by Ellen Dannin
B’shalach A New Morning Prayer
Lord of the outstretched hand,
who brought our ancestors out of
confinement in Egypt,
release all those bodily confined
for the pursuit of justice.
Release us from the prisons
and the callouses we have constructed
around our hearts.
Release our hands from the shackles
we have placed on them,
and guide them to their avodah [worship / work].
Release our minds from the deceptions
in which they are imprisoned.
Remove exhaustion
from our eyelids and bodies.
Release our spirits from terror and fear.
Renew us that we may be renewed,
set us on our journey to the land
we are to enter.
We are and we are not our ancestors.
We will not turn aside.
