Vote, with intention: A Prayer for the Voting Booth

Rabbi David Seidenberg, a recent West coast turned Western Mass. transplant reminds you that whoever or whatever you are voting for, take a moment in the booth to mark the occasion with these words of prayer:

With my vote today I am prepared and intending
to seek peace for this country, as it is written:

“Seek out the peace of the city where I cause you to roam
and pray for her sake to God YHVH, for in her peace you all will
have peace.” (Jer. 29:7)

May it be Your will that votes will be counted faithfully
and may You account my vote as if I had fulfilled this verse
with all my power.

May it be good in Your eyes to give a wise heart
to whomever we elect today
and may You raise for us a government whose rule is for good and blessing
to bring justice and peace to all the inhabitants of the world
and to Jerusalem,
for rulership is Yours!

Just as I participated in elections today
so may I merit to do good deeds and repair the world with all my actions,
and with the act of…[fill in your pledge] which I pledge to do today
on behalf of all living creatures
and in remembrance of the covenant of Noah’s waters
to protect and to not destroy the earth and her plenitude.

May You give to all the peoples of this country, the strength and will
to pursue righteousness and to seek peace as unified force
in order to cause to flourish, throughout the world, good life and peace
and may You fulfill for us the verse:

“May the pleasure of Adonai our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands for us,
may the work of our hands endure.” (Ps. 90:17)

Click here for a PDF that includes the Hebrew.

Filed under Activism, Election 2008

One Response to “Vote, with intention: A Prayer for the Voting Booth”

  1. [...] both t’filot Jump to Comments There has been much heming and hawing across the Jewish blogosphere about prayers to be said at the voting booth. It may seem [...]


    Voting both t’filot « · November 4th, 2008 at 4:24 am

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"I may attack a certain point of view which I consider false, but I will never attack a person who preaches it. I have always a high regard for the individual who is honest and moral, even when I am not in agreement with him. Such a relation is in accord with the concept of kavod habriyot, for beloved is man for he is created in the image of God." —Rav Joseph Soloveitchik

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