The Numbers of War and Peace: My Kol Nidre Prayer

The Numbers of War and Peace:

My Kol Nidre Prayer

By Rabbi Judy Schindler

 

Consider the numbers linked to war

and the numbers allied with peace.

The Syrian numbers of strife:

100,000 killed

4.25 million displaced inside the country

Every 15 seconds a Syrian becomes a refugee

Adding up to 2 million forced to flee

1400 killed in a sarin gas attack,

among them

400 children.

 

Sarin, the deadly nerve gas

developed by the Nazis in 1938.

Sarin, used by Saddam Hussein

to kill thousands of Kurds in 1988.

 

The numbers of concerned neighbors and world citizens:

8 hours in an Israeli line to get a gas mask

2 more Iron Dome defense systems deployed to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

25 nations supporting a strong international response .

 

The numbers connected to our past:

11 million murdered, among them

6 million Jews, among them

1.5 million children.

 

And then there are the numbers of peace:

One God, one soul,

One man, one woman, one child

 

In Judaism, counting people is prohibited.

Numbers dehumanize,

Every soul is one.

 

When that one Syrian child asks,

“Where was the world?”

May we have an answer

that is worthy in God’s eyes,

and in our own.

 

Grant us wisdom,

grant us compassion,

grant us peace.

2 Responses

  1. Wonderfully written and heartfelt, We think it is timely and timeless in its perspective.

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