gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
-
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.