“May We Create a Nation”: A Jewish Prayer for Our Country

Ribono shel olam, Sovereign of all Space and Time,

You have formed us to be Your partner in Creation.

You have commanded us to

Pursue justice

Love our neighbor

Welcome the stranger

Tend the earth

Make peace

Repair the world.

And to do so, you have taught us

To create covenants and communities

And appoint leaders to guide and serve.


We–am Yisrael, the Jewish people–are one people among many nations

We have come to this nation, the United States

Seeking refuge and prospect and safety

Sustained by the liberty to speak and pray,

Assemble and organize,

In accordance with our rites and traditions.


We know that this is a nation

Founded by massacre

Built by slavery

Maintained by exclusion

Defined by inequality.


And we also know that this nation

Promises equality

Exercises resilience

Evolves continuously

Practices teshuvah.


Because this is a nation

Conceived by vision and ideas

Rooted in social contract and text

Bound by law and obligation

Consecrated by diversity and democracy.


May the United States continue to strive to be that more perfect Union

May we all work together,

The governors and the governed

The elected and civil servant

The citizen and the resident

Each person and their neighbor

To create a nation

That values bridges as well as walls

That honors “freedom from” as well as “freedom to”

That provides foundations of support as well as ladders of opportunity

That recognizes communal responsibilities as well as individual rights.


May we create a nation

Full of compassion and kindness,

Fairness and love,

Prosperity and unity.

And may we create a nation

Free from want and fear,

Violence and oppression,

Hatred and division.


May we create a nation

That fosters right relations between us and the land

That acknowledges history while forging the future

That gives honor to our ancestors and hope to our descendants

That sees all of its inhabitants as created btzelem Elohim, in the image of God.


May we create a nation

That gives to bigotry no sanction

That is of the people, by the people, and for the people

That offers malice toward none, and charity for all

That will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.


May the leaders of the United States be guided by wisdom and lovingkindness.

And may the blessings of holiness and peace extend to all at home here, and to all who dwell on Earth.

And let us say,

Amen

Thanks for continuing the conversation!