Prayer on the 80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht

Eternal One, we have gathered together this Shabbat to enjoy your weekly gift of rest and renewal – and also to mourn. Twenty years after the Armistice that ended the war that was supposed ‘to end all wars’, another devastating conflagration was ignited, even more deadly, with hatred at its heart – hatred of the Jewish people.

On the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, as we reflect on that terrifying night of violence unleashed against the Jews of Germany and Austria, and the deportations, incarcerations and mass murder that followed, we ask for courage, hope and strength.

We ask for courage to face the past and to acknowledge the challenges of the present, the tyranny and oppression, prejudice and hatred that still desecrates the world.

We ask for hope; for the capacity to hope to be ignited within us, within each one of us, hope that overcomes fear and cynicism, despondency and despair, so that we may yet see that change is possible and that we can transform the world.

We ask for strength to confront the evils and injustices all around us and to build alliances to bridge the divisions between nations and peoples, religions and cultures, genders and sexualities, so that we may work together to repair the world.

Kein y’hi ratzon May this be Your will – and may it be our will.

And let us say: Amen.

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue

9th/10th November 2018