“A Prayer for our Country”

From the desk of Rabbi David Lyon

God of holiness, we hear Your message: Justice, justice, you shall pursue (Deut. 16).
God of freedom, we hear Your charge: Proclaim liberty throughout the land (Lev. 25).
Inspire us through Your teachings and commandments to love, and uphold our precious democracy. Let every citizen take responsibility for the rights and freedoms we cherish. Let each of us be an advocate for justice, an activist for liberty, a defender of dignity. And let us champion the values that make our nation a haven for the persecuted, a beacon of hope among the nations.

May our actions reflect compassion for all people within our borders and abroad. May our leaders and officials embody the vision of our founders: to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. 

We pray for courage and conscience as we aim to support our country’s highest values and aspirations: the hard-won rights that define us as a people and the responsibilities that they entail. We pray for the moral strength that we may be guardians of these rights for ourselves and for the sake of all people, now and forever.

(adapted from Mishkan HaNefesh, CCARPress, p.270)