Letter to the editor: Rachel A. Elovitz

Rosh Hashana Poem/Prayer

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, accountable for the many ways in which we have failed You, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities, our country.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

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We stand before You, broken by social unrest, a paralyzing pandemic, natural disaster and indefatigable fires.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, crippled by religious intolerance, racial injustice and political gamesmanship.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, depleted, beseeching You to arouse our tired spirit.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, eclipsed by falsehood and propaganda.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, fractious in our positions, at our collective expense.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, grief-stricken at the loss of loved ones.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, handcuffed by disunity, injured by insurgence.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, jaundiced, colored by corruption and the absence of shame.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, knavish, willing to use positions of power to deceive.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, lawbreakers and malcontents, usurping just causes.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, nonplussed by unrelenting waves of antisemitism and xenophobia.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, occluded, our advancement stymied by inherent and learned bias.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, prideful, bitterness growing where forgiveness might live.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, quiescent, our minds revisiting promises not kept.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, remorseful, conscious of our shortcomings, vice and evildoing.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, somber and trembling, praying for your forbearance.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, undeserving and vulnerable, humbly seeking Your grace.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, wrathful, quick to condemn others, while seeking Your clemency.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, of xenial capacity, yearning to be good and kind humans.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ

We stand before You, zealous in our appeal for Your compassion and absolution.

Rachel A. Elovitz, Atlanta