Friday, August 6, 2021

A Poem/Prayer for Parashat Re'eh

Based on the words ובו תדבקון, uvo tidbakun, "you should stick to God" (Deut. 13:5):

O Lord when the wind does blow

Let me remember You

Uvo tidbakun

When arranging threatens to overwhelm, when the phone rings and the notifications ding and the children cry and the soup boils over

Let me stick to You

Uvo tidbakun

When fear strikes and my heart beats wildly and my whole body shakes in terror

Let me remember You

Uvo tidbakun

When I relive an incident and say to myself: you are such an idiot; when I am caught in a cycle of self-aggression and self abandonment, 

Let me stick to You

Uvo tidbakun

When I am filled with irritation and rage with no understanding and no outlet, when I suffer the nauseating dissonance of stuffing it all down

Let me remember You

Uvo tidbakun

When my belly sinks with hurt and shame, when I feel that I do not matter,

Let me stick to You.

Uvo tidbakun.

When I feel the ache of loneliness and exclusion, of not belonging anywhere in this universe of Yours

Let me remember You

Uvo tidbakun

When I fall into the pit of despair, when life feels impossible to live

Let me stick with You.

Uvo Tidbakun.

When evil and cruelty are all I can see; when I am faithless and do not believe in Your love,

Let me remember You

Uvo tidbakun.


Let me remember You

And know that

Even in those moments

Precisely in those moments

I have access to You

To the peace and love and space

That are You, to the rest

That is You; I can rest here now

And know You are holding me

It is not that You save me,

But that, remembering You,

Sticking with You, 

Staying, returning, staying

I save myself

Again and again

Uvo Tidbakun.

O Lord, please

Give me the strength to

Stay with You through the flood

Of my humanity.  


2 comments:

  1. So powerful. Personal and universal. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Beautiful. In our angst, it s hard to remember that we are never really alone.

    ReplyDelete