Prayer of a Jewish Soldier

Creator of the Universe, We, the soldiers of the people of Israel
Come to You in humility and pray for Your help.

Once more, we are asked to defend our people and
The Holy Land against our enemies.
We ask You to have mercy on us, and help
Our people to have clean hands and with a heart filled with mercy.

Let our people have the strength to stay in good spirits, live in unity,
And walk in Your ways, the ways of Justice and Truth.

*****
Let us not make mistakes and hurt those who are not guilty,
who do not understand, and have no part in this conflict.

Please, let our bullets not hurt those children of our enemies;
Whose parents place them deliberately in dangerous spots,
And then they fire on us and shield themselves behind their own
Offspring, against our forces so as to fault us when
Their children get hurt or even killed.

Remove the evil spirit of these parents and make them realize
The wickedness of their actions.
Stop their teachers from manipulating their students with hate for us
In their schoolbooks, On the radio, television, and Internet

*****
O Creator, You know what one of our  Prime Ministers once said:
"We may forgive our enemies one day for hurting and Killing our children;
But we cannot forgive them for having made our Children into those who needed to kill"
We beg You, do not let our Jewish souls have to undergo this ordeal which we cannot bear.

*****
We are the children of Avraham, Your servant, who prayed for the evil people of
Sedom with the hope that they should repent and live a decent life.
So, we beg You make our enemies repent.  Force them to understand
That we are good people who wish to live in peace with all our neighbors

*****
O Creator, remove from their thoughts atrocities such as those in which
They dip their hands in our blood.  As Jews, we cannot fathom
Doing this even against our worst enemies

*****
You commanded us to live in a country which is little more than a tiny island,
Our population is smaller than that of Many single cities.
You asked us to live there so as to send Your holy Word to all the corners of the world
But, we are surrounded by many nations who embody more
Than a hundred million people they inhabit one of the largest regions of the
World, but deny us the right to live in even the smallest corner of the world.
They do not want to listen and only wish our death.

*****
Give the Arab nations leaders who are men of justice and
Who really care for their people, and do not wish to bring their own brothers to
Despair. and unbearable pain with the intention t o accuse us of grave injustice.

*****
Now, after thousands of years of our dwelling on this globe and after many exiles, Tortures, pogroms, expulsions, and Holocausts; We finally found our way
Back to our small homeland which You promised to our forefathers.

But once more our dreams of peace have gone up in smoke;
While we were trying,  at the risk of our own lives, to find a way to
Allow our Palestinian neighbors to live their own lives,
While we were prepared to make sacrifices for the welfare of these people
As no other people ever did, While we offered them land, peace, finances
And even firearms so as to defend themselves.
We once more pay the price for being a people who believe in the honesty of
Another nation and its leaders and once more we feel misled.

*****
Oh Creator, remove the evil intentions of the Security Council
Which distorts the truth.
Remove the deliberate lies from the hearts of those who head the Media.
Why do they want to portray us as an evil people?

They do so to deny Your existence and Your moral demands.
They hide behind their own wickedness and cover up theirs and their fathers'
Immoral acts which they brought on us and our forefathers for thousands of years.

*****
O, Creator You know that no army in world history has used so much restraint as ours.
No army is so careful not to hurt or kill is ours, but what shall we do when
They are not even prepared to give us the option to prove this to the world?

*****
Please Creator, bring peace into the hearts and minds of our enemies.
Let them be uplifted with a spirit of righteousness
Stop them from hating us because we are Your people

Let us sanctify Your name as this is our mission and our dream.
Give us the possibility once more to teach Your ways to the peoples of the world.
And make them hear and understand.

*****
We hate war as nobody else does, We abhor the need to wear weapons.
We cannot stand the sound of our own artillery and our tanks.

So, deliver us from this anguish, bring peace to the nations,
Let us not be forced to use our strength against them for they will have no escape.
But let the blessing which you gave to Avraham come true,
"And through You all the families of the Earth will be blessed"  For this is our hope

We are the people of the Book, the Book which demands holiness, kindness
And integrity.  Our heroes are not the generals or the marshals
But our prophets and our sages men of righteousness
                                                           original by Nathan Lopes Cardozo

*****  *****
Addend to the original
Merciful CREATOR open the minds of ALL men and women on earth
To understand the truth of  Your ancient Scriptures - as You understand them.

Open ALL minds and hearts to obey Your Words as they are plainly stated in
Your ancient Holy Hebrew Scriptures.
Let no man, or the teaching of any men that might
Appear in any other holy books, repeated by traditions, or promoted by
Sages, Missionaries, Preachers, Rabbis, or Popes - stand
Between us and You.  Show us to worship only You.
Grant us forgiveness, for our personal and national sins are many.

*****
Please write these words of Yours in our hearts:
"Listen O Israel; ETERNAL is our Deity, ETERNAL Alone.
We must love Him with all our heart, soul, and might.
And we must think constantly about His Commandments that He has given us.
We must teach them to our children and talk about them when we are at
Home or out for a walk;  at bedtime and the first thing in the morning" (Deut. 6:4).
                                                                      Addend by Charles J. Voss

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