This piece is part of Exploring Judaism’s 5785 High Holiday Reader. Download the whole reader here.
Yizkor.
May God remember all the women, men, and children of Israel who were brutally murdered on the 7th of October. We are shattered, God, our hearts are breaking on this Yom Kippur. Our minds cannot grasp the enormity of the loss. We keep thinking we will wake up from this nightmare, we wish we could make sense of the senselessness of this tragedy. We wish we could have protected every soul who was brutally slaughtered.
We wish we could understand Your silence, God. The cries of the victims echo through the universe. God of the broken-hearted, God of the living, God of the dead, send comfort and strength to the grieving, send hope to the children, send healing to Israel.
We pray they are at peace now, far away from the horror they endured. Their lives ended in tragedy, but that is not how we will remember them. We will remember their heroism, their love for family and for life itself, their faith in the future, their laughter, their kindness, their determination, their spirit of hope, their passion for Israel and for peace.
Teach us, God, to believe that we can rise up from this tragedy with hope for Israel, hope for our people, hope for peace, hope for the new year that is upon us.
Let them find peace in Your presence, God. Their lives were extinguished, but their light will forever shine upon us and illuminate our way.
Amen.
