Dear Ones,
With our deep concern about the outcome of the upcoming election, I thought it would be helpful to create a special ritual for entering this particular shabbat.
After lighting the Shabbat candles, let each of us sing Shalom Aleichem, the liturgical poem in which we traditionally call in the ministering angels and angels of peace. In reciting these words tomorrow evening, let us call in what Abraham Lincoln referred to as “the better angels of our nature” — the spirit of empathy, compassion and interconnection, of family, friends and community. Let us sing Shalom Aleichem with all our hearts, and use our holy imagination to form a resounding chorus of households that activates the angelic potential of our community so strongly that it magnetizes the angelic potential of all the citizens of this country.
Then for a chatima, a final blessing, let us offer the prayer below, based on the magnificently crafted language of the founding fathers of this country:
We the People of the United States pray for a more perfect union, to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity for the United States of America, and for all the people who dwell on this Earth. And let us say Amen.
Shabbat Shalom & Shalom Aleichem (Peace be upon you).
Love,
Rav Gabrielle
Link to Shalom Aleichem (Nava Tehila): https://youtu.be/xt0ZoWfYMUk?si=RgS2kH-WNXaLOFVX
Text for Shalom Aleichem:
Shalom aleichem mal’achei hasharet
Mal’achei elyon mimelech mal’achei ham’lachim
Hakadosh baruch Hu.
Bo’achem leshalom mal’achei hashalom
Mal’achei elyon mimelech mal’achei ham’lachim
Hakadosh baruch Hu.
Bar’chuni leshalom mal’achei hashalom
Mal’achei elyon mimelech mal’achei ham’lachim
Hakadosh baruch Hu.
Tzetchem leshalom mal’achei hashalom
Mal’achei elyon mimelech mal’achei ham’lachim
Hakadosh baruch Hu.
