After the Flood – A Prayer

I was asked to write the following prayer for the Rabbinical Assembly.
Chag Sameach.

After the Flood: A Prayer

By Marc Soloway, Congregation Bonai Shalom, Boulder, CO

Out of the depths of the flood waters we cry out to you El Shaddai, to say “dai — enough. It has been enough.”

Let the drowning earth dry out once again and show us the reassuring promise of your rainbow!

As we celebrate the joy of the gift of water and as we prepare to pray for rain, let us remember that when it is withheld, the soil is parched and nothing grows, but when the torrents flow without limit, our rivers burst, our homes flood and we tremble at its power. Water has given and water has taken. May water be blessed and may it bless and nurture us. Not destroy us.

In these bad days, protect us in Your shelter.

As we sit in the fragile shade of our temporary dwellings, help us feel your presence holding us in our insecurity, rocking us in our vulnerability, comforting us for all that we have lost.

May Your clouds be clouds of glory, not of devastating rain.

As we hold and shake the sacred leaves and fruits and branches, may our bodies and souls dance in the joy and the danger of our natural world, as we remember the delicate balance of creation and our need to sustain it so that it can sustain us.

Give us the courage to ask for help from our community and to be there for our neighbors. May hands of friendship restore our hope and our homes.

Mashiv ha-ru’ah umorid ha-gashem – the One who makes the wind blow and the rain fall. We have seen Your power. Now impress us with your gentleness.

R’fa’einu, Heal us and give us the courage and the patience we need to rebuild; the inner strength and humility to listen for the lessons in this great mystery.

Hazak v’ya’ameitz libekha v’kavei el Adonai

May we be strong, may we be wholehearted, may we never lose hope.

Amen.