Women raped, babies murdered.
And the faces of the hostages -
Terrified, screaming for help,
An outstretched hand, trying to pull free.
Tonight we scream out:
sh’foch chamtatcha al hagoyim,
God, let Hamas feel the heat of your wrath.
Tonight we pray :
Anani bamerchav Yah
God answer me, bring our hostages home,
from their narrow tunnels
To the wide-open arms
Of family and friends,
Yearning to hold them.
Today we acknowledge, too,
that in every war - try as one might,
civilians die. Tens of thousands.
A brother or sister, mother or father,
A child. So many children.
But they are terrorists, some will cry.
But they are humans - we cannot deny.
This cost of war - we feel their pain.
And, also we must atone:
Tag killings on the West Bank,
Protesters blocking food convoys,
Massive bombardments - targeted strikes might do.
Over-zealous young soldiers dancing joyfully,
on remnants of a mosque.
Women and children dying in the streets of hunger.
This is not how Jews behave.
We cry out for the victims of October 7:
Hashem Yikom Damam
God should avenge their blood!
Vengeance belongs to God - alone.
The land is soaked with blood,
So many Innocent people, ours and theirs.
Can we hear the cry of their blood, calling us:
our brothers, our sisters, and, yes, even our cousins?
As we walk in this valley of death,
Our cup does not overflow.
[REMOVE 10 DROPS FROM ELIJAH’S CUP]
May the redemption that feels so far away
Come to us now: Bimheirah, byameinu
Quickly, in our day.
Just a few times a year.
Rage and sorrow
pours out from our mouths
and from our tears.
Other times we remember, we mourn;
But tonight, we scream.
We scream on Pesach, days of freedom:
Sh’foch chamatchah al ha-goyim
Pour out Your wrath upon the nations.
We cry out on Yom Kippur, day of atonement
Eleh ezkarah v’nafshi alai eshphakh
These I remember, and my soul screams out.
We call to God in our anger
to pour out wrath upon the enemy who,
in every generation, sought to destroy us.
We ask: Where are you God? Answer us!
At the seder, we sing from Hallel:
Min ha-metzar karati Yah
From our narrow window,
we call out to you God
On Yom Kippur we recite:
Mi-ma-amakim k’ratikha Adonai
We call upon you from the depths.
On Pesach, we watch:
the wine in Elijah’s cup shimmers:
will God redeem our broken world?
(or is that just my parent’s knee)
On Yom Kippur, we confess:
We have sinned.
We too are responsible
to heal our broken world.
October 7.
Our enemies again rose to destroy us,
V’hi She’amda - God stand by us,
sheb'chol dor vador,
om'dim aleinu l'chaloteinu,
As they have in every generation,
They tried to wipe us out.
Shemini Atzeret -
as we prayed for rain to sustain our world,
our enemies sought to destroy our lives.
Nir Oz, Be’eri, Nachal Oz, Kfar Azza, Netiv Asarah
The innocent faces of the victims -
Beaten, burned, and beheaded.
Pesach 5784:
Pour Out Your Wrath…and Forgive our Sins
Rabbi Marc Israel