APRIL 25 • 2024 | 43

Rabbi Sacks’ Prayer for Israel

This prayer was composed by Rabbi Sacks in 2000 
(5761) during the Second Intifada and was recited by 
communities on Yom Kippur of that year.

Heavenly Father, Rock and Redeemer of Israel
On this holy and awesome day,
We come before You in prayer and supplication
On behalf of our brothers and sisters
In Your Holy Land, the Land of Israel.
You know every secret since the world began,
Nothing is shrouded from You.
All is revealed and known before You
Know how our ancestors in every generation
Prayed to return to Zion in joy.
They never lost hope,
And when, in Your great mercy, it came to pass,
It was like a dream fulfilled.
Therefore, we pray to You, the Merciful,
Have mercy on Your people,
And spread over the inhabitants of Your land,
The tabernacle of Your peace,
As it is written:
“I will grant peace in the land,
When you lie down, no one will make you afraid …
And through that land no sword shall pass.”
Please, King who reigns over all kings
Have mercy on Your people,
You know that we, Your people, love peace,
We have labored for it and not found it.
We have lived too long among those who hate peace.
Therefore, remember, O Lord, the affection of Jerusalem;
Do not forget the love of Zion.
Arise and have compassion on Zion;
For the time has come.
And may we, in our time, be worthy to see
the words of your prophets fulfilled,
when You “will judge among nations,
and arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not raise sword against nation;
No more will they learn to make war.”
May this be Your will and let us say: Amen. 

A Lasting Love
W

hy is this Torah 
reading cho-
sen for the 
intermediate Shabbat of 
Pesach? Except for two brief 
references at the end, this 
portion does not dis-
cuss Egypt, slavery, 
matzah, Exodus, etc. 
However, a closer look 
reveals the profound 
connection between 
this Torah reading 
and the holiday we are 
in the midst of.
We begin in the 
aftermath of the 
Golden Calf story. 
Moses is upset, 
requesting that God 
reveal more of God’s 
self to him, summed 
up by Moses’ words “Oh, let 
me behold Your Presence!” 
(Exodus 33:18).
Ironically, the verse prior 
to the start of our reading, 
implies that Moses already 
beholds God’s presence, 
stating: “God would speak 
to Moses face to face, as one 
person speaks to another.” 
(Exodus 33:11)
Apparently, Moses wanted, 
and needed, more closeness.
The relationship of Moses 
and God is not unlike that 
of two romantic partners. 
Moses’ request reminds me 
of the wisdom I once heard 
a rabbi share with a couple 
under the chuppah: “People 
will tell you that today is 
the happiest day of your life. 
But I hope that the happiest 
days of your life are still to 
come.” In other words, the 
longer you are together, the 
more you should want to be 
together.
Significantly, on this same 

intermediate Shabbat of 
Pesach, we read the Bible’s 
love poem, the Song of Songs, 
which is understood to be an 
allegory of the love of God 
and Israel for each other. 
And, as can be expect-
ed, as we see with 
Moses in Exodus 33, 
Song of Songs describes 
lovers in search of one 
another:
“I must rise and roam 
the town,
Through the streets 
and through the 
squares;
I must seek the one 
I love.
I sought but found 
him not.”
(Song of Songs 3:2)
Pesach celebrates that we 
need God, or we would still 
be slaves in Egypt, without a 
Torah. But Pesach also cele-
brates that God needs us. For 
what is the glory of God if 
there is not a nation to teach 
and treat kindly?
As this Shabbat’s Torah 
reading continues, some-
thing truly remarkable 
occurs. God calls upon 
Moses to make a new set 
of tablets (remember that 
Moses broke the origi-
nal ones after seeing the 
Israelites worshiping the 
Golden Calf). The original 
tablets were made by God. 
This second time around, it 
is the partnership of humans 
and God - Moses’ tablets 
and God’s words - that leads 
to a successful future for the 
Jewish people. 

Elliot Pachter is the Rabbinic Adviser 

at Frankel Jewish Academy and the 

Rabbi Emeritus at Congregation B’nai 

Moshe, both in West Bloomfield.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Elliott 
Pachter

Parshat Chol 

HaMoed 

Pesach: 

Exodus 33:12-

34:26; Ezekiel 

37:1-14.