05/19/2026
A prayer by Rabbi Michael Holzman after the shooting at the San Diego Islamic Center:
Source of peace, please send peace down upon the members of the San Diego Islamic Center, Your faithful children, now bereaved and afraid, having been attacked by other of your children. Holy Blessed One, please, lift from us the rage of Cain, the plague of hatred and jealousy which drives brother to strike brother. Master of the Universe, please silence the deluded hatred that deafens the voice of blood crying from the earth. Source of wisdom, help us to see that your question, “Where is your brother, Abel?” was an invitation to our moral purpose, as Pastor Vernon Walton taught from the pulpit of my synagogue, it was an opportunity for us, indeed, to be the keepers of our brothers and sisters.
At this sacred time of the Hajj, when millions of your children drink from the Zamzam Well on their way to Kaaba, help humanity taste the miracle which saved the child Ishmael, cast out by fear and ignorance and the desire that we forever remain separate from one another. O Merciful One, teach us that we can be like the living waters which bring comfort to the grieving, hope to the newly insecure, and reassurance to our neighbors.
Source of wisdom, grant us the common sense to see that those who live amongst a flood of swords and a dearth of plowshares will forever sow blood and death, and that no legal or constitutional principle should justify the cheapening of human life. And if we are so stiff-necked and bald-faced as to persist in our folly, at least let us discern that we are not powerless to act. You who Grants Knowledge, make us know how to send a text, make a call, write a card, reach out to a friend or neighbor who is hurt and afraid right now. Teach us that if we have not already forged bonds between our shuls and mosques, churches and temples, cathedrals and mandirs, gurdwara’s and masjids, synagogues and basilicas, then our bill is past due. For Cain will come again soon.
Yes, my brothers and sisters, the work is hard and the list is long, but the Master is impatient, and even if we cannot finish the task, we are not free to desist from the labor. The best time to know one another was long ago, but the second best time is now.
O Great Healer, help us recognize our ability to heal one another. Show us that we must close the distance between us, connect the places where we congregate and worship, and strengthen the relationships that bind us together. For by Your great Providence, we can now live with one another, eat together, visit in each other’s homes, and come to understand our varied ways. This is Your miracle, a radical blessing in the long history of human isolation.
And through this blessing, Eternal One, allow someone, somewhere to be Your unwitting messenger, an angel unknown even to the self, able to bring hope, to touch a soul, and to turn someone on the road from grief to grievance, from bereavement to bitterness, away from the next act of hate. And thus another miracle will be done.
Amen.
