The devastation in Japan is overwhelming. My heart aches as the scenes of building rocking, flames reaching high into the heavens and the waters crash through fields far from the shoreline. Please help the people of Japan. You can donate to the Jewish Federations North American Japan Relief Efforts by clicking here.
Here is the prayer we recited this Shabbat at Kol Ami.
Psalm 114
1 When Israel came out of Egypt,
Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
4 the mountains leaped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Why, Jordan, did you turn back?
6 Why, mountains, did you leap like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of Adonai
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water.
A prayer for Japan and Libya
We pray on this Shabbat for the people of Japan. We pray for peace and safety and shelter. We pray that loved ones are found and lives are rebuilt. Help the world unite in caring and faith and hope to reach across the Pacific to help this nation rebuild.
As the People of Libya rebel against oppression grant them the courage of their convictions-to seek a freedom that flows from You.
And teach us here in this place to have our wellsprings of compassion renewed and refilled by this Sabbath day. We beseech you Holy One to send your sheltering presence to the World.