Lord our God, I offer this prayer fifteen years after the 9-11 attack.
On the morning of September 11, 2016, I felt once again the comfortable cool air of a late summer day and turned to look up at the deep blue sky. And all I could think about was that terrible, dark day of fifteen years ago. I thought of the fear and terror of that morning. I remembered those taken from our midst and how they were robbed of their futures. And I was robbed of their companionship. All I could think about were those smiling photographs looking up at me from our newspapers. They were torn from our families; they were stolen from our homes. My heart remains wounded. Now even so many years after that day, I strain to hear their voices. I long to feel their embrace.
My tears again shroud my vision.
Dear God, there are days when I struggle to see Your majesty in the sky.
Lord our God, grant me the strength to carry forward. Engrave these beloved names on my heart. Give me the fortitude to transform these tears of pain and longing into a lasting and noble good that might bring healing to our broken and fractured world. Fashion in my heart a vision of Your hand weaving a tapestry of hope in Your heavens. Let the blue sky signal no longer that grey day of murderous clouds but instead Your handiwork, Your compassion and Your demand to uplift the world.
Dear God, grant me a heart filled with a faith that will banish the words and deeds of those who would diminish Your name by their evil deeds. Let not their angry and contorted vision of Your call fill my heart with terror and fear. Let me always remember that my heart is strengthened by reaching out to others whose beliefs are different than my own. My faith is renewed in the discovery of new friends. My soul is uplifted by the serendipity of new acquaintances that are the hallmarks of the American dream.
Let the words of the Prophet Ezekiel ring forever true: V’natati lachem lev chadash v’ruach chadashah. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit.
And let us say, Amen.
Rabbi Steven Heneson Moskowitz is the rabbi of Congregation L’Dor V’Dor, a vibrant synagogue on Long Island’s North Shore. His writing appears in a variety of publications including Reform Judaism and The Times of Israel. He also blogs at rabbimoskowitz.com