A Prayer for the New Year 5782 By Rabbi Jonathan Blake

A Prayer for the New Year 5782 written by Rabbi Jonathan Blake of Westchester Reform Temple

The Hebrew word for Hope is tikvah.
We know it from Hatikvah,
The anthem of the Jewish State:
"Let not perish the hope of 2,000 years,
To be a free people in our land."

Tikvah is a profound and mysterious word.
It could come from the Hebrew m'kaveh,
Which means to wait.
Sometimes we just have to wait it out,
Patient and persevering until the pain passes.

Tikvah could come from the Hebrew word kav,
Which means a line,
Like you use in fishing,
Or that which connects two points.
We can't have hope without connection.

Or maybe it's a cousin of mikveh,
The immersive pool that purifies and restores,
A warm bath that, womblike, surrounds us
And out of which we are reborn to new possibilities.
Hope can definitely feel like that.

I don't know about you,
But amid all the talk of vaccines and boosters,
I've also been longing for an injection of tikvah,
A spiritual shot in the arm,
An inoculation against despair and isolation.

Rabbi Jonathan BlakeUntil some spiritual genius comes up
With a miracle cure for all that ails us,
We'll have to wait it out.
We'll have to be each other's lifelines.
We'll have to be for one another an ocean of hope and healing.

L'Shanah Tovah