A Prayer

I wrote the following prayer and delivered it at the Interfaith Iftar held at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C. on Friday, July 19th.  I hope it speaks to you.

Adonai,

We come to you tonight humbled by Your presence and Your transcendence.  You are the one God.   The one in whom our Holy Torah directs us to love with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.  And yet our sages tell us that what You demand from us, above all else, is that we love our fellow human beings and work to repair Your world.

Adonai, we come to you tonight as representatives of a fledgling movement, a mere baby, called the Interfaith Movement.  While so very proud of our respective faiths, we also recognize that no one faith has a monopoly on truth.  Inspire us to remember that when we dialogue with each other, we come to deepen our ability to love and understand You. Inspire us to remember that when we dialogue with each other, we come to embrace the ways that we are different, not to ignore them or to fear them.   But most importantly, inspire us to remember that when we dialogue with each other, we come to recognize that we are all family – all human beings, religious and non-religious.  We all have a precious and unique role to play in repairing and nurturing Your world.

Adonai, this is a time of special stress for the Jewish people, my people.  But it is also a time of special stress for our first cousins, the people of Palestine.  May we reach the point as soon as possible where Israelis and Palestinians come to appreciate each other as family, not as enemies.   And may the love of Your Unity inspire all of us to work for peace and reconciliation throughout the world.  Adonai, may we someday realize my vision of living in a world where every Jew will look at a woman in a Hijab and say “That is a Daughter of Abraham, my people,” and every Muslim will look at a man with a yarmulke and say “And that is a Son of Ibrahim, my people.”

Adonai, may we honor you with our hearts, with our minds, and above all, with our conduct.

Amen.