Special Prayers for the War Dead of Iraq

Dear Friends,

As the number of US dead in the Iraq War passes 2000, we are posting three prayers of mourning for the US and the Iraqi war dead. (The latter, overwhelmingly civilians, number somewhere between 30,000 and more than 100,000).

Two of these prayers of mourning -- "El maaleh rachamim" and Mourners' Kaddish -- are rooted in Jewish tradition, though these interpretive renderings in English can be used in any community.

The third is a newer trans-traditional Litany of Ashes, Stones, and Flowers.

Shalom, Arthur

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

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El Maleh Rahamim/
God, Filled with Compassion

El Maleh Rahamim:
God, filled with Motherly Compassion,
grant a full and perfect rest
under the wings of Your sheltering Sh'khinah/ Presence
-- among the lofty, holy and pure,
radiant as the shining firmament --
to the souls of all those of all Your peoples
who have been killed in and around the lands where
Abraham our Forebear walked --
Make them welcome to their eternal home.
May they rest in Your Edenic Garden of Delight.

Please, Master of Mercy,
envelop them
in Your comforting, protecting wings forever;
Bind up their souls in the Bond of Life.
For You are their Portion, their Inheritance.
May they rest securely in Peace,
and we say:
Amen.

Translation by Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, 1996, as modified by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 2005.

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Kaddish of Mourning

May the Great Name rise before our eyes:
The Name that weaves together
all the names of all the beings in the world.

May our hearts and eyes weave
All these names together in one Name,
the double spiral that underlies all life.
And may we also see the Great Name
Pulsing at the heart of our own names.

For in the Great Name
There remain forever present
the names of all those who have touched our lives,
even those we can no longer touch;

The names of those we love,
Those who were our enemies,
Those whom we have intimately known,
And those whose names we know only from a list,
Only as a number.

Far beyond all praise and poetry,
all celebration and all consolation,
Is this Great Name.

And yet we lift our voices and our breathing
In the act of life that gives the Name
Its meaning.

We lift especially today the names
Of those who died a violent death;
Those who were killed by those who bear the Holy Image,
Killing those who also bear the Holy Image.

For this civil war within Your Being,
This tearing of God's Image at Itself,
Your Self,
we know that you are inconsolable
And so are we.

Our only solace is to beg you:

You Who make peace and harmony
In the ultimate reaches of the universe --
Touch our souls,
Teach our minds,
Open our hearts,
Guide our bodies,
To make peace within ourselves, among ourselves,
Within and among the children of Abraham,
The children of Sarah,
The children of Hagar;
A peace that weaves together in reconciliation
All Yisrael, all Yishmael,
All the communities that call out Your many Names –
And even beyond,
All those who dwell upon this planet.
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By Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center www.theshalomcenter.org and the author of Godwrestling — Round 2 among many other works of spiritual search and public policy.
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Ashes, Stones, and Flowers

In Memory of the Dead of 9/11, Iraq,
And All Victims of Terrorism and War

For vibrant lives suddenly and shamelessly sacrificed we lift up the ashes of our loss, O Source of Life.

For the lives that continue, haunted forever by the pain of absence, we lift up the ashes of our remorse, O Wellspring of Compassion.

For the conflagration of flames and nightmare images forever seared into our memories we lift up the ashes of our pain, O Breathing Spirit of the World.

For the charred visions of peace and the dry taste of fear we lift up the ashes of our grief, O Infinite.

For all the deaths that have been justified by turning the love of God or country into fanatical arrogance, we lift up the ashes of our shame, O God.

As we cast these ashes into the troubled water of our times, Transforming One, hear our plea that by your power they will make fertile the soil of our future and by your mercy nourish the seeds of peace.

The people recite the names of the dead.

The people cast the ashes in silence into the water.

For the ways humanity pursues violence rather than understanding, we lift up the stones of our anger, O Breathing Spirit of the World.

For the ways we allow national, religious and ethnic boundaries to circumscribe our compassion, we lift up the stones of our hardness, O Wellspring of Compassion.

For our addiction to weapons and the ways of militarism we lift up the stones of our fear, O Source of Life.

For the ways we cast blame and create enemies we lift up the stones of our self-righteousness, O God

As we cast these stones into this ancient river, Transforming One, hear our plea:

Just as water wears away the hardest of stones, so too may the power of your compassion soften the hardness of our hearts and draw us into a future of justice and peace.

The people recite the names of the dead.

The people cast the stones in silence into the water.

For sowing seeds of justice to blossom into harmony, we cast these flowers into water, O Source of Peace.

For seeing clearly the many rainbow colors of humanity and earth, we cast these flowers into water, O Infinite.

For calling us to life beyond our grieving, we cast these flowers into water, O Breathing Spirit of the World.

As we cast these flowers into this water, Transforming One, hear our plea:

Just as water births life in a desert and gives hope to the wounded, so too may the power of your nurturing renew our commitment to peace.

The people recite the names of the dead.

The people cast the flowers in silence into the water.

-- Litany by Rev. Patricia Pearce, pastor of Tabernacle Church, Philadelphia, as modified by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center
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