A Prayer for the Earthquake’s Victims by Rabbi Reuven HaKohen Oriya (Rosh Yeshiva, Kfar Maimon)

Posted by JewishMom on Feb 7, 2023 in Current Events, Israel | 1 comment

Yesterday’s devastating earthquake and its aftershocks have affected 13 million people, leaving over 5000 dead, and 24,000 injured. B”H there were no injuries in Israel where the earthquake was also felt, but still this catastrophe, for me, feels very close to home. It made me feel immensely grateful today for what is: a home to live in, a family to care for, a life that continues on with the regularity of the rising and setting of the Sun. It’s also scary. If this could happen to those people, it could also, G-d forbid, happen to me and my loved ones. And it also makes me feel powerless. Israel sent a humanitarian delegation to help locate and extract survivors from underneath the rubble. But what can I do? I felt relief when this morning a friend sent me this prayer for the victims and the families and friends they left behind. This prayer is a statement: “I’m Jewish, and you probably aren’t (there were a small number of Jews among the victims, including, it seems, the leader of the 2500-year-old community of Antakya and his wife). But even though I’m Jewish and you probably aren’t, you and your family are in my heart at this tragic time.]

A Prayer for the Earthquake’s Victims by Rabbi Reuven HaKohen Oriya

Master of the Universe, God of all Creation, your world is drenched in grief.
Grief of the world for the loss of your creations, as the earth opens its mouth.
Men, women, elderly people and children, in one moment their entire world collapsed and their life shattered around them with a mighty roar.
Father of Mercy, please show Your mercifulness upon the many that remain trapped beneath the wreckage, those who have but moments to live and send them swift rescue.
And to those keening with pain, send full healing.
God full of mercy, please show compassion and forgiveness and bless the families of those who perished and those who are injured with strength and hope, to withstand the heavy weight of misery and hurt they bear upon their shoulders.
May it be Your will, God, our merciful Father, to be filled with mercy for Your world and to prevent Your creations from dying strange deaths before their time.
Send love into the hearts of all Your children, to be able to serve You with a loving and full heart.
And let us say “Amen.”
English translation by Albina Ginzburg
תפילה לשעה קשה, בו האדמה רעדה ואלפים נהרגו ואיבדו את חייהם, עשרות אלפים נפצעו ונותרו חסרי כל
רבונו של עולם אל אלוהי כל הבריות, עולמך שרוי בצער. צער העולם על אובדן בריותיך, בפעור האדמה את פיה. גברים, נשים, זקנים ועוללים, שבין רגע חרב עולמם ובניין חייהם קרס עליהם, ברעש הגדול.
אב הרחמים גלה רחמיך הרבים על הנותרים הלכודים בין ההריסות,
שרגעי חייהם ספורים,
ושלח להם הצלה במהרה,
ולפצועים הנאנקים, הענק רפואה שלימה.
אל מלא רחמים, העתר חמלה וחנינה וברך את משפחות הנספים והפצועים בכוח ובתקווה, לעמוד במשא הסבל והייסורים שנתכו עליהם.
יהי רצון מלפניך אבינו אב הרחמן,
שתימלא רחמים על עולמך ולא תתן עוד את בריותיך לכליה במיתות משונות ובקיצור ימים.
שלח אהבה בליבות כול בניך ושנזכה כולנו יחד לעובדך בלב אוהב ושלם.
ונאמר אמן