About our High Holy Day theme:

The Traveler’s Prayer, or Tefilat ha-Derech, is a prayer traditionally said at the beginning of a journey. In this prayer, the wayfarer asks the Divine to protect them from any dangers along the way and to deliver them to their destination in peace.

 

As we approach the New Year of 5787, it feels more like we are in the middle of a journey than at the beginning. The passageway towards a liberated world is narrow, and the view of the destination is obscured. Looping endlessly through climate crisis, war, and assaults on all we hold dear, our feet keep getting stuck on this muddy road of teshuvah, making our way back towards alignment with our deeply held values. Yet, looking back at the year that is ending, we remember how acts of courage, resistance, generosity, and dogged organizing have widened the path. So many people are insisting on the possibility of a world of compassion, peace, and healing. 

 

Our hearts ask then, how might this High Holy Day season support us in finding clarity, guidance, sustenance, and hope in the mucky middle of the path? How might our Jewish inheritance inspire freedom of movement rather than weighing us down? What are our Tefilot ha-Derech, our prayers for the way?