The Akeida, the test of Abraham, according to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, is a test of Abraham’s ability to live within a contradiction, not a test of obedience. Abraham is both commanded to sacrifice Isaac, while also being promised that he will be blessed and live on through Isaac. How Abraham lives through this contradiction and keeps putting one foot in front of the other as he climbs Mount Moriah is a much more dramatic version of what many of us are feeling as we approach the elections this coming Tuesday.
Whether you have already voted or will be voting this week, we offer the following prayer for you to recite:
God of my ancestors, bless me, my family, my people, and my country of the United States, that the choices I make today will be for good. I cast my vote for the people and party/ies I hope will win. May my vote be received as the prayer it is; for peace, wholeness, understanding, prosperity, and good will between neighbors. Every day of my life requires choices, and choices have consequences, but I also arrive at this ballot box humble and aware that I am not ultimately in control.
(VOTE)
שֶׁהֶחֱיָֽנוּ וְקִיְּמָֽנוּ וְהִגִּיעָֽנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה
Having exercised my right to vote, I am full of gratitude for this right. I now pray the process will be honest and pure, with the help of the many trustworthy volunteers giving their time to make sure it is so.
When you read the election results in the coming days, there is another opportunity for spiritual practice. While a prayer is appropriate when there is still potential, a blessing is something we say after the fact.
We offer a blessing for that moment when you first see the results of the election, in the lineage of all blessings, which can serve to transform moments of uncertainty into moments where we seek the potential for good in all things.
The Talmud (In Berachot 55b) offers responses to good and bad dreams, which feels fitting for the results of an election in which so many of our dreams and fears are wrapped together:
אִם טוֹבִים הֵם — חַזְּקֵם וְאַמְּצֵם כַּחֲלוֹמוֹתָיו שֶׁל יוֹסֵף. וְאִם צְרִיכִים רְפוּאָה — רְפָאֵם
If these dreams (election results) are good (for me), make them strong like the dreams of Joseph. And If they are in need of healing, heal them.
If the election results you’ve read disturb you, as dreams sometimes do, here is a blessing for that moment.
רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, אֲנִי שֶׁלָּךְ וַחֲלוֹמוֹתַי שֶׁלָּךְ הֲפוֹךְ כׇּל חֲלוֹמוֹתַי עָלַי לְטוֹבָה
Master of the universe, I am yours and these dreams (results) are yours, transform all my hopes and fears for good.
May this practice of saying a brakha strengthen our connection to our people, our way of life, and our faith-based perspective that we will always find a way to transform life’s most challenging contradictions into blessings from Hashem.
- Rabbi Aaron Bergman, Hazzan Daniel Gross, Rabbi Blair Nosanwisch