Rabbi Howard Morrison

Today, October 7th, marks the one-year anniversary of the worst tragedy in contemporary Jewish history since the Shoah. While we ordinarily commemorate Jewish occasions on their Hebrew date, it is noteworthy that we remember on both, October 7, and the Hebrew date of the horrors, Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah. I share with you the English translation of a special El Maleh Rachamim - Memorial prayer composed by the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel for this day. We will have recited it in Hebrew and in English at morning services:

"God of compassion, 

In a universe that lacked compassion

Grant tender rest

Beneath the wings of the Shekhinah.

In the broken spheres of human radiance

To the souls of each and every of the injured 

And the violated in the horrors

of the pogrom of October 7.

For the fear

That fell upon each man and woman,

elders, youth, and children;

our mouths do not know how to scream

Or put into words.

For we lament and mourn 

For them, for us,

Because of this our hearts are faint

because of these our eyes grown dim

Woe to us, for we are broken

Woe, for our homes were shattered

Our souls and bodies tormented

And our faces darkened. 

Therefore, Compassionate One

Reveal our torment to the world and for all time

And from one end of the earth to the other

May the silenced voices utter:

Guard our souls in the Land of Life

For life is our heritage

May we come in peace to healing

Please God, heal all the injured.

Please God, heal the families and caretakers.

Please God, hear and heal us all.

And let us say, Amen."

Rabbi Howard Morrison