Following a short Havdalah ceremony, Rabbi Sam Schapera will be holding an Election Check-In on Zoom. This is a chance for all of us to find companionship after a long week of uncertainty within our Northern Hills community.**
This is an anxious time for us as a nation as we wait for the results of who will be the next president of the United States. At this time, the votes have been cast and the only thing we can do now is continually press the refresh buttons on the election results website... and wait.
As with COVID, we are forced once again to come face-to-face with our lack of control over the current circumstances. And the lack of control mixed with the uncertainty of the future is a stressful feeling for many of us.
With this in acknowledgment, Rabbi Schapera wants to offer a chance for us to share our joys and sorrows, our fears and hopes for the future. On Saturday evening, November 7 at 6:15 PM, following a short Havdalah ceremony, she will be holding an Election Check-In. This is a chance for all of us to find companionship after a long week of uncertainty within our Northern Hills community.
If you are feeling overwhelmed with the election process and need to talk with someone, please call Rabbi Schapera at (513-399-6431) or send an email (
programs@nhs-cba.org). The contact information for the rest of the NHS staff can be found here on our
Contact page.
In the meantime, as we wait for the final election results, we would like to share a prayer with you. This prayer was written in 2008 by Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg.
The prayer below includes a space for us to put our love our country and our world into action. We encourage you to think of a cause you would like to donate your time or money to in the coming year - a pledge to put the nervous energy we feel now during the election into a productive energy of caring for the world.
May you all have a restful night and may God always bless America.
"A Prayer for the Election" by Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg
Behold, I am intending
through my prayer
to seek peace for this country,
as it is written (Jer. 29:7):"Seek the peace of the city
where I cause you to roam
and pray for her to YHVH (Hashem/Adonai/God),
for in her peace you all will have peace."
May it be Your will, YHVH, that votes
be counted faithfully
and may You count my vote
as if I had fulfilled this verse
with all my power.
May You give a listening heart
to whomever we elect
and may it be good in Your eyes
to raise for us a good government
to bring healing, justice and peace
to all living in this land
and to all the world, and upon Jerusalem,
a government that will honor the image of God
in all humanity and in Creation,
for rulership is Yours.
Just as I have participated in the election
so may I merit to do good works
and to repair the world through all my efforts,
and through the act of... [fill in your pledge]
which I pledge to do
on behalf of all living creatures,
to protect and to not destroy
the earth and her plenitude.
Give to all the peoples of this country
the strength and will to pursue righteousness
and to seek peace as unified force
to uproot racism and violence
and to make healing, good life and peace flourish
here and throughout the world
and fulfill for us the verse (Ps. 90:17):"May the pleasure of Adonai our God
be upon us, and establish
the work of our hands for us,
and make the work of our hands endure."
