Blessings for the new month of Cheshvan

Today is the first of Cheshvan, the second Jewish month in the calendar, Last month was full of celebrations and festivals as we welcomed in the new year of 5784 with our High HolyDays; Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, and then turned our attention to the autumn season and celebrated Sukkot, then finally, last weekend, the festival to mark the end of Sukkot and if that wasn't enough, we also celebrated the end of the cycle of reading our ancient holy text, the Torah, and began the cycle of reading it all over again with the festival of Simchat Torah.

Although I didn't.

Celebrate Simchat Torah that is.

Because that was last weekend.

Last Shabbat morning, I was in Hull where I had been invited to lead the services for Simchat Torah and Shabbat.

At the end of the service, we were told there had been an attack on Israel.

We sang our last song, wished each other the traditional greetings, ate and drank some refreshments, and I remember vividly just holding on for as long as possible the feeling of the festival, of Shabbat, of the successful completion of my first 'gig' as a student rabbi, of that time 'before', before it all changed.

The rest of that weekend, the days since, are a blur. Trying to come to terms with the reports of the horrors, only to be confronted with another, and another and another... still now, more stories of the brutality that was inflicted, the purposeful torture designed to resonate its way around the world into our minds and our hearts.

And then, of course, the repercussions, and the casualties, the too many casualties already in Gaza. Innocent people killed, injured, homeless, scared, scarred for life. And the resonance around the world, the protests, the marches, the chants calling for this to all stop.

Today is the first of Cheshvan, the second Jewish month in the calendar,

If It is traditional to say a prayer for the new month, in which we wish for health, success, love and peace, free from pain.

How can we say these words today?

How can we?

We haven't yet buried all our dead from the brutal massacre at the hands of terrorists last Saturday.

We still don't know the conditions, or the fate of the Israelis kidnapped and taken into captivity into Hamas's hideaways deep in Gaza.

We know that the might of the Israeli army is forcing Palestinians in Gaza to flee. We know innocent civilians have been killed and injured. We know there is now a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

We know this is not going to be a month of health and happiness, success and love, free from pain.

Here is my clunky but heartfelt prayer for the month of Cheshvan:

Dear God,

Please have mercy.

Please forgive us. Forgive us all. Forgive us for simplifying it to 'us' and 'them', for we are all humanity and we are all one and we are all your children.

Forgive us for not working harder towards peace.

Forgive us for the misunderstandings, for saying, "yes, but", for not listening, fully, with an open whole heart.

Please comfort those in grief.

Please stop this madness.

Please release the hostages.

Please please let the light in soon.

Please, when this cycle of the moon reaches its end, and beginning again we welcome the new month of Kislev, please let us be able to say the traditional words of the blessing, and know truly there will be health, happiness,, peace and love for your children once more.

I took this photo yesterday morning on an incredibly restorative early morning walk. It was good to breathe deep, be in nature and listen to the silence...