I offer this prayer in the New Year 5774, and wish for you, your families, friends, colleagues, and students a year of good health, renewal, and happiness.

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May we hold lovingly in our thoughts / those who suffer from tyranny, subjugation, cruelty, and injustice, / and work every day towards the alleviation of their suffering.

May we recognize our solidarity / with the stranger, outcast, downtrodden, abused, and deprived, / that no human being be treated as “other,” / that our common humanity weaves us together / in one fabric of mutuality, / one garment of destiny.

May we pursue the Biblical prophet’s vision of peace, / that we might live harmoniously with each other / side by side, / respecting differences, / cherishing diversity, / with no one exploiting the weak, / each living without fear of the other, / each revering Divinity in every human soul.

May we struggle against institutional injustice, / free those from oppression and contempt, / act with purity of heart and mind, / despising none, defrauding none, hating none, / cherishing all, honoring every child of God, every creature of the earth.

May the Jewish people, the state of Israel, and all peoples / know peace in this New Year, / And may we nurture kindness and love everywhere.

L’shanah tovah tikateivu

Rabbi John L. Rosove