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A Prayer for 2022

12/29/2021 11:34:14 AM

Dec29

Rabbi Ron Segal

As 2021 draws to a close with the realities of Covid-19 and all its variants continuing to wreak havoc in our lives, many might be challenged to find much that is positive in what this year has wrought. While the end of a calendar year typically elicits joyful reflection on the past year’s accomplishments along with a list of personal resolutions for the secular new year ahead, the conclusion of 2021 undeniably finds us in great need of hope and healing.

As such, whether assembling with loved ones and friends this New Year’s Eve or choosing to remain home to avoid risk of infection (or because we are quarantining following exposure or are ourselves recovering from Covid), as we raise a l’chaim to mark the end of 2021 and celebrate the beginning of 2022, I want to encourage the inclusion of words of prayer this year. Although current stressors will not suddenly disappear when the clock strikes midnight, I sincerely believe that heartfelt words and prayerful intention can help to set a meaningful frame with which to enter the coming year. Of course, select words that personally resonate and which give voice to individual hopes and aspirations, but in case a little assistance would be helpful, following is a prayer written and shared by a rabbinic colleague just this week. Regardless of the specific words and prayers we ultimately lift up at the end of this tumultuous year, though, I pray each of us will enter 2022 with renewed hope and optimism that good health and healing will soon be our enduring reality. May the year ahead be filled with peace, prosperity, love, and the unmistakable sense of God's blessings in our lives.

A Blessing for Entering the New Year
(And for Journeying Onward Anytime Anywhere)

by Rabbi Paul Kipnes

On the next part of our journey, 
Into a new year
Or a new career
As we make a new friend
Or to our hearts we do tend
[May we be blessed with] hatzlacha (good luck)!

May our eyes open to glorious sights that will make our heart beat faster,
And may our breathing slow enough to embrace the meaningfulness of it all.

May our mind expand to explore new ideas and consider new possibilities, 
And may our thinking constrict enough to impede the inevitable kvetches and self-deprecating self-critique.

May our sense of self morph and strengthen 
As we experience what no longer is but what now just might be. 

May our awareness of what is and can be 
Expand beyond what was and what we expected. 

And may the journey ahead be [packed] with
Joy joined with serious self-reflection, 
Fullness of family and friends, amidst an abundance of fun,
Insight, inspiration, and more than a touch of idealism, 
With love sweetened with laughter, and
Healthy living, working, and being.

And may we interact with and as part of 
An increasingly [kind and compassionate] humanity 

Thus may we fill our heart and soul,
So that the Journey ahead - 
Into the unknown - 
May be exciting, energizing, and absolutely...
Enough. 

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784