I offer this prayer in the New Year 5774, and wish for you, your families, friends, colleagues, and students a year of good health, renewal, and happiness.
* *
May we hold lovingly in our thoughts
those who suffer from tyranny, subjugation, cruelty, and injustice,
and work every day towards the alleviation of their suffering.
May we recognize our solidarity
with the stranger, outcast, downtrodden, abused, and deprived,
that no human being be treated as “other,”
that our common humanity weaves us together
in one fabric of mutuality,
one garment of destiny.
May we pursue the Biblical prophet’s vision of peace,
that we might live harmoniously with each other
and side by side,
respecting differences,
cherishing diversity,
with no one exploiting the weak,
each living without fear of the other,
each revering Divinity in every human soul.
May we struggle against institutional injustice,
free those from oppression and contempt,
act with purity of heart and mind,
despising none, defrauding none, hating none,
cherishing all, honoring every child of God, every creature of the earth.
May the Jewish people, the state of Israel, and all peoples
know peace in this New Year,
And may we nurture kindness, love and compassion everywhere.
Rabbi John L. Rosove
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