Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

While the Babylonian Empire destroyed the first Temple and exiled much of Jewry to Babylonia, the Prophet Jeremiah taught: "Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to God on its behalf; for in its prosperity, you shall prosper (Jeremiah 29:7)."

In the aftermath of the second Temple period, we read in Pirkei Avot, "Rabbi Hananiah, the deputy high-priest said, 'Pray for the welfare of government, for if people did not respect it, they would swallow each other alive (Avot 3:2).'"

In his commentary on Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Gordon Tucker writes, "We should pray for the government's stable well-being even if it is a Roman government whose willingness to act brutally is well known. The state of nature may well be worse even than Rome."

How do we approach, however, a government that is totally corrupt and evil? Rabbi Tucker suggests an additional way to read and understand the statement found in Pirkei Avot: "We should always pray to see the stability (Shlomah, in the Hebrew text) of the government under which we live . . . Our prayers should be that their actions always tend to the side of well-being - Shalom - rather than to the side of self-aggrandizement. . . . This Mishnah is one of the sources for the practice throughout the Jewish world to pray for the government in which particular Jewish communities live."

On Wednesday, many of us witnessed on television and social media the violence, anarchy, and chaos which descended upon Washington D.C. We saw the dire consequences of a deeply polarized nation which included the death of an individual.

Many synagogues in the U.S., Canada, and throughout the world pray for the welfare of their country and government. What follows is a text found in the American Conservative Siddurim, which may be recited in any country and which was composed originally with American synagogues in mind:

"Our God and God of our ancestors, with mercy accept our prayer on behalf of our country and its government. Pour out Your blessings upon this land, upon its inhabitants, upon its leaders, its judges, officers, and officials, who faithfully devote themselves to the needs of the public. Help them understand the rules of justice You have decreed, so that peace and security, happiness and freedom, will never depart from our land.  . . . "

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison