A PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE USA FOLLOWING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

This Shabbat, we pray for the people of the United States of America following the Presidential Election. Our thoughts are with a nation divided and at war with itself, concerning its values and aspirations, how it makes sense of the present and how it envisions the future; a nation also sharply divided between rich and poor – to the extent that those left behind by globalisation have put their faith in a narcissistic demagogue, who is now President Elect of the most powerful country on earth.

As a progressive synagogue, in common with the 71% of the American Jewish electorate that did not vote for Donald Trump, let us hope that, as it turns out, the master entertainer was all talk (not just ‘locker room talk’), and that the new administration addresses the core problems of that society – not least, poverty and racism – so that, finally, the USA may live up to its founding ideals. And let us say: Amen.

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue

12 November 2016 – 11 Cheshvan 5777