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A Prayer for Our Troops and Their Families

I grew up with stories of my grandfather’s service during World War II. The stories conveyed inspiration, humor and love all at once.

The dedication he felt to our country remains with me, and it explains the extraordinary tears I shed invoking a blessing at a deployment ceremony here in Chicago.

I had never been asked to give a blessing for departing troops, and I did not know a deployment ceremony even existed. It was a struggle.

What can I say to men and women who will not see their spouses, parents, children, boyfriends and girlfriends for 14 months? How can I bring comfort to their loved ones?

Does Prayer Work

These questions go to the heart of prayer. Do we pray for ourselves or others? Does God answer our prayers? Does prayer work even if we don’t hear God’s answer?

I believe prayer works, but not in the way we often think. An elevator works when it takes us up and down. Prayer works when it invests our lives with meaning and purpose, with comfort and understanding.

Prayer works when it brings out our most noble, empathetic and loving virtues.Prayer works when it changes us.

The Prayer

Here are the words I shared: 

In Judaism the highest value is pikuach nefesh, the saving of a life. We are commanded to set aside all other tasks in order to save a life in need. That is what you are doing today. That is what you will do over the next 14 months. So let us pray:

Eternal God, we give you profound thanks for all those who serve our nation. Give them strength. Give them love. Bless them with your presence. Sharpen their skills. Make their judgments true.

Help them serve with wisdom, honor and integrity. May their faith be fostered and may they answer fear with courage. May your angels hold them and guide them, May your presence give them strength, hope and faith.

And bless their families, Oh God. Their mothers and fathers, spouses and children, loved ones: all who love them and will miss them. Bring them comfort and strength.

Let them know the blessing of their loved one’s service, the gifts they bring to the world, the courage with which they inspire us all. Let them be their strength, Oh God. Let them know you are near to them and to their loved ones, giving them your love and your grace.

And be present with our country’s leaders and officers, Oh God. Give them wise judgment, commitment and courage. Let them know of your love for them and guide them in protecting the freedom, liberty and justice we cherish.

We turn to You, Oh God, and in the words an ancient Jewish prayer we say, “May God grant strength unto our people, and may God bless all people with peace.” Amen

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Why Does God Want Us To Take Off Our Shoes?

When entering into a person’s home, we typically take off our shoes. Especially here in wintery Chicago, taking them off comes naturally and instantly.

Is this act simply a matter of manners? Or does it symbolize a deeper feeling? The Bible answers in a famous story.

Moses is out shepherding his father-in-law’s flock. Suddenly he sees a bush that burns without being consumed by the fire. He turns in for a closer look, and then hears a voice emanating from it.

What Moses Needed to Learn

The voice says, “Moses, Moses…Do not come nearer to here. Take off your shoes from your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)

At first glance, these words seem anticlimactic. Moses hears God’s words for the first time, and what does God tell him? To take off his shoes.

Yet, the meaning behind the words is profound. They convey critical lessons for Moses to learn before he begins leading the Israelites.

1. We are spiritual as well as physical beings: In this example shoes represent Moses physical being. They cover a part of his body. They tread on the physical word. They gather physical elements.

By asking Moses to take them off, God is directing the conversation. God is asking Moses to enter into a different realm. God is speaking to Moses’s spirit, his heart and his mind, his soul and his body.

Why would God need to do so? Because Moses is about to make a monumental decision. He will change his life and invest it into leading the Jewish people. He has to be fully committed.

God needs the assent of soul and body.

2. Humility is a part of faith: God is about to speak directly with Moses. God has not spoken directly with anyone in the Bible since the patriarch Jacob.

By asking Moses to take off his shoes, God is preparing Moses for this encounter and instructing him in the art of humility. By highlighting the centrality of humility, God is establishing a pattern for future generations.

Humility and faith are inseparable.

Thomas Merton explained this truth beautifully, “In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him.”

To that we can only say Amen.

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The Secret To Making Meaningful Change: A Biblical Example

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. What he didn’t say that the first step is the hardest step.

Jewish wisdom teaches this in the story of a man named Nachshon. His story begins on the shores of the Red Sea. The Israelites are on their way out of Egypt. Pharaoh and his army, however, are in hot pursuit. Continue reading

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The Three Reasons God Chose Moses

Even though Moses is the hero of the Old Testament, we know little about his early life. We glimpse him floating down the Nile River. Then he is adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.

And then he is an adolescent leaving Pharaoh’s palace. We know nothing about what he was taught or how he lived during his childhood.

It is only after he leaves the Palace that we begin to see his character. We begin to see what led God to choose him to lead the Israelites to freedom. One quality, in particular, stands out. Moses is passionate about justice. He is passionate about justice in all its forms:

1. Defending the oppressed: Moses’s first act as an adult is defending an Israelite slave. He leaves the palace and sees an Egyptian task master beating a helpless slave. Moses intervenes and stops the beating.

For Moses justice does not differentiate between slave and master. Even if the master has a legal right to beat the slave, he does not have a moral one.

2. Doing what’s right, even if it means criticizing your own people: The next time we see Moses is when he encounters two Hebrew slaves fighting with one another. He does not turn away and ignore it because they are his people.

He intervenes and chastises the one who instigated the right, showing he is not afraid of criticism and making enemies. He will do what is right in every circumstance. 

3. Remaining faithful wherever you are: After Moses is forced to flee Egypt, he arrives in the land of Midian. His first stop is a well. There he encounters a gang of shepherds harassing a group of seven sisters seeking to water their flock. Moses intervenes, defending the sisters. He is a stranger in a strange land, yet he does not shy away from seeking justice.

According to the great Jewish scholar Ahad Ha-am, Moses’s three acts of justice are what lead God to choose him to lead the people from slavery to freedom. God could have chosen someone else. But God knew this impassioned fighter for justice would not give up until His people were free.

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A Prayer for the New Year

Beginnings are times of blessing. They are also times for reflection. As we enter the new year, let us look for ways to bless one another and be a blessing for the world. And let us reflect on what makes our lives a unique blessing and gift to the world.

Every year, to help me in this task, I read a favorite prayer composed by Rabbi Alvin Fine. It pictures life as a journey with many beginnings and endings.

Underlying those moments is the Eternal Spirit, the God of the Universe, whose Presence is our greatest blessing. I share this prayer with the hope it brings blessings and comfort.

Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey.
A going, a growing from stage to stage:
From childhood to maturity and youth to old age.

From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion and then perhaps, to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or strength to weakness and often back again.
From health to sickness and back we pray, to health again.

From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion.
From grief to understanding, from fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat, until, looking backward or ahead:

We see that victory lies not at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage,
Made stage by stage…To life everlasting.

 

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Are You Letting Miracles Pass You By?

Why did Moses stop at the burning bush? This may seem like a foolish question. It was a sight to behold. A bush burning but not being consumed— that would stop all of us in our tracks.

Later Jewish commentary, however, suggests otherwise. The bush, the Jewish sages say, was always burning. Everyone simply walked by, blissfully unaware. Only Moses stopped and looked.

Moses knew something we often forget. Miracles surround us everyday. We just need to be present to them.

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Do You Remember My Name?

Do you appreciate when someone remembers your name? Probably. Names convey identity. When someone knows our name, they know us as a unique individual. We are not just another customer or patient or member.

The Bible teaches this same idea. The Hebrew name for the Book of Exodus is “Names.” The reason is that the Hebrew title of each book of the Bible is based upon the first significant word in the book. For the Book of Exodus, the first significant Hebrew is Shemot, which means “names.”

How Does God Use Names?

The power of names is a central theme throughout Exodus. God uses names to teach values and character. Today we look at three early examples  of the way God does this, and we will return to this theme over the next several weeks:

1. To Establish Continuity: In the first verse of Exodus we recall the names of the leaders of the tribes of Israel who journeyed to Egypt. We knew their names already. Why do we need them again?

The names provide a feeling of continuity between Israel and Egypt, and between the book of Genesis and the Book of Exodus. Lest we think each book of the bible is separate and unconnected with the others, we read the names of the same Israelites chieftains from Genesis.

Names are a source of continuity. Even as our character may change, our name stays with us. They bring a continuity to our lives and, in the case of the Israelites, connect us to those who came before us.

2. To Predict the Future: According to the Bible, the name Moses is derived from the Hebrew root word m-s-eh, which means “to draw out.” Pharaoh’s daughter drew Moses out of the water, and thus named him as “the one who is drawn out.” Some scholars suggest the root is really Egyptian, and that the name Moses is derived from the Egyptian root M-S-S, which means “child.”

In any case, Moses is a child who is drawn out from the water. His name points to his eventual leading the Israelites across the water (the Red Sea) into Egypt. Just as he is saved from drowning, he will save his people from slavery. 

3. To Demonstrate Character: Ironically, the woman who names Moses is never given a name in the Bible. We simply know her as Pharaoh’s daughter.

Later Jewish commentary, however, gives her the name Batya. This is an especially beautiful choice, as Batya means “daughter of God.” Even though she is biologically the daughter of a wicked Pharaoh, her actions show that she is a true daughter of God, a person willing to do right and care for a helpless Hebrew child.

Each of us has a name given by our parents. We also have a name given by our deeds. The Bible teaches that this is the name that matters most.

Does Your Name Have Any Special Meaning for You? 

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Is the Biblical Story of Joseph a Fairy Tale?

In the Jewish Bible reading cycle, we are in the midst of the story of Joseph and his brothers. From one perspective, it is a tale of accidental success. A bright and spoiled young man is hated by his brothers. They sell him into slavery.

But he always seems to bounce back.  Soon, through a combination of smarts and happenstance, he becomes Prime Minister of Egypt, the superpower of its time, second only to the Pharaoh. He uses his position and smarts to save Egypt from a massive famine.

This famine then brings his brothers and fathers to Egypt, and he reunites with them, saves their lives and provides them a prosperous place to live. The family lives happily ever after.

What Joseph Really Proves

If we read this story this way, it resembles Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast. It is no wonder Joseph became the subject of a successful musical. Yet, as people of faith, we know that Joseph is so much more than that.

The most important verses in the story are ones Joseph utters in Genesis 45 . He has just revealed himself to his shocked brothers.

“Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” 

In other words, Joseph did not rise to power and save his family on the basis of mere luck or random events. His life was a working out of God’s providence. It is proof of an old adage: God works in mysterious ways.

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Hanukkah Night #5: The Miracle of Light

The Book of Job is one of the most mysterious and powerful books of the Bible. Job is blameless, yet he is struck with tragedy. When he asks God why, God refuses to answer. When Job’s friends suggest he did something wrong, God rejects them as well. We are left with no explanation.

We might read this story and come away depressed and angry. I read it with deep respect and admiration. The Bible does not try to gloss over the harshness of life in this world. It is not perfect.

The just do suffer. The world is not as it should be. God does not always tell us why.

Yet, the response to such truths is not give up. It is not to despair. It is to hope. It is to pray. It is to work. It is to light a candle. As Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”